We here at BrickNerd are always looking to highlight the wonderful work of talented AFOLs across the LEGO community. We had the opportunity to speak to Centuri Chan or Knee Deep in Bricks and his wife Wendy Graham about their MOC “It’s Always Tea Time” based on Alice in Wonderland. Grab some tea, sit back, and hear how this stellar MOC came to be!

Getting into LEGO

Ann: It’s wonderful to meet you both! Please tell us a bit about yourselves and how you got into LEGO.

Centuri: I am from Christchurch, New Zealand. I’ve been into LEGO since I was a youngster. I grew up playing with Classic Space and Castle. I started building MOCs about 15 years ago. One highlight as an AFOL was the opportunity to work with Ryan McNaught and his team on the Brickman - Wonders of the World Exhibition in 2016. I certainly learned a few tricks there, particularly building with LEGO on a large scale.

Since then I’ve been building bigger and bigger MOCs, with my architectural background I have a passion for creating buildings and iconic landmarks. As you can see I love making characters as well. My wife Wendy has also dabbled with LEGO and this year we decided to team up to create an epic scene for the Annual Christchurch Brick Show.

Ann: You did a wonderful job capturing the likeness and energy of the Alice and Wonderland property! How did this project come about?

Centuri: It was Wendy’s idea to create a huge Alice in Wonderland-themed MOC—she’s a big fan of the story. We decided to focus on the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party as it’s such a memorable scene and was a great way to bring several characters together in one build.

This build was primarily created to be displayed at the 2024 Christchurch Brick Show. We wanted to make something big and colorful that would have a wide appeal.

The White Rabbit

Ann: The first thing that impresses me the most about the white rabbit is the facial expression! How are you able to breathe life into these characters and give them such distinct and visually appealing looks?

Centuri: For me, there are two key ingredients when it comes to getting characters right. Namely the face and head, which is where I usually start the build. This is the first thing most people are drawn to when they notice a character, so it’s really important for me to get the facial features and expression spot-on. I spend a lot of time prototyping and ‘sculpting’ the face until I’m happy with it. The shape of the mouth, eyes and eyebrows are critical for capturing the character's mood. In the Rabbit’s case, he is a bit flustered and anxious due to being so late!

Second, body proportions are super important. If proportions don’t look right on a character, whether it’s humanoid or animal, it’s immediately apparent something’s amiss. After I complete the head, I’ll build a simple ‘skeleton’ using 2x plates and ball joints so I have a frame to build up the rest of the body. After that, it’s onto the posing and other details.

The Mad Hatter and Alice

Ann: How do you model the characters that you will then build in LEGO? Your work elevates the brick and that’s evident in the sculpting and planning you do.

Centuri: For the overall model composition, I make a rough sketch and estimate the model base size. For characters like Alice and The Hatter however, I don’t sketch or design them first. I will have a size and scale in mind before I start, and for these characters I had some reference images to draw inspiration from.

For characters, I prefer to design as I go because that gives me the freedom to explore different build techniques. My design process is much more hands-on than digital, which can present challenges. Alice’s face, for example, went through almost three different re-builds before I was happy with it. She is the star of the show, after all! On the other hand, it’s very satisfying when I nail the look I want.

The March Hare

Ann: This handsome guy looks so festive in his outfit! Where does your inspiration for the costuming and character designs come from? Alice looks very much inspired by the Disney cartoon.

Centuri: Yes you’re totally right. We took inspiration from various sources and different versions of the Alice in Wonderland story. For Alice and the Cheshire Cat, we followed the classic Disney designs as these are iconic and immediately recognizable.

We did use a little creative license for the others, so when it came to the March Hare, the design of his attire was determined by the parts we had available. We also wanted to balance the colors across the whole model, so using dark blue was complimentary to the dark tan of his fur, as well as a nice contrast to the rest of the characters.

The Cheshire Cat and the Dormouse

Ann: There is so much charm in this smile of the Cheshire Cat! And this awesome mouse makes me smile, too! I admire how your characters interact with the environment around them.

Centuri: Thank you! It was so much fun creating each character, and, as I mentioned before, so satisfying seeing each one come to life after so many hours of design and building. The scene would not be complete without the Cheshire Cat, and of course, being up in the tree presented a structural challenge. I have long wanted to create a MOC of Chesh, so that alone is a goal ticked off. I built him in the classic Disney colors and it worked really well being tucked in amongst the brightly coloured leaves.

The Dormouse was the last character to be completed. though it was a small and quick build compared to the others, I still wanted to ensure the expression was suitably sleepy. Part of the reason why I had him sitting inside the teapot was so that I didn’t need to build his bottom half!

Setting the Scene of the Entire Build

Ann: Speaking of the environment, every aspect of the build is so well thought out. How long did it take to complete the project?

Centuri: Our estimate is about 300 hours over the course of three months. Around 10 percent of that time was spent on design and planning, mapping out the size and scale, as well as visualizing the overall composition. We thought a lot about where each character would be positioned to give balance to the model. Having some of the characters sitting around the table meant there was a central focus for the story of the model.

Scaling of characters and other objects was an interesting exercise. Given that Wonderland is quite a fantastical and whimsical place, it didn’t matter too much whether some elements looked a little bigger or smaller than they should be. While I was building the characters, Wendy was coming up with all sorts of wonderful treats to decorate the table.

One of the best things about this creation was the variety of colors. From the brightly colored leaves on the tree to the checkered lavender and white tablecloth, it was a joy to employ such a range of colors to help bring the scene to life.

Ann: How familiar are you with working in such a large scale as this MOC?

Centuri: I’ve worked on large models before, but this is the largest personal LEGO project I’ve undertaken to date. It was definitely a challenging build and we may have gone a little mad at times, but we are super happy with the end result.

Even with the large scale we included many little details. There are some scary eyes staring out of a cave beneath the tree, a group of Toy Story army men patrolling the wildflowers, and a minifig scale tea party amongst the greenery.

I’m always adding in Easter eggs and other fun things to larger builds in order to keep an audience captivated.

Ann: Thank you and Wendy for sharing this whimsical creation with us!

What do you think of this Wonderland MOC? Have you ever worked in such a large scale as Centuri? Let us know in the comments below!

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