23 replies to this topic

[MikeyB]

Dear Mother and Father,

Hope this letter finds you both well.  I have adjusting to like at my new posting, Gwerddon Gennad Embassy in Kaliphlin.  The land here is very different than back home in Circardia but it is beautiful in its own way.


The duty here isn't tough.  Typical Embassy duty of watching the gate and escorting a few traders.  The ambassador at Gwerddon Gennad has tried to give us little tastes of home.  He is a big fan of old man Duram's mead and ensures we don't run dry!  He has made sure the court yard is full of greenery and we have two fresh springs.  The sound some how reminds me of the might Isca River even though it is just a trickle in comparison.  They do provide relief from the heat.  We even have some Blood Bloom flowers in our courtyard.  The floors in the embassy are covered in fine Avalonian timber planks.  The feeling on my feet brings a smile to my face.


I have also grown fond of some Kaliphlin ways!  Outside the embassy is a market full of unique sights and exotic smells.

  

There is a dwarven merchant selling marvelous spices and fruits along with some other goods .  Another selling fine leather goods and another sells goats!  

There are two old men that meet daily under some palm trees and partake in a curious practice.  They drink a hot drink called "chai" and smoke from a curious device called a "hookah".



My favorite is a man named Ali.  Ali prepares the most wonderful roasted spiced leg of lamb that he then shaves into thin strips, piles that onto some bread with fresh vegetables .  I will have to try and convince him to move to Circardia when my posting end or at least convince him to teach me how to make it!


Their is also a lovely Kaliphlin girl who works here in the Embassy.  Her name is Azhar.  She is our cook and cleans the embassy.  Her parents were killed years ago by bandits and the ambassador took her in.  we often talk of Avalonia and perhaps one day I can convince her to visit with me.


Well I must finish this letter now.  The sun is setting and I can smell Ali's meat cooking!  All the best and I look forward to the day when I return to Circardia.


Your loving son,
Carum





More photos





As always, comments and critics are welcome!

MikeyB

Edited by MikeyB, 15 February 2012 - 05:58 PM.

[Captain BeerBeard]

Wow! You really got me wanting to take apart my PoP set's. This has to be the best embassy so far. AMAZING!   

[Niku]

It is amazing the quantity of detail you put on this build, and nice techniques used, great build sensations with the gate, main tower and vendors posts.
One of my favorite embassies.  

[ZCerberus]

Really nice work Mikey.  It looks so clean, and so detailed and the pictures are just superb.

Hail MikeyB!

[rogueang]

This is just beautiful.  You've done an amazing job with the Kaliphlin building styles and colors.  I love the bazaar, and I love the story in the form of a letter.  This is such a polished MOC, I love it!  I agree, this is one of the best Embassies so far!

[de Gothia]

Wow Mikey! You really should have that little tan brick with moc expert under your pic!

This embassy is so great! The colour scheme is perfect and is really eye pleasing! The timbered roof (that you uses in Avalonia sa well) is great and fits perfect in this land!

The little market street outside makes the whole scene busy with life!

And between you and me and my question I had before, that camel packing is great! Have to buy some of those backpacks!  

[MikeyB]

thanks for the replies everyone.  it took a while to get going on this one for me.  It all came together pretty quickly once I had an idea what I wanted to do.  I knew I wanted to do a market area out side the embassy walls and create some arches on the exterior wall.  The Embassy building was going to be two stories with the center portion higher than that but I found out I was woefully lacking in the white brick department as most of my older bricks have turned yellowish.  
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@captain Beerbeard.  I only have three PoP sets, the Desert attack, Ostrich race and Flight of the Dagger. I bought a couple more torsos and some more of the medium flesh color bricks off bricklink.  Hope you noticed the mention of Blood Bloom flowers  

@Niku  The details of the market where fun.  I had a ton of ideas but had to cut some of them, I'll just have to use them in a future build.  those pots from the CMF leprechaun where the inspiration for the spice merchant, the cleaver from the CMF butcher for the Kebab stand, the scabbards and pouches for the leather merchant and who doesn't like goats?

@ ZCerberus  thanks you!  great to get praise from someones whose builds are an inspirations!

@rougeang, thanks for the complements! Your embassy really pushed me to do something extra with the build.  There are still things I see that I'm not 100% happy with and ideas that I had to cut out but overall I am pleased with the way it came out.

@de gothia  that damn camel was the start of it all! the conversation we had via PM got the wheels turning about the embassy.

EDIT:  meant to add a link to larger pics if you want.  so here it is http://mikey.smugmug...&lb=1&s=XL��the order is a bit different than presented in the original post

Edited by MikeyB, 15 February 2012 - 01:37 PM.

[robuko]

Very nice MikeyB!  This is such a lovely clean build, I thought it was our Kaliphlin Mikey`s at first   Really good photography and presentation too.
I can really sense the Kaliphlin vibe here.  Of all the many details I like, the use if dark tan bushes in the palm　trees is exceptional.  I have been staring at palm trees for weeks looking for that exact effect.  Brilliant.

Glad that Carum is enjoying his posting

[Balthasar]

lovely MOC. Great work on all the detailing, entrance, windows, beams, balcony.  

My white bricks are also very yellow, but I've never taken the effort to wash them in the washing machine. Would that make any difference, or is it pretty much impossible to get them white again?

[Captain Blackmoor]

This is excellent, a crispy MOC, awesome pictures and a nice storyline to along with it. Awesome.
My favorite aspect is the market street as it adds so much life to the embassy!

I hope Carum enjoys his time!

[Jason Cicchini]

Darnit, MikeyB, you always hit it on the head!
It's going to be very difficult to top you and deGothia if I'll ever make it to the top 5! XD
You've captured the landscape and storyline perfectly! You make your guild very proud!

[Gabe]

Wow, great work MikeyB! I love the story in the form of a letter, it was really engaging and it pulled me through the moc to notice each perfect detail. Beautifully clean build too, great stuff.  

[Hersbrucker]

That is wonderful, I love this Orient style. Perfect details in here  

[AwesomeStar]

Astoundingly beautiful. You've really captured the Kaphilin style with a touch of flair and finesse to it, which correlates well with the Avalonian look. One of my favourite Embassy's so far, and lovely presentation too!

-A.S.

[MikeyB]

@robuko thanks for the kind words.   I have seen the palm technique used before.  Most recently by Etzel in his build.  Obviously it is a dark tan bush inverted but I had to figure out how to connect it to the palm trunk.  I used a lightsaber rod pushed into the trunk then inverted the bush and concected it to the trunk.  I then added a technic connecter piece in to the "top" (which was the bottom of the dark tan brush) which I then used the traditional piece used in the palms to attach the palm frons.  

@Balthasar  I haven't tried to wash my bricks.  I did see a topic before about different methods to clean yellowed white bricks but I can't find it now. if anyone has an easy but proven way let me know!

@Capt. Blackmoor  I new I wanted a market of some sort along one of the walls of the embassy.  I did a couple tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan and thought about what I had seen there for influences and am happy with the way it came out.

everyone else I appreciate the comments, I took quite a few more photos but was afraid the post was getting too long and would end up turning everyone off.  I'm glad you all enjoyed it.

[kabel]

well, my shisha is bigger!   but your Moc is defenitely a truely great one! And what I really like is your story around it. This is what really brings Mocs to life!

[CptMugwash]

It's great to see an Avalonian embracing the Kaliphlin style, the market place is great and yes those leprechaun pots are great, I always love new things like that, looks like they were meant for spices, forget gold.  I've gotta try that palm technique on future mocs.  The overall smoothness of it is beautiful and the accompanying story is great.  I love seeing mocs brought to life like this, well done.  

[MikeyB]

thanks Cpt and kabel.

I have to admit that I had originally had a gold 1x1 cone instead of the trans-green one.  I changed it after seeing yours!  I also wanted to add a second hose but the telescope wouldn't go on with two stuck inside the hole.  I also should have turned it a bit so you could see the hose coming out of the hookah a bit more.

I'm not sure if others do their palms the same way, Etzel's look like they may be constructed a little different.

[Basiliscus]

Well, since I didn't manage to enter the embassy challenge, I can say this: this is my favourite entry of all the guilds! (Don't tell Lord Flagg that!)

Where do I start? Firstly, the photography is excellent. Everything in focus and no clutter in the background.

The palm trees are great, the colour blocking is tidy and natural, the gate is beautiful (my favourite part   ) and the main tower is simple yet fits in nicely. Those gold gratings are perfect for the architecture.

One criticism - you should put a link to your Flickr on the photos and in your signature! I would like to favourite these!

[MikeyB]

Basiliscus, on 16 February 2012 - 12:40 AM, said:

One criticism - you should put a link to your Flickr on the photos and in your signature! I would like to favourite these!

wow I am glad so many people like my embassy!  I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do at first but it all came together pretty quick once I started building.

I have never been a big fan of flickr but have been thinking about putting up my builds up cause it seems to be what a lot of people use.  Personally I have been using smugmug for some time.  Just in case you missed the link to the photos, here are is a link to my guild build on smugmug
http://mikey.smugmug...QtHfbp&lb=1&s=L

fell free to download them if you want.

[NiceMarmot]

Really fantastic MOC!  You completely nailed the Kaliphlin look. I really like the interior courtyard with the little fountains. And the wooden beam ends sticking out of the walls. And the contrast between the white tower and the tan walls is great.   The market stalls are great also; there are so many opportunities to create cool little shops. I had to cut out about half the planned shops in my embassy MOC because I didn't have room.  You've put together a really nice story too.

Quote

Their is also a lovely Kaliphlin girl who works here in the Embassy. Her name is Azhar.

Yeah, we've got the best girls!  He's fallen for her; he's toast. Looks like we have an inter-guild relationship coming up!

[Derfel Cadarn]

An excellent moc , as we have come to expect from you This has a great look and feel to it, kind of like a great detailed D2C set that Lego would release(without the base). Lots of great details create a 'busy' scene and bring this embassy to life. You have really nailed the whole 'Kaliphlin feel' with this, a really great entry!

[MikeyB]

NiceMarmot, on 16 February 2012 - 11:21 PM, said:

Really fantastic MOC!  You completely nailed the Kaliphlin look. I really like the interior courtyard with the little fountains. And the wooden beam ends sticking out of the walls. And the contrast between the white tower and the tan walls is great.   The market stalls are great also; there are so many opportunities to create cool little shops. I had to cut out about half the planned shops in my embassy MOC because I didn't have room.  You've put together a really nice story too.


Yeah, we've got the best girls!  He's fallen for her; he's toast. Looks like we have an inter-guild relationship coming up!

I know what you mean about have room!  I had a few other ideas I want to incorporate but I thought it might start getting too busy.  I htink like a lot creative things, knowing when to stop is sometime the biggest problem  

And who knows maybe we will see a future build with Carum and Azhar.  

Derfel Cadarn, on 17 February 2012 - 12:21 PM, said:

An excellent moc , as we have come to expect from you This has a great look and feel to it, kind of like a great detailed D2C set that Lego would release(without the base). Lots of great details create a 'busy' scene and bring this embassy to life. You have really nailed the whole 'Kaliphlin feel' with this, a really great entry!

Thank you, I enjoyed this build once I got going.

Im currently finishing up another build and hope to finish in the next few day.  Looking forward to seeing what the next challenge will be!

[Palathadric]

This is probably the most embassey-looking build I've seen as of yet. Superb design and the little market outside makes it look all the more authentic. Nice idea MikeyB!