2018 Parts Fest #2: Peter's Bloodborne beast and Vera Kamsha scene

In his second post, Russian builder Peter Guz showcases two more fantastic creations using the LEGO® elements we sent him for our parts festival.

When I saw candle parts, I imagined long and pale creepy fingers. I thought, who could have such fingers? I love the PlayStation game Bloodborne so much, and there are a lot of creepy creatures with cool designs in it. Vicar Amelia is one of the bosses, and the last high cleric of the Healing Church. She could not resist the curse of the old blood and became a beast.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Peter's Post Apocalyptic World and Flying Fortress

We are continuing with our ongoing LEGO® parts fest and welcome our penultimate guest builder, an extraordinarily talented young builder from Russia, Peter Guz. We are huge fans of Peter's work, but even we did not anticipate the creations Peter made in a short space of time with a parcel of elements we sent.  Peter is a builder of few words but his images speak for themselves. This is the first of two posts by Peter.

“Lanterns have to light” thought I at first. And then I found the mecha leg Elspeth made using a Lantern in the blog post Enlightening Elements. I realised that I must complete it and build a light-up Lantern mech using Black Lamp, No. 1 (Element ID 6227901 | Design ID 37776).

2018 Parts Fest #2: Devid VII's mecha, radiator and more

The next builder in our LEGO® parts festival is Devid VII, an Italian builder whose work I have admired for sometime, especially his mecha creations. Devid showcases a variety of ways to use our chosen parts festival elements, including this fantastic mecha just for us!

2018 Parts Fest #2: Hubtastic skyscrapers

As our parts festival nears its end, there are still a couple more LEGO® builders to come but two builders we have already featured sent me some further ideas using Metallic Silver [TLG]/ Flat Silver [BL] Hub Cap, dia. 24, No. 1 (Element ID 6227156 | Design ID 37195), an element only found in one set at present, 10262 James Bond Aston Martin DB5. So I thought both Sarah Beyer and Ralf Langer could share a hubtastic post, starting with Sarah.

When I first saw the hub cap my instant thought was "skyscraper". The silver colour and round shape remind me of modern cylindrical skyscrapers. The pattern adds an interesting aesthetic dimension and, seen from the side, makes excellent nanoscale windows. However I didn't have a clear idea about the surroundings and lay the concept to one side. Later on, when I was sorting loose parts, I came across the hub caps again.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Ralf's Compass, Medieval cart and microscale menagerie

The next builder in our parts fest is Ralf Langer from Germany.  He previously wrote about integrating LEGO® Modulex bricks in two posts for New Elementary last year.  Ralf has a real knack for innovative parts use, sometimes illegally, but always with the potential for stunning results.  If you haven't seen his builds before then you are in for a treat.

I started off with Reddish Brown Mini Brush (Element ID 6046576 | Design ID 15232), quite a versatile part. It is not as versatile as it could be as it doesn't fit in a recessed stud because of its tapered ends.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Sarah's Furniture and Robot

Our next builder is Sarah Beyer from Sweden. We have been admiring her creations for some time as she builds beautiful homes with LEGO® bricks, complete with detailed interiors. We sent Sarah a parcel containing new parts to see what should would build.

My first reaction when I saw the parts sent to me, was that they would constitute great furniture material. I mostly build modern furniture for my MOCs, but these elements fit in both retro and contemporary surroundings.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Simon's naughty dog and a touch of Japanese Architecture

The next builder in our LEGO® parts festival is Simon NH, a talented guy from Austria who is best known for his clever use of parts, especially novel ways to create textures and patterns.

Let’s start off with a fun little build featuring the four new elements shown: Metallic Silver [TLG]/ Flat Silver [BL] Hub Cap dia. 24 NO. 1 (6227156|37195) , White Tile 1X3 Inverted W/ 3.2 Hole (6223491|35459),White Candle No.1 (Element ID 6234807 | Design ID 37762)  and Reddish Brown Mini Brush (6046576|15232).

2018 Parts Fest #2: Marcel V's Helmet, Kitchen and More

Our second guest builder taking part in our second 2018 Parts Fest is Marcel V, an excellent LEGO® builder from Germany with an eye for detail whose work is full of creative parts use. We posted him a selection of new LEGO parts last month and waited to see what would happen.

Yay, new elements to discover! Can’t wait to dive into it…

2018 Parts Fest #2: Grantmasters' elephant, church and more

We sent some of the most interesting new LEGO® parts from 2018 to fan builders to see how they would use them. Grantmasters received his elements in two parcels due to a slight logistics issue and so his first post took a look at the 1x1 brackets, and now the remaining elements are explored in this second post. Over to Grantmasters...

So, round 2 began after receiving a load more parts from New Elementary. Whilst this image isn't all of the parts sent, it is all of the parts I included in this lot of builds.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Grantmasters' 1x1 brackets

As well as running workshops at fan events like Skaerbaek or Paredes de Coura, we also like to post a bunch of new LEGO® elements to some of our favourite builders from across the world. We will be publishing the techniques and creations they came up with in the coming weeks, and then show you what builders at the Skaerbaek workshop did with them. First up we have Grantmasters, a talented builder from New Zealand. The first of his two posts takes a look at the 1x1 brackets: Medium Stone Grey [TLG]/Light Bluish Grey [BL] Plate 1X1, W/ 1.5 Plate 1X1, Downwards (Element ID 6248078|Design ID 36841) and Dark Stone Grey [TLG]/ Dark Bluish Gray [BL] 1X1, W/ 1.5 Plate 1X1, Upwards (6225494|36840).

Initially, I was a bit stumped by the brackets as they aren't really what I would usually consider a "decorative" seed part. Over the years I have regularly wanted one of these brackets for various builds.  I tried to arrange the brackets with different orientations and with other offset types of connections to see where that took me first.

2018 Parts Fest #2: Introducing the Elements

Clearly we love new elements here at New Elementary, and what better way to explore the potential connections and uses than to send a pile of new parts to some innovative and inspirational LEGO® builders.

Let's introduce the  elements released in the second half of 2018 that our guest builders will be taking a closer look at in the coming weeks.

2018 Parts Fest #1: Luc Byard's The Alchemist

One of the 2018 LEGO® elements that we sent to builders to investigate was the new minifigure neck bracket with four bar attachments (Element ID 6215458 | Design ID 36452). One of our talented buiders, Luc Byard, used it to create a walker mech and has now come up with another interesting creation based upon this unusual part.

This build came out of looking for a way to connect the two shafts that are at 90° to each other. ‘Easy enough,’ I said to myself but the placement is not as convenient as I expected. It’s a tight fit and I think I’m pushing tolerances but I managed to secure them.

LEGO® Minecraft animals: Horse and Wolf

Jonas Kramm has been examining the LEGO® Minecraft animals and thinking up inspiring ideas as to how they might be used for something other than blocky animals! 

Welcome to the last lesson of Minecraft Anatomy class. Today we will analyse the horse and the wolf to see what can be done with grey Minecraft moulds.

LEGO® Minecraft animals: Cat and Rabbit

Continuing his challenge to use the LEGO® Minecraft animal heads in original ways, Jonas Kramm takes a look at another two animals.

In today’s lesson about Minecraft animals we will take a closer look at the moulds of the cat and the rabbit. (If you missed my last class featuring the silverfish and chicken parts, you can catch up here.) We also have a guest builder, my friend Cole Blaq!

LEGO® Minecraft animals: Silverfish and Chicken

I've always been intrigued by the animal head elements that were specially introduced for LEGO® Minecraft sets. They're highly specialised and don't entirely conform to the System, but their blockiness and intriguing shapes made me wonder what else could be done with them. Who could I challenge to take on such a challenging challenge? The brilliant Jonas Kramm accepted my evil task! Over the course of three posts he will examine six Minecraft animal moulds.

Under the radar of most AFOLs, LEGO® has added several new Minecraft animal moulds to their assortment, which seem to be quite strange on first sight. But in a series of articles here on New Elementary I will dive into the blocky world, analyse the geometry of several Minecraft moulds and show you examples for the capability of these elements.

2018 Parts Fest #1: Tim Goddard's BrickHeadz (and spaceships)

We sent a varied selection of new LEGO® parts from 2018 to some fan builders to build at home, and Tim Goddard (co-author of LEGO Space: Building the Future, plug plug) not only built at home but also down the boozer. Following on from his main builds that we posted two months ago, here are some fun extras.

On the second Monday of every month, London AFOLs hold a gathering in a pub near Euston station. Prosaically, the meeting after I was given this parts selection, London AFOLs had a meetup and that month it was a BrickHeadz-themed evening.

I went prepared, taking this sub-build which uses the interesting hooped minifigure accessory (Element ID 6207840|Design ID 35485) which is only found in LEGO Super Heroes 76100 Royal Talon Fighter Attack and 76103 Corvus Glaive Thresher Attack.

Using the healthy stock of parts provided at the pub I ended the evening with this post-apocalyptic version of myself...

2018 Parts Fest #1: Luc Byard's Walker

We sent a varied selection of new LEGO® parts to some expert fan builders for them to explore techniques and models to share with you. Here's one from Luc Byard (Flickr).

I love Tim; no-one can give you some really awkward LEGO® parts and say ‘build something with those’ quite like he can. The latest bunch included that new minifigure neck bracket with 4 bars (Element ID 6215458 | Design ID 36452) which looks cool… then you try and build with it!

My finished build is a micro Robotech-style walker. And with all that black, I just had to pair it with trans-yellow to give it a Blacktron scheme.

2018 Parts Fest #1: James Pegrum's creepy tomb

We sent a varied selection of new LEGO® parts from 2018 to some fan builders, and in an occasional ‘parts festival’ series we are showing you the techniques and models they came up with. 

For some four years I've been plugging away on a certain history-themed project, a key feature being the size of each build which I've restricted to a 16x16-module base.  There's a large number of builds in the series and ideas have sometimes been hard to come by. So when the guys at New Elementary asked if I would like to play around with some new parts it spurred me on to build some new ideas and in the end the final model included each of the parts they gave me.

The final model comprises includes various separate builds and there are three I want to focus on: a base, some flowers and a stained glass window.

2018 Parts Fest #1: Steve Guinness in space

We sent a varied selection of new LEGO® parts to some fan builders to explore techniques and models. This time we have the talented Steve Guinness: one half of the team who won Series 1 of Channel 4's LEGO Masters who now undertake commissions as The Brick Guys.

Clockwork Robots 

When I saw the 1x3 jumper plate (Design ID 34103) I liked the unusual pattern on the underside, as it has no anti-studs or pegs. The tiny triangles reminded me of teeth so I came up with these Clockwork Robots.

2018 Parts Fest #1: Tim Goddard's Engaging Elements

In addition to our Portugal workshop we also sent a varied selection of new LEGO® parts from 2018 to some fan builders, and in an occasional ‘parts festival’ series over the next month or two we’ll be showing you the techniques and models they came up with. First up, our good friend Tim Goddard, co-author of LEGO Space: Building the Future.

At Bricktastic in Manchester this year Tim J mentioned he had a selection of new parts and would I like to explore them for New E. Being the parts monkey that I am, I of course said yes, and what an interesting selection of parts I got!

Let's start small... possibly the smallest LEGO element to date (I am saying this knowing that New E readers will correct me if I am wrong) are the Infinity Stones, which I was supplied with in Transparent Yellow (Element ID 6223002 | Design ID 36451).