Grover

Amazing! I can't wait!

You're welcome! I completely agree with such feedback. I joined this forum to grow as a builder and learn, and I feel that I was able to do so through detailed feedback, so I try to return the favor. Sadly, I have not had a lot of time lately to build, as I have been moving, dealing with a tremendous amount of non-Lego related life things, but I've recently had that slow down a bit and am now starting to unpack my Lego in their permanent home, so hopefully I will be able to contribute some builds to the forum as well and maybe we can get things moving some more!

This is a really interesting and might I say artistic build. The interesting contrast of the muted sand blue and dark brown against the bright white and lime is very startling, and yet they work. The combination of the two palettes is also somewhat contrasting, and yet it also works. The elevation change is, in my opinion, the real standout of the build, even if it is somewhat subtle by comparison, since it makes the waterfall feasible and really brings the piece to life. The buildings are very nice, and I particularly like the door, although I would be concerned that the house would flood with the spring rains! I think it's just the angle of the picture, but the waterfall appears to go uphill just before cascading downward. A plate offset to look like foam/mist or maybe dropping that area 1 plate might help (or another angle on the pic). The butterfly is a great touch, and I appreciate your keeping to one color of flower. Too often I see multicolor flowers everywhere, and the builds subconsciously seem unrealistic for it, but it looks good here. Well done!

This photograph is crazy good! I love how it's almost entirely Lego, and you have a ton of depth. The foreground of course has the beautiful stained glass windows. I see a ship in the window on the left, am I right? The upside down pistons for pain cups is great, and I love how the scene tells the story of what's going on with the windows in the town square. In the back, the round building is quite nice, particularly with more stained glass, and the hammer door arch in the new 1x2 round plates is clever. The blurry fencing looks very good, and the lack of focus helps sell the weathered look on the tudor building in the back. What looks like a tower or windmill in the background is sold as higher ground, so the entire picture has the feel of some elevation change, although the build itself appears flat. You also have a lot of bold color here, but that's exactly what you'd expect for a stained glass window. Fantastic work!

I don't mind the current one either, but I wouldn't mind a contest or even just someone making a banner and posting it, then letting people vote on adopting it or not. As for making it, I would suggest that should be a labor of love that you enjoy doing regardless of whether or not people eventually vote it in so that you aren't upset if it is not used, and that you get some enjoyment and fulfillment out of it regardless.

Thanks! OK, I'm going to see if I can get some of this dye. I'm thinking thermostating the solution with a sous vide will keep a constant temp, then putting a timer on it, with something like a deep fryer basket so the batch can be lifted out and immediately quenched in cold water in another bucket.... I will look around and see what I can find. I will post results here.

Do you have a blog where you share your recipe? The temperature, time for dying, concentrations, and the dyes used all make a large difference, plus if you did any prep work (soaking in a surfactant or solvent first etc.). I'm curious because this process really looks good, much more so than I would have anticipated, and I would be curious to try it and play around. I'd also probably get some ABS from the hardware store, dye it, then cut it in half and see how far the dye penetrated. This is very interesting! Also, if you don't want the solution to go through your gloves, get a box of disposable nitrile gloves. Normal latex and natural rubber are useless against organic solvents.

The shades look pretty good. How do you dye them? I wasn't aware ABS took dyes that well.

Gorgeous windows! Love the overlaid detail there and the idea of the artists ruining their own work. The mosiacs are the real showcase here, but the tile work on the walls is quite nice as well. Thanks for posting the whole list, too!

Great scene! I love the all lego scenes. Makes the entire thing seem more realistic in my opinion. I noticed there was no furnace (I will not call it by its actual name as it has been co-opted by the obscene). It would likely be too hot for a market tent, but the glassblower would have to be close to it. It could be that the oven is just outside the tent, fed by sea coal or dense oily wood to keep the temperature up. The glassblower would also likely come into the tent to work the glass, since in direct sunlight it's difficult to see the color of the glass, which lets you know how to work it. You could get one of those trans orange martini glasses to show the glowing glass out of the furnace! Very nice!

Wow, what a great build, and a first build at that! I love it! You used the footprint very efficiently here, and the lines are all very clean and smooth. Your use of the stone wall as the base for the wood floor eliminated the 'brown plate in the grey wall' issue, and it looks great. I love that the tax collector up top is not at a right angle to the scene. The thief climbing up the wall just ahead of the patrol is well done and funny! The stonework on the outer wall is really fantastic, and you have a great use of the tiles to interlock at the corner, which is not particularly easy to do. The Tudor section up top looks nice, and I appreciate how you chose the colors to be visible on both sides to save on space on this small footprint requirement. I also appreciate that you took the time to think of lighting and included torches, a nice detail sometimes overlooked. Lastly, the inclusion of a few masonry bricks on the inside of the wall helps sell the 'bricked' look from the outside without having to make another tiled inner wall. Great job, and look forward to more of your work!

Gorgeous! Massive, of course, but you have a lot of detail there. I appreciate that despite the size of the structure, you kept the same color scheme of LBG + sand green accents. I think that helps sell the effect. I also like that you're building in Nocturnus (go Nocty!). There's a lot of fun scenes, and I love that it's interactive with the kids. I would encourage anyone who likes this to check out the Flickr album, as the pictures are much larger and detailed there!

As an afterthought.... is this a rubber tree? I bet it smells awful when you burn the wood...

Louis! You're back! I am excited. What a beautiful build to make a return with too! Love the tires on the tree trunk, and the overall dark/light contrast looks fantastic. I love your attention to detail, with the strings hanging down from the tree and the perfectly placed snow on the leaves. In my opinion, the snow only on the tops of the leaves makes the brain see a more realistic picture. I see white limbs thrown on top of other limbs frequently to give an 'idea' of snow on leaves, but it looks more like an artists rendering. This looks more like a photograph, as the snow would fall down between the leaves. Similarly, you have a few lavender plates on the ground to simulate the leaves that fell due to the weight of the snow, which looks great. The thick irregular base does a great job showcasing the 3D nature of the tree roots and looks very good. Outstanding build!

Amusingly, almost 2/3 of all animals in medieval a town were fowl, so you really need about 300 more chickens!