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While many people have already viewed the pictures available on BrickShelf,
I thought I’d go ahead and make an “official” announcement regarding my
first really big MOC: Brickenbloom Place & Gardens.
For those of you wishing to skip my usual, rambling jibber-jabber here’s the
link that will take you straight to the goods:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=14933
Also, before diving into the details behind this MOC let me say that I plan
on having Brickenbloom on display at BrickFest this year. Most likely it
will be set up in the Train room along with other Town oriented buildings
and creations.
History of Brickenbloom Place & Gardens
Early in 2001 my mother gifted me with a huge tub of DUPLO bricks and pieces
that she had nabbed at a yard sale on my behalf. While the collection
mainly consisted of basic bricks there were bits and pieces from a couple of
the sets from the Play House theme (http://guide.lugnet.com/set/2551,
http://guide.lugnet.com/set/2552, etc).
This was my first exposure to DUPLO and to be honest I wasn’t too thrilled
with this huge tub of “baby bricks” even though I did appreciate my mom
making the effort on behalf of my hobby. I quickly came to appreciate the
DUPLO bricks though as a great way to build up support under large
System-scaled creations. That huge pile of basic bricks has come in handy
several times for this purpose.
Poring over my collection of DUPLO bricks, I encountered several of the
1x2x2 printed bricks. One of these was the garbage can brick from the
Refuse Truck set (http://guide.lugnet.com/set/2613). For some reason I just
thought it was really neat that there was a brick with some (literal)
garbage printed on it. I also found some of the household bricks (potted
plants, comb & brush, meat-on-grill etc.) in my pile, was taken with them
also and next thing you know I’ve got a full-on LEGO sub-obsession going.
As many of you know, this interest led to the creation of the DUPLO Printed
Bricks Database here on LUGNET (http://www.lugnet.com/duplo/~250/printedbricks).
Included in the household DUPLO elements were a couple of the roof pieces
with the molded light green shingles. I was really intrigued by these
pieces because of the light green color of the shingles. Not long before
getting the DUPLO gift, I had found the 1688 Bucket Specially for Her
(http://guide.lugnet.com/set/1688) at a used junk shop. This was my first
exposure to pink LEGO elements. The set also included a light green baseplate.
With the pink pieces from the 1688 bucket, I had started to form a vague
desire to build a “little pink house” that would stand out from the usual
red/yellow/blue/green/black creations. The DUPLO roof pieces made me start
to see some further potential for incorporating those elements (and the
light green color) into my house. Now that my idea was starting to take a
more definite form, I set out to increase my collection of both pink
elements and light green DUPLO roof pieces.
So I started hanging around ebay looking for desirable DUPLO lots (also had
my eye out for printed bricks) and any sign of more pink bricks (I’ve become
a BIG Paradisa fan in the last year). Bit by bit, I started amassing the
material I needed for my house. Just about a year ago, I posted a plea here
on LUGNET for more DUPLO roof pieces and to my delight Suz offered up a
bunch of them (8 or so) that she delivered to me at BrickFest 2001.
Then came the Shopping Spree at that same BrickFest where I bought my first
Belville sets. Now, I had more pieces that were pink (though most were dark
pink) for use in my project. From my Fairy Tale sets I was also taken with
the translucent-pink sloped tower roof elements. I felt like I had found
the perfect way to top off my house.
At this point, I started referring to my project as “Hodge Podge House.”
The name was based on the fact that I planned to be mixing DUPLO, Belville,
Paradisa and regular system elements. In my mind, Hodge Podge was going to
be big and obnoxiously garish with the all the various shades of pink
flashing all over the place.
Throughout the rest of 2001 I continued to keep my eye open for more pink
elements and roof pieces that I could use in my project.
Finally, almost a year after I had first conceived of the project, I started
building Hodge Podge House in early January, 2002. Almost immediately I
abandoned my plans to make the house “obnoxious”. I decided to drop the use
of the Belville trans-pink roof pieces and any other dark pink pieces. I
decided that I wanted the pink to be used more as an accent on the otherwise
white house. I stuck with my plan though to use the DUPLO roof pieces.
Thankfully, the Harry Potter sets included the 8x8 light green plate that
allowed me to build a nice flat surface for the roof that matched the color
of the slopes.
Unlike a “real” house, I built my project from the roof down. I was
somewhat bound by the number of roof pieces I had and the way they could fit
with the 8x8 plates. Once I had the roof mostly completed I was able to
determine the dimensions of the house that would actually sit under it.
Each level was built with tiles along top edge so the roof and the second
floor each lift off easily.
The back wall of each level is also attached to the other three using a
series of technic pins. So the house can be displayed like a regular
dollhouse with the back completely exposed. Eventually, I plan to complete
the interior of the house (still got lots of pink pieces to use) and these
construction features will allow me to show it off more easily.
As I worked on the house, I realized that I really didn’t have as many parts
as I thought I did and so for a few weeks there I was hitting BrickLink hard
and heavy. Thanks to the sellers who not only had the parts I needed but
delivered them up with such great service (Brett, Kevin & Melanie in
particular). As I continued to amass parts and work on the house, the
overall decorative plan slowly changed too and I eventually incorporated
many Belville pieces that were pre-printed with pink flowers.
Along the way, I started thinking about the grounds that would surround my
house. I had several baseplates in the light green color, including the
ones from the Paradisa sets (6416 & 6419) that included the grey stone
walkways. I also had the huge multi-level baseplate from the Belville
Enchanted Palace (5808) that really inspired me to want to build a HUGE
garden for the house – something I felt this structure “deserved”.
In this idea (of a garden), I was very much inspired by two local
houses/gardens here in Richmond, Virgina. One is call Maymont and the other
Bloemendaal. Both of these houses were the former home of wealthy residents
of the city. The original owners of Maymont had created on their property
several different types of gardens – an Italian one and a Japanese one being
two examples. The property is huge with different sections that have
different “feels” to them – one of my favorites being the huge stands of
bamboo that can be found on the grounds. Maymont is now operated as a park
by the City of Richmond.
Bloemendaal is part of what is now the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens
(www.lewisginter.org). This site has expanded dramatically in the last ten
years with the addition of new gardens, a visitor center and a Japanese tea
house. While my project is not intended to be a model of either house, it
more closely matches Bloemendaal which is a large, rambling Victorian style
mansion.
So, my desire for gardens sent me back to BrickLink, ebay and LEGO itself
for mass purchases of trees, shrubs, plants and flowers. One of the more
interesting aspects of this project was trying to create different plants
using the elements that LEGO provided. At some point I’d like to do a
“plant show” and show off some better pictures of the plants I designed for
my gardens.
I managed to finish the house and gardens in time for the March train show
that RichLUG participated in. Some of the pictures in the gallery are from
that show. Since I had some parts left over (and more importantly the
time), I also went ahead and built a small “Easter Train” in the same pastel
colors to go with the House.
Now all that was left to do was to name the house. Pretty much no one I
tried it out on liked “Hodge Podge House.” Everyone, thought that name was
too “beneath” the House and that it needed a more refined name. I also
played around with names like Pistachio Place or The Sherbert House, those
being some of the terms that folks said the house invoked for them when
viewing it. Those names didn’t test well with the public either.
I decided to shoot for some variation of either Maymont or Bloemendaal. I
came up Brickmont and Bloemenbrick, neither of which I was too happy with.
I was running some of these names by my wife one night and she popped out
with “Brickenbloom” – a name that I decided was about as good as it could
get and so I “officially” dubbed the house Brickenbloom Place & Gardens.
Some folks still call it the Hodge Podge house though which is okay with me,
because I still sort of like that name myself.
By far, this is the biggest LEGO project I’ve ever tackled and I foresee it
being one of those works that will never really be done. Just in the last
week I bought some more light green baseplates from Germany (thanks
Christina) that will allow me to expand the gardens by another 32 studs.
Currently, the house and grounds cover an area of about 2 ½ x 4 ½ feet. No
reason why it can’t be bigger than that. I also have all the interior work
to do.
Who knows if I’ll ever finish it? The other question I’ve received several
times is “how much did it cost?” I purposefully did not keep track of that
but realize that it’s more than enough to justify the other name I had come
up with for this project – “Greg’s Folly.”
I hope folks enjoy the pictures of Brickenbloom Place & Gardens and my
ramblings about the history and details of this MOC.
See you at BrickFest!
Greg
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Message has 4 Replies:
 | | Re: Introducing Brickenbloom Place & Gardens
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| When I was scrolling through pics, my five-year-old came along, looking over my shoulder and said, "Now that's really *pretty*." He thought the little train was really cool, too. I didn't read your ramble until after I looked at all of the pics, and (...) (22 years ago, 12-Jun-02, to lugnet.build)
| | | Re: Introducing Brickenbloom Place & Gardens
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| Greg: This is obviously an AMAZING series of MOC structures. If and when better pictures are taken of it, DO please repost a link and make another announcement. I can't look at blurry pictures like that for too long or I get headache from squinting (...) (22 years ago, 12-Jun-02, to lugnet.build)
| | | Re: Introducing Brickenbloom Place & Gardens
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| Woow Greg, AWESOME work!!! I just love it! I've been very interested in paradisa and even belville and I became a fan of these 2 series. I haven't create much so far but here is a MOC: (URL) welcome. JM (...) (22 years ago, 13-Jun-02, to lugnet.build)
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