The first day of spring can feel like a breath of fresh air, a chance to begin again, and an excuse to spread your wings—the same three feelings I get from looking at Kelly Bartlett’s stunning LEGO butterfly MOC named “Emergence.”

I first enjoyed this artistic model on display in the virtual galleries of this year’s Bricks LA LEGO fan convention in January. I love how the butterflies seem to burst from the flat painting, starting as nothing but 1x1 square tiles to taking flight right off the frame. The color contrast between the blue background and yellow and orange wings really makes the butterflies pop, and the understated “wooden” frame is simple but so effective.

I had the chance to chat with Kelly about the model over the last few weeks:

Dave Schefcik: Thank you for chatting with us about your model! “Emergence” is so stunning. Where did your inspiration come from?

Kelly Bartlett: I designed this as a submission to an art contest that was held on the LEGO Ideas website last fall. The winners of the contest would have their artwork displayed in the new LEGO headquarters in Billund, so the contest guidelines stated that submissions must be able to be built with real bricks—and also be able to be shipped to Denmark. Beyond that, the “art” theme was wide open to interpretation. I knew I wanted to make something visually appealing and as large as possible without it being too big to ship if needed!

The story of the butterflies emerging from the canvas came to me, as most good ideas do, in the shower. I was inspired by the new line of LEGO Art sets to create a mosaic but thought I could also take advantage of the bricks’ functionality and add some depth to it. Right away, I made some butterfly prototypes in different sizes, sketched out the build, and ordered the parts I needed that evening.

Dave: I love the blue and yellow contrasting colors. How did you decide on your color palette?

Kelly: I originally thought of making the butterflies shades of blue, but couldn’t figure out what color to make the background. I ultimately decided that having a gradient blue sky as a background was more important to me, so I needed a complementary color for the butterflies. I went with the colors of the Monarch, a “classic” butterfly that many people recognize and whose colors would stand out against a blue background.

Dave: The butterflies are so simple, yet so beautiful. I’m curious, what was the hardest part of creating this model? Getting the frame to be structurally sound or maybe getting the butterflies to take off?

Kelly: The hardest part was designing the butterflies’ wings. I experimented with so many different types, colors, combinations, and patterns of tiles before settling on the ones I used. That part was hardest for me because there were just too many possibilities! With each draft I created, I had to build nearly all of the butterflies in the piece in order to step back and see how they looked as a group.

Some color combinations and wing patterns were too chaotic and unpleasant to look at, some got lost in the background, and others left too many studs exposed and broke up the smoothness of the mosaic. I probably went through thirty different drafts of butterfly wings before deciding on the final pattern. Now that I look at the final design, it looks so simple!

Dave: It is simple but also very big with lots of tiny tiles! How big is the actual model? And I know this is a pretty cliche question, but do you know how many pieces are in the model? With so many tiles it must be significant.

Kelly: The piece measures 100 studs long by 68 studs high and is completely built with real bricks. It has a total of 8,356 pieces, of which 7,200 are tiles!

Dave: That is quite a lot of tiles! How did you source the parts you needed? Do you have a large collection or did you have to buy what you needed?

Kelly: I’ve built LEGO sets for a long time, but I just got into making my own creations last year. So once I knew what pieces and colors I needed, I ordered everything through BrickLink. The sellers were great about shipping quickly when I told them I was on a deadline to get this submitted for the contest. (Big shout out to the BrickLink stores Brick Vibe, Big B Bricks, The Slow Shipper, Around the Clock Bricks, BBB Brick Store and Active Builders. I was so grateful for their prompt service!)

Dave: I think individual BrickLink stores should be recognized more than they are. As builders, many of us couldn’t make our dreams a reality without them! Taking a closer look at “Emergence,” how did you attach the butterflies to the base?

Kelly: Each butterfly attaches to the plates with a cylinder hinge with locking teeth (30553) and 1x2 plate with finger (30383). Then, depending on the height of the butterfly, each cylinder contains a bar in either 3L, 4L, or 6L that connects to the underside of the butterfly body. I tried a few designs for elevating the butterflies before deciding on the click hinges. These allowed me to adjust the angle of each butterfly on both the horizontal and vertical axes. The rigidity of the locking hinge was also sturdy enough to allow the whole piece to be hung on a wall without the larger, more elevated butterflies crashing down.

Dave: How did you place each butterfly? It looks so organic and natural.

Kelly: I actually took the prototype butterflies and literally tossed them onto the frame! I made a few adjustments, then put a 1x1 brick where each one landed so I’d know where to attach each bar.

Dave: No wonder it looks so natural! Are you excited to display it at other LEGO fan conventions when they are back?

Kelly: I am looking forward to the day when I can show this piece at LEGO conventions! Right now it is on display at LEGO headquarters in Billund. It was selected as a winner in the LEGO art contest, so it will be in Denmark for another year or so. Then I can show it off more in the United States!

Dave: Was it hard to ship to Billund?

Kelly: It was pretty tough! I created simple instructions, but I’m still wondering how much reassembling they had to do. Here is a photo of it boxed up and ready to be picked up by the courier LEGO sent to my house. You can see it is pretty large.

Dave: I hope you get to see it on display in Billund before they ship it back! One last question, what would you say you are most proud of in this MOC?

Kelly: I am really proud of the visual aesthetic of the piece as a whole. The build itself is pretty simple—there are no unusual or fancy techniques—but I love how such straightforward LEGO technique can be combined with artistic elements like movement, depth, texture, color, and story to produce a piece of art that has a “wow” effect.

Dave: Thank you so much for your time and for sharing all those great photos with us!

You can see more of Kelly’s work on her Instagram and Flickr.

How would you have made the LEGO butterflies take flight? Have you ever had to ship a LEGO creation? Let us know in the comments below.

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