Window Wonderland Part III

Day 3. The task was set. I was going to bring a seagull to Brighton made entirely out of LEGO. Brilliant.

The head was completed. Perhaps the eye was a bit too big and the beak a little too pointed, but hey, I'm no pro. Surely if I told people it was a seagull's head they'd have to believe me. More's the point I didn't want to get bogged down ironing out imperfections. I'd never progress. The head, in my mind, was fine. Onwards and upwards as they say. Or downwards might be more accurate. I had to work out how to create a neck that would be strong enough to hold this head.

I perused the Internet for ideas and more techniques to note down in my mental guide to becoming a LEGO artist. Or something like that. In between looking at pictures of seagulls and sculptures I came across a clever way of creating support inside a hollow structure. Now don't judge me here, I am but a humble shop keeper. To the engineers of the world this would be textbook. I could create a hollow frame and connect the opposite sides with longer pieces of LEGO. This would add strength to the sculpture and save on the limited number of white bricks.

Fuelled with inspiration, I started to build the neck. The shape of this part would dictate the stance of the whole bird. It would have to be a standing seagull for many reasons beyond the practicality of displaying a bird in flight made out of LEGO. I would need to consider the shape and the angles involved. A long, straight neck; A curved breast; A straight back which would point down. This would be difficult. I very nearly put the head - now with a bit of a growth - aside, never to be spoken of again. But I'd convinced myself that I could do it. With a case of white bricks and pieces of various LEGO flying machines from the 1990's I would complete this thing.

I puzzled and clicked, gradually widening the shape in my merry way. The outside was white and neat enough. The inside was a mish-mash of some white and predominantly red (for added effect) LEGO. I had found that rhythm again but then I had to stop. I had thoroughly confused myself. I could see that this beast was going to have a square body. I would let a few forgivable oddities slide but a cuboid seagull would not be one of them. I decided to stop before I went too far. What I finished with that evening was a dwindling selection of white bricks and something that looked uncannily like a cross between a stork and an albino flat-fish.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? I just don't know...

Still, I would not be defeated...