Technique Tuesday - Weaved Branches

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One of the best things about the LEGO community is that we can learn from one another.  Here at BrickNerd, we like to share techniques that we see from builders all around the world. . .

Full Plate has experimented with many unique tree designs. This month, he's adding to his growing collection of recent landscape projects. These snow covered tress (though the white leaves could be replaced with another color if you wish), are incorporating a "weaving" technique with some the individual leaf elements being held in by friction. The end result is a very realistic tree appearance which, according to the builder, is fairly solid and can even be held upside down. Very impressive!  

WIP Winter Landscape 3
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Nathaniel Stoner

     My name is Nathaniel Stoner, and I am an very active LEGO builder.  I mostly build in the themes of castle and science-fiction, but I also dabble in other genres and create occasional random MOC's (My Own Creations). 

     When I was younger, I would get and build small LEGO sets for my birthday, but I was never really into them.  When they fell apart, I would become frustrated attempting to put them back together and would throw them in a box in my closet.  I couldn't stand them!

     Then, miraculously, I became addicted to the LEGO brick later in my teen years.  Ever since, I have continued to build up (pun intended) my collection of bricks and to expand my knowledge of techniques and building skills.  LEGO is truly more than a toy, its an art form and a way to express yourself.

     For the most part, I collect LEGO Star Wars (mainly the minifigs), which is probably my favorite LEGO theme.  I have a fairly decent collection, including some of the original 1999 sets, such as the Snowspeeder, X-Wing, and Naboo starfighter.  I also collected LEGO the Lord of the Rings when those sets first came out.  The minifigs are great, and the story remains one of my favorites ever. 

     My hope is to inspire other young (and perhaps even older) LEGO builders to unleash their inner creativity!  You can find me on my Flikr here. 

Rubber Bands Don't Just Grow On Trees, You Know

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Jigsawjo continues to amaze with this clever vignette, aptly titled Christiansen Park. The most striking thing here is of course the rubber band trees and bushes which look surprisingly realistic - a very NPU style that I expect to see often in the future. I could imagine a much larger park inside of a microscale layout still looking great in this style.

Christiansen Park

Avalonian Countryside

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There's a lot to appreciate in this micro landscape by Full Plate.  It's pretty much a reference photo for the genre, covering just about every type of temperate-zone environment.   You've got your cattail marshland, complete with dock and rowboat, rich fall foliage, pine forest, and an open meadow.  I particularly like the rock wall detail and gate along the path to the houses.  It all blends together nicely for a serene backdrop to a story you can read here.

Avalonian Countryside (9 of 9)

Tall Tower, Tall Trees

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The LEGO Castle building community often gets accused of having too little innovation and lots of repetition, but builds like 'Sergeant Chipmunk''s Stonecreek Forest make me think otherwise. The most unique part of this build is, of course, the fantastic wall technique, using what looks like stacked 1x1 round tiles - looks great, but I can't imagine it would hold up well in a fight.

Stonecreek Forest

Ewok Village

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I have to be honest, I'm not a big Ewok fan.  Even as a kid watching the movie, I wondered when Kermit and Miss Piggy were going to show up.  But this Ewok Village by KW Vauban almost changes my mind.  The scale and detail are most impressive!  He's got the party up above, the funeral pyre down below, and the Ewok Battle Wagon double parked at the base, anticipating an emergency beer run, I suppose. 

The whole display sits on four 48X48 baseplates, and stands 97cm tall.  That's like three feet-Dude!  Scroll through the post on MocPages to see all the action.