Glassblowers: 1. Humble Beginnings

[Kai NRG]

In the bustling marketplaces of Barqa, where poor artisans and farmers from miles around gather to trade wares and stories, John and his son Martin work long hours in their modest outdoor space. It's a small start, but that doesn't keep these craftsmen from dreaming big and working hard.

There's always lots going on at the market, farmers bringing in their livestock...

...customers inspecting merchandise...

...John touching up a stained bottle...

...and of course a brisk trade at the cheesemongers.

 

This is the first part of a collab with @Eyrezer @jtooker and @RocketBoy.  I had fun with this one, paid a lot of attention to the colors and composition.  If you'd like to see some WIP pictures and read more about that process check out the behind the scenes on my blog!  Thanks for stopping by, C&C welcome as always!

[Ecclesiastes]

There are so many details in such a tiny space! I love the roof, almost gets lost because it´s out of focus(purposely).

 

[Yperio_Bricks]

Yep, so many great details in a small space And beautiful photography!

[SimWies]

Great photography! I really love the angles and focus, makes the scenes really feel alive. And of course lots of great details :-) 

[Slegengr]

Great build, @Kai NRG!

Interesting techniques to make this colorful and immersive scene! The green glass bottle is just perfect for a variation on the actual bottle piece!
Blowing the glass in front of the customers is an interesting presentation.  How far is the glass blower from the furnace for heating the glass?  I don't see it in the picture.
The only thing I'm not sure about is the use of the newsboy hat in dark green; it seems too anachronistic to me to be included in a 'Medieval' build, even in a fantasy setting.  The hunters hat in dark green would work better for that figure, in my opinion.

Funny that the mouse seems more interested in the glass-blower's tongs than in the cheesemongers' stand... maybe it was on its way to the cheese when it got scared into hiding by the kitten?

[Kai NRG]

Thanks everyone for the comments!

On 8/2/2024 at 2:57 PM, Ecclesiastes said:

There are so many details in such a tiny space! I love the roof, almost gets lost because it´s out of focus(purposely).

I'm glad you mentioned the roof, because it was a bit of a pain to stick up there, so I'm glad someone noticed it 

2 hours ago, Slegengr said:

Great build, @Kai NRG!

Interesting techniques to make this colorful and immersive scene! The green glass bottle is just perfect for a variation on the actual bottle piece!
Blowing the glass in front of the customers is an interesting presentation.  How far is the glass blower from the furnace for heating the glass?  I don't see it in the picture.
The only thing I'm not sure about is the use of the newsboy hat in dark green; it seems too anachronistic to me to be included in a 'Medieval' build, even in a fantasy setting.  The hunters hat in dark green would work better for that figure, in my opinion.

Funny that the mouse seems more interested in the glass-blower's tongs than in the cheesemongers' stand... maybe it was on its way to the cheese when it got scared into hiding by the kitten?

Thanks for the thoughtful comment!  I was wondering how long I could go before someone noticed that there was no furnace   If I had thought of it when I first started building, I would have put one off to one side or another, because I think I could have made a fairly cool red glow or something.  But by the time I realized that this guy had for some reason randomly heated his glass and then walked out into the middle of the market to blow it, a furnace just didn't fit in the rest of the scene.  Presumably it is just barely out of the picture kind of in front and to your right.

Interesting point about the newsboy hat.  I think of it as a "reformer's hat" which feels medieval to me.  Of course it really is actually a newsboy cap, but it's not too different from this kind of thing:

Anyway, thank you for sending me on a rabbit trail down the history of newsboy caps... and for inspiring me to wear mine today 

[Slegengr]

Spoiler

2 hours ago, Kai NRG said:

Thanks for the thoughtful comment!  I was wondering how long I could go before someone noticed that there was no furnace   If I had thought of it when I first started building, I would have put one off to one side or another, because I think I could have made a fairly cool red glow or something.  But by the time I realized that this guy had for some reason randomly heated his glass and then walked out into the middle of the market to blow it, a furnace just didn't fit in the rest of the scene.  Presumably it is just barely out of the picture kind of in front and to your right.

Interesting point about the newsboy hat.  I think of it as a "reformer's hat" which feels medieval to me.  Of course it really is actually a newsboy cap, but it's not too different from this kind of thing:

Anyway, thank you for sending me on a rabbit trail down the history of newsboy caps... and for inspiring me to wear mine today 

 

I imagined the furnace exactly as you mentioned.  Keeping the furnace away from the market stall as to no overheat the customers (keeping it off-scene) makes sense.

Now the hat makes sense; that reformer's hat reference works well enough for me!  My mind could not come up with a relevant reference and could not get past the newsboy reference and my plans for the same hat in dark green for some updated Adventurers minifigures.

Edited August 7, 2024 by Slegengr

[Yperio_Bricks]

3 hours ago, Kai NRG said:

I was wondering how long I could go before someone noticed that there was no furnace 

Hey, i noticed that too! I even looked up the correct English word but when i was writing the comment, i dismissed it

[Kai NRG]

On 8/7/2024 at 2:07 PM, Slegengr said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I imagined the furnace exactly as you mentioned.  Keeping the furnace away from the market stall as to no overheat the customers (keeping it off-scene) makes sense.

Now the hat makes sense; that reformer's hat reference works well enough for me!  My mind could not come up with a relevant reference and could not get past the newsboy reference and my plans for the same hat in dark green for some updated Adventurers minifigures.

Right, we don't want to overheat customers but we do want to wow them with molten glass being blown in their sight 

On 8/7/2024 at 3:14 PM, Yperio_Bricks said:

Hey, i noticed that too! I even looked up the correct English word but when i was writing the comment, i dismissed it

[Grover]

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!

[Eyrezer]

Lovely immersive scene, and I enjoyed the BTS looks too.

[Kai NRG]

On 8/10/2024 at 12:58 AM, Grover said:

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!

Thank you!  It was really fun to fill out the whole frame with LEGO--sometimes "all LEGO scenes" actually have sky or something, but the awnings and wooden roof let me avoid that scenario.

On 10/22/2024 at 2:06 AM, Eyrezer said:

Lovely immersive scene, and I enjoyed the BTS looks too.

Thanks Eyrezer!