The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter

Happy Belated President’s Day!

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:55:18 +0000

Happy belated President’s Day! I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend, descending upon the local mall or car dealership in a furious shopping attack picking up sale after President’s Day sale. Or in our case realizing that this is one of the few days the Post Office shuts its doors and lets it’s workers take a well deserved day off. Which would not have mattered if we didn’t have packages to ship out…oops. Or in the case of our local school system, I’m sure the students were lamenting the fact that they had to go to school on a holiday, in need of a break before the stress of mid-terms rears it’s ugly head. President’s Day sadly is usually an oft forgotten holiday exploited by car dealerships and department stores to hawk last minute sales in the no-mans land retail landscape between Christmas and when it is actually warm enough to wear the Spring/Summer Fashions that stores have had on display since January.

But I think President’s Day is more important than sales or a day off or no mail. It is a time to celebrate the accomplishment of all our Presidents, and especially two of our most important ones- George Washington and Abraham Lincoln- whose birthdays both coincidentally fall during the month of February. It is a celebration of the birthday of George Washington who one of our founders and our first President. He set the example for all the presidents to follow him with his grace, humility, leadership, and devotion to the Republic. I honestly do not think any other man could have led our nascent country and put it on a path of greatness the way that he did. It is a celebration of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln who led our country during it’s most tumultuous and divided time in our history and we came out the other side better and stronger. President’s day is not only a time to celebrate and honor not only these two great men but also all the men who have made it to our nation’s highest office. It is also a time to reflect on our nation’s history, both the good moments and the bad, and learn from them as we look to our future as a country and who could be our future president as we enter the middle of primary season. Happy Birthday George! Happy Birthday Abe! Happy Birthday America! (ok so it’s not really the nation’s birthday…that’s July 4th…but can President’s Day be USA’s bday in February like there is Christmas in August? I think so )

Oh before I go…I leave you with some patriotic LEGO goodies! Enjoy!

This is a LEGO sculpture of Mount Rushmore, which features four of the USA's greatest Presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. It was made by LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya. Please chekc out more at his website www.brickartist.com.

This is a LEGO bust of George Washington at LEGOland!

The President's Home! The White House is part of the LEGO Architecture series.

LEGO Mosaic of our 44th and sitting President Barack Obama. It was done by Sean Kenney and represents his official portrait. Please check out his website at www.seankenney.com for more awesome work!

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, history, holiday, LEGO, LEGO Architecture, LEGO mosaic, Nathan Sawaya, politics, President, President's Day, Sean Kenney, white house

Wooden Flavored LEGO —Purists need not read.

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:11:39 +0000

Well I got to cleaning out one of my LEGO rooms to make room for a new polishing unit and came across a bunch of my old WoodStitches. Way back when, when I had just come up with idea of engraving on LEGO bricks to make badges and keyrings and names on mini-figs, I was also interested in wood veneering and tiling patterns. Still am for that matter, but very little time to pursue them. Anyway, I came up with the concept of covering LEGO bricks and later tiles with real wood veneer. A modular kind of parquetry, one in which you could rebuild it again and again. Because LEGO is really strong and dimensionally stable, it actually made an excellent substrate for veneer. So I embarked on making all kinds of bricks covered with veneer. Figuring out the right kind of glue and cutting them out were of course the main problems, but to me they looked so darn good that I persevered and came up with a reasonable, if time consuming process. And once put together and coated with a few coats of urethane, they made a very durable item–durable enough for coasters, table tops and even floors.

I thought that photo mosaics out of them would be very unique and could not help but being good looking also. After all hardwoods are some of the prettiest materials that God ever created. I was always a fan of marquetry also. I played around also with stitching patterns, rug patterns , tiling patterns, etc. Had no idea there were so many stitching patterns in the world. I remember some of the African ones were very elegant. But wanted to do one pretty good sized mosaic, and finally created enough 1×1 bricks with enough of a variety of values and colors to give it a go. Since Kjeld was going to be at BrickFest that year, I decided to do a portrait of him –someone the AFOLs could identify.

So I grabbed one of the few pictures of him I could find and analyzed it value wise –took all my various woods and analyzed them from light to dark in similar color temperature and then started matching them up and numbering them . Some woods even though the correct values were too green or cool and could not use them. I then did like most mosaic makers do and “stitched” by number. If one was using traditional parquetry techniques and actually gluing them, it would have been a real pain. After all there were over 3000 of them for this fairly small picture. And if you decided one did not look good, with WoodStitches you simply had to take it apart and put in a different one. Actually a lot of fun, once the bricks were made and the pattern laid out. And you could also play with the grain direction to get some textural variations. It came out pretty darn well, and I was proud of my new craft form. I could not find any equivalent technique out there in the world. At BrickFest my new and original concept did not go over very well however because I was modifying the “holy” brick and it was not considered LEGO. Lot of purist back in those days and this was about as impure as one could get-lol. Well anyway, I thought it looked almost great—and did get Kjeld to autograph it as can be seen in this picture.

href=”http://brickengraver.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/kjeld-small.jpg”>Wooden Flavored LEGO

The technique would make a killer bar, coffee table, foyer floor, or mosaic backdrop for a tavern. Or a photomosaic. Would look good in any room. Great for making borders, all kinds of things. Problem of course was the expense. Nothing really inexpensive about the bricks and the amount of labor was pretty high.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Wondering What to Get Your Teachers as a Thank-You Gift? How about their very own LEGO MOC!

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:19:42 +0000

That’s right. What could be a more memorable, unique, and thoughtful gift than creating a scene that epitomizes your academic journey together than a finely-built LEGO vignette? With meticulous detail, adorable mini-figures for the teachers and an engraved tile to label the MOC. I honestly couldn’t think of a better present. Or a better way to secure great future job recommendations. : P Neither could Nannan Zhang (the sincere thank-you present part…not the cynical ploy for a recommendation part). He created the below MOC as a thank you present for his anatomy professors at the UTSW Medical School. We helped out by engraving a 1×8 black tile with “UTSW Anatomists” in white text. We always love seeing our engraved pieces in MOCs, especially one as fun and creative as this one. I especially love the very cool lamps and the cute little gray stools. As Tommy would say…it’s world class. Enjoy the below pictures and to check out more from Nannan Zhang please visit his flickr page at Nannan Z. , contributing to the Brothers Brick blog, and running Creations for Charity. Thanks to Nannan for letting us use the photos!

UTSW Anatomists MOC

Filed under: Tiles Tagged: AFOL, LEGO, MOC, Nannan Zhang, The Brothers Brick, tiles, UTSW

A Vote for Stephen Colbert is a Vote for LEGOs!!!!

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:47:06 +0000

One of Tommy’s New Years Resolutions this year was to stay out of politics. I know I know this may seem COMPLETELY untenable during an Election Year but goodness is he trying (and is doing better than my New Years Resolutions of blogging more and going to the gym…whoops…). Tommy’s idea behind avoiding politics is mainly to avoid conflict and the utter insanity that is campaign season with the plethora of inane speeches and ads. Also, arguments with his daughter. I was a Political Science major so I am sort of a political junkie, which means I devour politics like it’s candy (sometimes it’s the cardboard flavor out of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans…but not everything in life can be scrumptious chocolate). While this means we listen to more ESPN radio as opposed to NPR in the car (seriously…those are the only two stations we listen to in the car)…one thing that Dad and I can agree on this Election Year is watching the Colbert Report. He doesn’t count this as politics because it is way too hilarious a program to stop watching. Another thing we can agree on…we are so excited that Colbert is running for the President of the United States of South Carolina. Sorry, excuse me, EXPLORING a POSSIBLE run for the President of the United States of South Carolina. All I know is that Tommy is going to be one of the 13% who will write in Stephen Colbert as an independent (according to PPP Polling that is how much support he would garner if he ran as an independent).

But does Stephen Colbert’s potential run for President have to do with LEGOs? Suprisingly… alot! Colbert first came out in support of LEGOs back in 2008 when he had Nathan Sawaya, the amazing BrickArtist on his show as a guest. Nathan even made a life-sized Stephen Colbert out of LEGOs!!! Hmm…maybe we have found Colbert’s running mate…LEGO Stephen! A VP focused on fun, family, building, toys, and education. I like it. Below are links to Nathan’s website and to the clip of his appearance on the Colbert Report.

Nathan Sawaya at the Colbert Report!

http://www.brickartist.com/large-sculptures/stephen-colbert.html

Okay, okay…so that was four years ago…the last time Colbert tried to run for President…but what has he done for LEGOs since then? Well this year he opened up for FIRST President John Dudas for the introductory video shown at the First Robotics Competition (FRC) across the country. It is great, especially when he greets the students as “future techno overlords”…smart man A candidate who supports science education in our schools…now that’s someone I can get behind! Below is the link to the entire video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBUkr06taPw&

What is Stephen Colbert’s goal for running for President of the United States of South Carolina? Or starting a SuperPAC (Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow) and ceding leadership to Jon Stewart (who is he is definitely NOT coordinating with…at all…even though they keep appearing on each’s others shows…but apparently that’s still legal…). Colbert is the only one who really knows. But this extended political practical joke has done something absolutely brilliant…behind the antics and the jokes and the ridiculously hilarious SuperPAC ads (one accuses Mitt Romney of being a serial killer…because corporations are people my friend…and if you dismantle them it’s like killing them…really watch the clip…there’s a link below…I can’t do it justice). It has exposed the corruption and the undue influence of money in politics that is perpetrated by candidates on both sides of the aisle. This is seemingly legal thanks in no small part to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that declared that corporations are people and money=speech. So the more money you have the more speech you have…even if you are “not” coordinating with your SuperPAC. So if you are a citizen of South Carolina and haven’t yet voted in the primary today…vote for Herman Cain…because a vote for Herman Cain is a vote for Stephen Colbert (Colbert couldn’t get on the ballot but Cain couldn’t get off even though he has already dropped out of the race…so they basically swapped bodies for SC…ingenious huh?). Whether you vote for Colbert for fun, for LEGOs or to show the other candidates that we deserve a better slate to pick from if we would rather pick a late-night comedian than any of the rest of them, or as tongue-in-cheek protest against the prevalence of money in politics…please vote. Because voting is one of the most important rights we have as an American citizen. And that’s the Word.

For more info on Colbert’s Presidential Run check out the links below! Be sure to check out the Super PAC ads…they’re going to be the funniest political ads you’re likely to see all election season!

The Definitely Not Coordinating with Stephen Colbert SuperPAC: Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow

NY Times Magazine Article: How Many Stephen Colbert’s Are There?

NPR Report– Stephen Colbert Wants You to Know: That’s Definitely Not His SuperPAC

Filed under: Nathan Sawaya, Uncategorized Tagged: Americans for a Better Tomorrow, BrickArtist, elections, FIRST, FLL, frc, humor, Jon Stewart, Nathan Sawaya, politics, primaries, South Carolina, Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report, Tomorrow

Roll Tide!!!

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:00:36 +0000

As a diehard NC State and Wake Forest fan I’m not really much of an SEC football fan…but I did watch the BCS National Championship game on Monday night (I’m too much of a football fan not to)…and I have to say that was one of the best defensive performances I have ever seen. I had to root for Alabama, because 1.) I always root for the underdog (even though in most every way there is no real underdog in this situation since both teams are phenomenal); 2.) I’m a sucker for a good story of redemption; 3.) The field goal kicker for Alabama, Shelley is from Raleigh, NC and I always have to support a fellow Raleigh native and 4.) I hate LSU on principle. Congratulations to ‘Bama for SHUTTING OUT LSU, not letting go across the 50 yard line until the 4TH QUARTER, and believing in your Field Goal kicker to get the job done. ROLL TIDE!!!

What better way to immortalize ultimate success than in ABS Plastic? Which is so timely because the inaugural BrickFair-AL convention is this weekend in Birmingham! If y’all are in the area y’all should definitely check it out. I wish I could be there but unfortunately I have to work…boo. But, I will have some swag available to purchase with vendor Victor Fernandez including some fun figs, fig-tees, and Alabama-LSU bricks. Below are some pictures…Enjoy!!!

Roll Tide!!!! Congrats on SHUTTING OUT LSU!!!!

BrickFair 2012 Fig and Fig-Tee

Roll Tide!!!! The score and date is engraved on a 2x4x3 red brick. Also included are some mini-figs for BrickFair 2012 to commemorate BrickFair-AL.

Close Up of Bricks with Fig

Congrats Alabama!

Close Up of Engraved Brick and BrickFair 2012 Fig-Tee

Alabama: 21 LSU: ZERO

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: AFOL, Alabama, BCS, BrickFair, BrickFair-AL, College Football, LEGO, Roll Tide

New Custom Items added to our BrickLink and Etsy Stores!

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:56:08 +0000

At BrickEngraver we have been busy adding stock custom items to our Bricklink Store (The Original BrickEngraver) and our Etsy Store (The Original BrickEngraver). These include dice tiles, printed flags, and TARDIS tiles. Are there any custom items that you would like us to add? Any flags that we haven’t printed up yet? Different fonts? Different color combinations for the dice or TARDIS tiles? Please let us know! Below are some pictures of the newly added items. Enjoy!

1x4 blue tiles engrave "Police Public Call Box" as modeled on Doctor Sinister's TARDIS. A full set contains 4 tiles and costs $12.

1x4 Black Tiles Engraved "Police Public Call Box" for the TARDIS. A set includes 4 tiles and costs $12.

1x2 white brick printed with Spanish Flags

Spanish Flag printed on a 1x2 white brick; cost=$1.50

1x2 White Brick Printed with the Flag of Great Britain.

Italian Flag Printed on a 1x2 white brick; cost=$1.50

2x2 Yellow Dice Tiles

2x2 Red Dice Tiles

2x2 Black Dice Tiles

Filed under: Bricklink Store, Doctor Who, Etsy, Flags, Tiles Tagged: bricklink, color combinations, dice, Doctor Who, etsy, flag of great britain, flags, Great Britain, italian flag, Italy, LEGO, red dice, Spain, spanish flag, spanish flags, TARDIS, tiles, United Kingdom

Ringing in 2012 with First LEGO League

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:58:29 +0000

This past December and this January there have been a lot of FLL Competitions. Congratulations to all the teams that participated and worked hard throughout the year for this year’s theme “Food Factor.” Also, Good Luck to all the teams participating in regional, state, and various other FLL competitions this month! In the flurry of activity that is FLL Competition season we kept busy engraving and printing badges, keychains, tiles, and mini-figs. Below is a sampling of photos of some the fun orders we got to do. Enjoy!

Engraved Badges for the FLL Team De-Contamination

Engraved Badge for the FLL Team De-Contamination

Engraved Badges for FLL Team De-Contamination

FLL Printed Fig-Tees

Engraved Back of FLL Mini-Figs

Printed Fig-Tees for FLL Stealth Team

Engraved Badges for FLL Team Crunchie Munchies

Engraved Badge for the FLL Team Crunchie Munchies

Engraved Badges for FLL Team Crunchie Munchies

Printed Mini-Fig for the FLL Competition at SUNYIT

Printed Mini-Figs for the FLL Competition at the State University of New York Institute of Technology (SUNYIT)

Engraved Badge for the FLL Team F.O.O.D.

Engraved Badge for the FLL Team The Sharks

Engraved Figs for the FLL Team Brick Bros

Engraved Mini-Fig for FLL Team "Brick Bros"

Engraved Figs for Brick Bros FLL Team

Mindstorm Magicians Mini-Figs

Mindstorm Magicians Mini-Fig

Mindstorm Magicians Fig

Engraved Badge for the Jr. FLL Team "Mindstorm Magicians"

Engraved Badge for the FLL Team "Mindstorm Magicians"

Filed under: Badges, Bricks, Fig-Tee (tm), FLL, Mini-Figs Tagged: engraving and printing, First Lego League, FLL, fll team, food factor, ftc, LEGO, state university of new york institute of technology, sunyit

Happy New Year from the BrickEngraver Family!

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:52:53 +0000

Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy any other Holiday that we have missed! I know that it has been awhile since we last blogged but it’s our New Year’s Resolution to blog on a more regular basis (and also be more on top of things…we’ll see how that goes…). Over the Holidays we stayed busy with orders for FLL competitions, Christmas presents, and engraved LEGOs to ring in the New Year. We were also able to squeeze in some good food with the family and of course lots of football! Below are photos of some Christmas presents we were able to help out with. Enjoy!

A Personalized Mini-Fig is always a great stocking stuffer!

Evan was bought as a Christmas Present from our Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheBrickEngraver?ref=si_shop

Marc and Sean were engraved in time for Christmas (and to get some awesome Ninjago helmets!)

Engraved Figs with Chinese Characters for Lisa Lee

Peace Love California Bricks for Betsy Zibas (www.hocusfocus.com)

Peace Love Illinois Bricks for Betsy Zibas (www.hocusfocus.com)

Engraved 2x4 Light Grey Tiles (great to personalize a special Holiday MOC!)

2x4 white tile engraved with signature in black

Below are pictures of mini-figs that we printed and engraved for the employees at the Coulter Faculty Commons at Western Carolina University. They were given out at the Christmas Party. They are also a nifty little business card too

Filed under: Bricks, Fig-Tee (tm), FLL, Holidays, Keychains, Mini-Figs, Tiles Tagged: christmas present, happy new year, kwanza, stocking stuffer

It’s a Nice Day for a White Wedding…

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:09:40 +0000

11-11-11 is an important to many people for many reasons. It is Veterans Day and a day to honor those who have served their country. For Hollywood it is a lucky day to premiere movies. For department stores it is an excuse to have a sale. It is also a great day to have a wedding! We did favors for two weddings that are happening today! Congratulations to Christine and Roy as well as Doug and Todd! I hope that y’all have wonderful, beautiful days that are just the beginning of a wonderful life and partnership together (yes…I can become a sap…especially with weddings…). Below are pictures…enjoy!

Christine and Roy

Todd and Doug

Filed under: Weddings/Anniversaries

Bricking Bavaria–Munich, Germany (10/4/2011-10/6/2011)

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 02:10:38 +0000

This weekend is the AFOL Convention Bricking Bavaria in Munich, Germany! I have never been to Munich…if only there was time and money to go visit. It looks to be a great eve with a lot of great models and fu for both kids and adults! For more information please visit Bricking Bavaria’s Website. We did some printed torsos and tiles to commemorate the vent. Below are pictures…Enjoy!

Bricking Bavaria

Filed under: Conventions, Mini-Figs, TLG Tagged: AFOL, Bricking Bavaria, Germany, LEGO

Signature Tiles (Jeremy Moody)

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:32:07 +0000

Signature tiles are a great way to personalize your MOC! Below are some pics of 2×2 tiles of various colors that we did for Jeremy Moody. Enjoy!

2x2 Red Tiles with Yellow Signature

2x2 Yellow with Green Signature

2x2 Light Bley with Black Signature

2x2 Blue Tile with Yellow Signature

2x2 Tan Tiles with Black Tiles

2x2 Brown Tile with Gold Signature

2x2 Dark Tan Tile with Tan Signature

2x2 Tan Tiles

2x2 Tan with Purple Signature

2x2 Tan with Brown Signature

2x2 Tan Tile with Green Signature

2x2 Tan Tile with Orange Signature

Filed under: Tiles Tagged: AFOL, engraved tiles, LEGO

INSERT NAME HERE

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:25:05 +0000

Engraved 1x6 white bricks with brown text for Brad Srebnick.

Filed under: Bricks Tagged: AFOL, bricks, LEGO

LEGO(tm) Badges

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:48:53 +0000

LEGO(tm) Badges

We recently did some badges for Jim Foulds and Kevin Hinkle who work for LEGO(tm) in regards to Community Development. Both are really nice greay guys and I hope they enjoy the badges.

Filed under: Badges, TLG Tagged: badges, engraved, LEGO

Festi’Briques 2011

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:11:53 +0000

This weekend in France the LUG Festi’Briques is having it’s annual convention called Festi’Briques at Châtenoy-Le-Royal. It runs all day October 29th (today!) and 30th and features a variety of exhibitions including both the longest and fastest LEGO(tm) train in the world! It looks like a whole lot of fun…if only I could fly over to France to attend…le sigh. We engraved various bricks to commemorate this year’s event. Below are some photos…enjoy!

1x8 Tan engraved with Black text

1x8 White Brick with Black Text

1x8 Dark Bley with White Text (Font=Curlz)

French Flag printed on 1x2 white brick. These we printed for fun

Filed under: Conventions Tagged: AFOL, convention, france, LEGO, LTC, Trains

USS North Carolina Kit by Dan Siskind/Brickmania

The Original BrickEngraver/BrickPrinter — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:57:21 +0000

USS North Carolina Kit Cover, a photo by Brickmania on Flickr.

Dan Siskind of Brickmania (www.brickmania.com) has come out with an exciting new custom kit for the WWII battleship USS North Carolina. As a native North Carolinian and someone who has taken the family many times to tour the famed battleship which is now docked in Wilmington, NC, I am incredibly excited to see this in LEGO! The kit contains 445 pieces, built on a 1/700 scale, and retails for $125 at Dan’s website. All the kits include a 1×8 black tile engraved “USS North Carolina” in silver text by us! Also included is a 1×2 dark bley numbered tile for each limited-edition set. Dan Siskind has done it again and I cannot wait to get my kit in the mail to start building it!

USS North Carolina Display Tile for Kit

Filed under: Tiles Tagged: Brickmania, Dan Siskind, engraved, kits, LEGO, Tile, WWII