make it: lego figure frames
The Legos. They are all over your house. Am I right? You try and try to manage them but it is almost as if they multiply overnight. And if you have a daughter who is into building and likes all the things and is spoiled by most people’s standards but is the apple of your eye, you also have 8,000 little Lego people all over the house from the 8,000 friends and princess sets that she has “collected”.
It took me no time at all to complete this project but - I’m not going to lie - it took me forever to start it and forever to get it on the wall. You won’t need more than an evening to make these frames once you have all of your supplies. This is a simple project that involves simple tools. You will need a frame, a level, a ruler, tracing paper or vellum, a pencil, really good glue, and Legos.
Quick word about supplies. I used adjustable white frames from Michaels that I purchased on sale for roughly $10 each. These frames come with spacers intended to give you space between the glass and the back of the frame. I used the spacers to provide space between the glass and the front of the frame instead, thus giving me a surface on which I could glue my base Legos without everything ending up outside of the frame space.
We used 48 white 4x2 Lego bricks (base blocks) to make four completed frames. The total number of Legos you need will obviously depend on what type of frame you use and how much space you feel you need to get the figures on and off the frame. Twelve was the perfect number for the frame we used. If you don’t live near a Lego store, you can also buy individual bricks, by color and shape and size, online at the Lego store. (P.S. I am a nerd and am more excited about this than I should be because we have quite a few headless and pants-less figures hanging around. I can’t stand incomplete.)
Once you have your supplies, take apart your frame, and cut a piece of tracing paper or vellum to the size of your glass. You will use this to space out your base Legos and figures and to glue the bases to the right place on your glass. Here’s where I am a total failure as a blogger. I took photos of this whole process and then somehow deleted them. I am truly sorry and promise not to provide tutorials without photos in the future. My bad.
Lay out the base Legos (with figures attached) on your piece of tracing paper. Using a ruler and level, make sure everything is evenly spaced and level. I found that about 2.5” between each block row was sufficient. I may have had my little interns test this before I glued anything. Just a suggestion. Mark each row and starting point for each base block with a pencil on your tracing paper.
Once everything is spaced and marked, lay your tracing paper below your glass, and line up your base blocks with your pencil marks. Glue one row at a time, starting at the top of your glass, and using a level to make sure the rows are staying even. This glue is very wet and very strong. You don’t need much of it as it will ooze all over the place when you place a shiny, non-porous Lego onto shiny, non-porous glass. Don’t worry about this. As long as you place everything close enough, you can use the level to make sure your row is even. You might be worried that the glue will never dry. It will. And those blocks will be impossible to yank off. Give your project at least 24 hours to cure before adding your figures onto the bases.
Truth time: it has been a couple of months since I finished this project but am only now getting around to hanging the frames. Perhaps that’s why the process photos were deleted. Oh, well. The kids take figures on and off with ease and the base blocks have stayed right in place. Just because the frames weren’t actually on the wall doesn’t mean they haven’t been used.
I'd love to see what you create. Take a photo and tag me (@animalcrackerstudio) on Instagram. Any questions? Just ask. Happy to help!