My amazing lego hack

 I cannot fix anything.  I am not allowed  to have power tools!!  But by using duct tape and knockoff blocks (maybe I'm a snob but name brand legos are too good for this job), I created the greatest fix

We have a pull out drawer for our kitchen trashcan.  The wastebasket cracked. We looked everywhere for a replacement but every basket was too long/tall.  We found a close size but it was about an inch too tall and the bottom caught on the ledge.

Bottom of wastebasket was too tall to close.

Here was my fix 

Ledge of trashcan was elevated so the bottom cleared the cabinet.

Shear genius...what a once in a lifetime experience!!!

My favorite corner of my lego room

 I like the left corner of my lego room because it is really where the biggest change has been since I started really collecting.

2006 the beginning of my room

2006 below.  I wanted the crane so bad when it came out but it was only available in Europe for the longest time.  It was on the back cover of the instructions of multiple sets featured in construction scenes

I started to fill up the bench with lego and my hubley metal cars.

Still adding more lego.  I bought gray display boards for the intent of  making a runway.  I had a friend who liked cricut things and she made runway lines and numbers

In june 2017 my wife bought me the star destroyer which was the biggest set I ever had!!!

In this picture below, I had started using drawer cabinets.  I had a blue one when I was young for electronics components .  Target had little craft boxes for $; I bought 12 but they were slippery and wouldnt stack without sliding off.  To make things worse, the compartments were too small to get pieces out without dropping into the next compartment.

2017 above

Unsure of date above picture...I bought the really useful box set from office max..nice for special parts

 

Greebling part 2, my moc (the non professional)

 Recently I was sorting legos in my living room with limited pieces, mostly clips and bars.  

Someone asked what I was building so I greebled a creation.  It was in theory possibly an exhaust system for a spaceship...present here

Ok, I could be serious and do better in constructing a moc,  it was somewhat of a joke.  However. I quickly realized I plagiarized this idea from 3 places ha ha...

Multiple Dr. Seuss objects would match my moc!

From looper website,  paramount pictures, Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory, 1971...brass tubing with no purpose

Ideal brand game, note the pipes under the tub!

So I think it's time to go back to the drawing board.  I'll leave greebling to the professionals from now on!

Greebling part 1, the professionals

 I had never heard of greebling, but it puts a name to my favorite thing to do and look at on the internet.

The website tips and bricks summarizes the technique well...this site is so good and informative, recommend looking up the tips on greebling..there are 2 posts

Lego has used this technique and I never noticed it's even on newer set boxes..both star wars and city sets!

I never noticed the presesence of greebling on the box until I lifted the At-At to look closely at it. The box art was more visible up close

Additional examples are present in lego sets

The bigger the model, the more greebling is needed to add visual interest.

My favorite example of greebling is in the y-wing style star wars models.  Different versions of the y-wing ship are present, although I'm not sure that all the ships are actually y-wings.  Regardless, the style of the mid part of the ship is where I wanted to focus.  The more simple sets show details, but not "super" detail/greebling

In the example above, the 2x2 tile with center stud really adds complexity just with one piece! That piece is so good to use, when it came out, it was mostly in the heroica sets and city games so I tried to snatch them up!

Some of the greebling appearance above is created by decals on the lateral white cylinder pieces.  Although decals create the illusion of complexity, I wouldn't consider it to be actual greebling.

Above: Average detail present with use of brown pieces

Above 2 pictures: good detail and I never have seen brown pieces matched so well with gray!  I think this is great greebling 

Above: Very minimal greebling without much visual details, easier for smaller kids to build (or slow adults like myself!!!)

And the best greebling on this type of spaceship that I could find on Google photos (by pure luck) is a moc below from the site "Brick Vault" (2 pics below)

Source:brick vault

Excellent greebling...I love this esp the use of grey tubing that usually isnt seen, esp in space hangar dioramas where the greebling is in the wall parts.

Finally, the largest set of all time (at that time)  was the Millennium Falcon.  The detail from greebling is fantastic, love the bars on the top of the ship.

There are just so many good examples from official lego products and the internet...one only has to type greebling lego in the search bar and be amazed.  The final example of extreme greebling is the scene below

I don't think I've seen a bigger example of greebling, credit from both pinterest reprint from Flickr....original builder was Marco Bass.  Further info in pic above

Greebling has to be the most fun technique as it incorporates art.  Sometimes a trial of putting like color pieces together turns chaos into a great build/piece of art!!!

Lego art and ads showing what I think is the spirit of building with Lego

The spirit of lego 

I don't know how I stumbled across this picture, but I think it is genius!! 

Source:August 2015 Scandinavian Traveller.  Written by Daniel Dasey and photo by Jann Lipka, page 60.

The picture above makes me think of aspects of what I consider to be the spirit/essence of building or playing with Lego whether as a child or being an adult. I have broken down my thoughts as to what using lego represents to me and what to never let go of. These 7 aspects include: giving, creating, rebuilding, celebrating different tastes in sets and themes, coming together from diverse backgrounds to make things, imagining and developing ideas.  I've tried to use lego ads and pics to illustrate my point!

 

1) Creativity

 The spirit of creativity is used by both kids and adults no matter how complex a build.  In the never let go picture above, creativity is seen by using all pastel colors indicate a consistent and complementary color scheme that a relatively older builder would think of.  The technique of stacking of bricks conjours images of creativity of a child or me in youth playing with lego when pieces of of lego were very simple/limited as children and color schemes didn't matter.  Creativity is present at both ages.

Now, years later, the creativity of lego building is still the same. Fancier techniques and pieces are available as demonstrated in the Lego Movie logo.  The font below is much more complex than the first picture in this blog saying "never let go."

Even with such contrasting fonts used in the never let go picture and the lego movie 2 picture, the creativity used to make each is the same process

As a side note, I don't think we'll ever see the ultimate collectors letter and numbers set, but there may be a market for the creativity it would allow.  One has to only look at Etsy to see child names and initials for sale due to the creative look!

2) Giving

The second piece of lego art conveying the spirit of lego is present in the picture below.  This craft was made by a nice person who knew I like building with Lego.  I was really touched that they took the time to make this...

Lego gives a way for people to create original projects and give/share those creations to others.  It could be a parent making a plane or car while playing with their kids, or an adult buying a set for a person they know.  I've had people bring me lego mugs and "candy blocks" that look like lego and it is so appreciated!

Related to the giving spirit, I often browse the lego aisle and commonly hear people buying for kids and laughing "oh, look they have a garbage truck" or "look there's even a little cat"..  Again, legos bring out a giving spirit as the people mentioned above will often say "well, I think that they'll like the boat, let's get that".  (Then they'll look at the price and say "good grief"-except for grandparents!).  Parents say "put that back!"

3) Rebuilding

I love the above picture, the symbol of arm for using your body for building.  The "t" in the 2nd line shows putting pieces together, in usual or new ways.  The final "o" shows the gladness and happiness in doing the rebuilding.  

4) Celebrating different likes and dislikes in sets and themes

5) Diverse groups of people and pieces coming together in the spirit of creativity 

6) Imagination

One only has to type afol moc in the search box to see this demonstrated

7) Creating ideas

 A self built prosthetic arm, placing lego in holes of real buildings, making train models. There's never a shortage of lego ideas!

There is a final ad that summarizes what I think all the 7 elements of the spirit of lego building present in both youth and adulthood...

  

In summary, I feel that there are multiple elements that form the spirit of building with lego.  These elements include giving, creating, rebuilding, celebrating different tastes in sets and themes, coming together from diverse backgrounds to make things, imagining and developing ideas. I  think the ads and art pics above convey visually what I'm describing as the essence of building with lego.  From youth to adulthood, there is always progression in the 7 elements that I consider to be the essence/spirit of building with Lego.  Never let that go!

 

My alternative build moc idea 30277

 

I like to try making alternative builds.  When the show Lego Masters came out, I thought it would be like the show "Chopped" where a finite, premade basket of  random pieces are given.  I think that would be a quick and dirty test of people's skills and creativity.  There could be a transportation, building, and freestyle round.

Here's my alternative build for set 30277

Here's another moc alternative build. I did with 2 sets

Genius ha ha!!!