When I was a kid, my younger sister and I built and played with LEGO® bricks together. However, when I returned to the hobby as an adult, building turned into a solitary hobby. Earlier this year, I joined an officially recognized LUG (LEGO® User Group – ParLUGment) to meet up with some like-minded individuals. Due to the pandemic, the meetings have been virtual so far, and it took me a few to find my voice. However, I have enjoyed just listening to the LEGO®-related discussions quite a bit. The group even hosted a few competitions. This past month, we were challenged to build scenes using a Minifigures Series character. The wintery scene MOC I am sharing with you today was built for that purpose.
This was my first MOC in a long time. It is not very big, and I debated sharing it here. For some reason, I have this idea that a MOC must be grand in scale to be share-worthy. However, I reflected on that a little and decided it was a silly notion. Most of my free time goes to managing True North Bricks and creating content these days. Custom creation falls by the wayside more often than not. But, free building brings calm and a relaxation of the mind. I enter a state of flow while building MOCs that does not happen when following instructions. Time disappears and I am lost in the moment. It is truly liberating, and something that I want to devote more time to. This little MOC reminded me of that, so I decided to share it after all.
Free building brings calm and relaxation of the mind.
Since the scene needed to be small, I wanted to find a way to still give the background some depth. I was inspired by a winter decoration my mother puts out every year. It consists of several vertical blocks of glass, each etched with wintery trees and falling snow. When you look at the piece head on, it shows a forest seen with depth and three-dimensionality. I decided to try a similar technique with bricks. The rear layer is straight-up black for a night sky. Moving forward, each layer becomes progressively lighter. I was aiming for a fade-to-darkness look, as if the light comes from your perspective when looking at the scene.
One of the most interesting aspects to build in my wintery scene was the river. I wanted it to look icy. However, like the mountains, I also wanted depth. I decided before laying a single brick that having fish in the water would be neat. To achieve this, I used 6×6 blue window panes. To give the water a deep, icy blue, I lined the bottom with 1×2 trans-blue tiles. The shoreline uses angled plates to create a jagged edge so the river does not look so rectangular. 1×4 modified bricks with studs on the side hold the window panes in place above the fish.
Depth was really important in this design.
This build is for the December ’21 meeting of my LUG. Consequently, I wanted a wintery scene. While many Minifigures fit the bill, I have a soft spot for the Wildlife Photographer from series 16. I like photography, and my undergrad was in wildlife biology. Additionally, I have a strange desire to visit Antarctica. As such, I tried to build a scene reminiscent of pictures from the continent. Have you built custom creations of late? Let us know in the comments below or reach out on social media.
Until next time,
-Tom
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