MikeyB Posted December 3, 2011 Posted December 3, 2011 (edited) Here is a MOC I created for the High Chief of Agriculture mini build for the Avalonia Guild. Circardia, a town in the Enchanted Forest, acts a crossroads for trade among the people of the Enchanted Forest. Circardia is ruled by Arlindus my sigfig), Captain of the Phoenix Guard and Circardia. Meet Duram the Beekeeper and his son, Groslin. They live in their modest house just outside Circardia where Duram has kept bees for years. Duram also has a small apple orchard and a few vegetable plants that he harvests that gives his honey its distinct flavor. He is well known for his superior mead at local Inns, honey amongst the more affluent and provides several suppliers in Circardia wax to make candles. Groslin loads up a couple barrels of mead for members of the Phoenix Guard for an upcoming feast to be hosted by Arlindus, Captain of Circardia and the Phoenix Guard. I am waiting a few pieces (1x1 studs on side to build "out" the corners of the farm house) from Bricklink to make a few changes but would love to hear what you think. I also left out some details (chicken and a couple small items that were going to rest against a wall) as I was rushing to take the photos as the sun was setting. Once I make the modifications I'll post more photos showing details. Edited December 4, 2011 by MikeyB Quote
K.Kreations Posted December 3, 2011 Posted December 3, 2011 Fantastic job MikeyB! I'm am very much looking forward to seeing your future builds.-K.Kreations Quote
Ecclesiastes Posted December 4, 2011 Posted December 4, 2011 A great moc you have there. The house is well done, but what I like the most are the beehives, nice idea! Quote
de Gothia Posted December 4, 2011 Posted December 4, 2011 Great fram Mikey! Fun to see a beekeeper in our guild! The roof is great and I like the little shed too! Now I know where to order my mead!! Quote
LEGO Train 12 Volts Posted December 4, 2011 Posted December 4, 2011 Fantastic MOC!!! The architecture style is perfect: the roof of the house is incredible and beautiful! I like the sense of peace of this place! Quote
CMP Posted December 4, 2011 Posted December 4, 2011 Hah....just played a quest involving all of this in Skyrim. This is a great little creation, and a sort of farm of which people seem to miss, but I find quite interesting. A lot of interesting techniques at work here. Good job. Quote
Captain BeerBeard Posted December 4, 2011 Posted December 4, 2011 The jars of honey is a really nice detail. Quote
Derfel Cadarn Posted December 4, 2011 Posted December 4, 2011 Great work! Really liking this, great idea with lots of great detail. The little house suits the scene well and everything blends nicely together. Another great addition to our ever growing land Hah....just played a quest involving all of this in Skyrim. This is a great little creation, and a sort of farm of which people seem to miss, but I find quite interesting. A lot of interesting techniques at work here. Good job. Was that the Thieves Guild quest? Just done that myself. Burning beehives! Quote
TenorPenny Posted December 4, 2011 Posted December 4, 2011 There's a great sense of drama here, i.e. what's going on in the scene. Lovely stuff. Quote
MikeyB Posted December 4, 2011 Author Posted December 4, 2011 Thanks for the feedback. I messed around with the roof for a couple days. In fact that is probably version 3 or 4 of the little house. I'm still not 100% happy with it. I also think I might add another tree behind the house to give it a more "forest" feel and modify the cart so its railings are one stud shorter (mainly because when I was trying to photograph Duram, the cart's height kept blocking my angles and like I said in my original post, I rushed the photos and left off a few small details and noticed a few flaws after I shot the pics. My chimney is crooked for instance. Credit to Maydayartist and Defrel Cardarn for their guides, I also had a lot of motivation and modified some ideas from several other builders here. As for the inspiration, I always saw the dome 2x2 as the top of a old beehive. I then did some google-fu on medieval beekeeping to kind of fill out the back story. It seems that beekeeping was quite the art then, and only a few people were truly successful at it and thought Duram the old man would be a good character. I haven't played Skyrim so it would be interesting to see the comparison. I'm sure they researched it a lot more than me! My plan is to do a couple lifestyle scenes and bring together a lot of the elements with a scene of Arlindus hosting his feast. right now I have some ideas for a hunting party, a fishing scene, a craftsman (stone or carpenter) now if only I could win the lottery so I can keep up with my newly found bricklink addiction! Quote
Si-MOCs Posted December 4, 2011 Posted December 4, 2011 Haha I love this. Brilliant idea and great executuion. I look forward to seeing your other life style builds! Quote
Captain Blackmoor Posted December 5, 2011 Posted December 5, 2011 Was that the Thieves Guild quest? Just done that myself. Burning beehives! Yup. I've never seen a bee farm in LEGO, and this is a fantastic build! I just don't know what I like so much about bee farms, I guess it's the honey. The Avalonia Trading Company will welcome you and your wares with open arms! Quote
MikeyB Posted December 5, 2011 Author Posted December 5, 2011 Yup. I've never seen a bee farm in LEGO, and this is a fantastic build! I just don't know what I like so much about bee farms, I guess it's the honey. The Avalonia Trading Company will welcome you and your wares with open arms! thanks for the kind words. I have always wanted to keep bees and I did some reseach on jobs during the medieval area to try and get some ideas. this idea jumped right off the list as, like i mentioned early, those 2x2 domes always looked like the top of an old wicker beehive (called a skep) I should have more pics up in the next day or two as the tracking on my BL shipment says it should be here NLT Dec 6 Quote
C.J.Cutrone9 Posted December 10, 2011 Posted December 10, 2011 Those beehives= <3 I like the house a tad bit more however, just seems to appeal to me more. I can't wait to see another build like this... Waiting... Waiting... Waiting...... BTW, where is Mayday's guide? I can't seem to find it. Quote
MikeyB Posted December 10, 2011 Author Posted December 10, 2011 (edited) Those beehives= <3 I like the house a tad bit more however, just seems to appeal to me more. I can't wait to see another build like this... Waiting... Waiting... Waiting...... BTW, where is Mayday's guide? I can't seem to find it. Here is a link to Mayday's guide Here is Derfel Cardarn's guide which is also a wealth of resources. I also tweaked a few things as I received a BL order that allowed me to make some structural changes to the house (brown brackets for the roof, planked the corners of the house, straighted the chimney and added a couple small details. Duram the Beekeeper Groslin, loads barrels of mead into the wagon Duram greets the Phoenix Guard Edited December 10, 2011 by MikeyB Quote
Siercon and Coral Posted June 13, 2012 Posted June 13, 2012 This is a great moc! We are literally just about to finish a piece extremely similar. I just happened to be reading some of the titles in the Avalonian thread and saw "Keeper of Bees" and my first thought was 'for real?!' lol. Then I read the description about farming, trading, and basically everything I was hoping to apply our build too. lol So somehow I missed this, but I suppose our beekeeper will be Durams nephew or distant cousin on the Mystic Isles :D Anyways, wonderful build, and really well done :)! Hope it doesn't bother you that they'll be similar, it was completely unintentional. Guess Avalonia will have a honey monopoly! :D Quote
MikeyB Posted June 13, 2012 Author Posted June 13, 2012 Thanks for the complement. This was one of my first MOC and I am sure that whatever you guys come up with will be awesome. Besides great minds think alike (if you'll see that both me a de Gothia have built several similar builds since GoH started!) Can't wait to see it! Mikey Quote
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