Hardwin's Smithy

[LittleJohn]

A fun build for the ABC’s of Castle, over on Classic-Castle. The idea is to pick a castle word that starts with any letter, build it and then post it (in alphabetical order). For my first contribution, I did the letter ‘B’, which stands for blacksmith.

The blacksmith shop lifts off the base for easy play-ability, and features a full interior, as well as hinging walls for easy access. Inspiration for the wall texturing goes to Rod Gillies.

Hardwin the smithy is always kept busy at his work, with all the local farmers coming to him for their tools and when their horses need shoeing. He's also known for his fine armor and weapons that he makes when not occupied with other tasks.

More pictures on Brickbuilt
Thanks for looking, C&C welcome

[Leonardo da Bricki]

Great build, I really like the dark green base, it makes the plants stand out beautifully.

[jakbar]

So beautiful! Very interesting idea of an opened house. I love the bedroom and the bookshelf. Fantastic blacksmith's workplace with that many details.

[Kai NRG]

Well done LJ, the building itself is of course very nice but one of the things I like best about this is the dark green ground which really makes the vegetation pop!  Making it easily removable from the base was a good idea... it's always somewhat complicated to include hinging functions when taking the base into account as well!

[Garmadon]

Very nice classic-style blacksmith's shop, LJ, the workspace, with the overhanging roof, fireplace, adn tools is my favorite section, and the whole looks very fitting for Avalonia!   Glad to see an interior as well! 

[TheLordOfBricks]

Another great one John! :D Keep it up!

[Merc4Hire]

Brilliant work on this! Really has a classic castle vibe with modern detailing. I especially like the roof design and the front porch pillars. And the interior has a nice clean detail look. Vegetation is also on point. All around, there's a lot to admire. 

[Dankyee]

I really love all the foliage and the detailing in the interior, especially the bed.

[The Maestro]

I really do love this classic feel it gives off, as well as the interior. Even though its simple that stone work is great 

[TitusV]

Small but quite cool! Everything just fits very well together: the little bit of landscaping, the woordwork and the stonework, the interior... Nice job man!  

[en_zoo]

really nice! I love the only-dark-green base, I shall keep it in mind  [is the flag custom?]

[zoth33]

This is a really nice build.  I love the interior.  The candle holder is a nice touch.  I like the texturing of the exterior walls and the black and white looks nice.  The landscaping is very cool.  This build has that old 1980's vibe to it great job. 

[Littleworlds]

Really great combination of classic castle (yay for forest men!) and modern pieces. It has a ton of lovely details and just makes me want to play with it  

[soccerkid6]

Quite a beautiful blacksmith's shop The spinner bases add just the right touch of detail to the tudor sections, and the dark green landscape really does contrast well with the building

Some clever designs hidden inside too! The candle sticks, little corner desk, and curtains are my favorite details there

[Henjin_Quilones]

While this build is excellently executed, there is something about it that just seems a bit off, to me. I think it might be what others have said, that it has a classic-castle vibe with modern pieces, which just does not quite work for me. Others like it, and it is certainly well-done (a given from you). I guess I am used to seeing builds with more complex textures on the walls, but this is just so clean and spare, seeming almost plain in comparison. Maybe it's the shutters and the old windows. I don't know. I hope this makes some sense. On the other hand, it is good to see your bellows make another appearance here, as I loved it the first time I saw it in the dwarven mountain in your large collab with SK. 

[Grover]

Absolutely fantastic!  I like the light grey tiles on dark grey stone.  The whole thing gives me the feel of a revamped, more detailed, castle set from the 1980s.  It reminds me a lot of Daniel Siskind's Blacksmith Shop.  I love the interior and the opening features.  I think the playability of the set makes this way above and beyond a model that is just a façade.  Fantastic work!

[LittleJohn]

On 3/10/2017 at 11:18 PM, Leonardo da Bricki said:

Great build, I really like the dark green base, it makes the plants stand out beautifully.

Thanks, I tried a few colors for the base, so I'm glad to hear you think the dark green works well.

On 3/11/2017 at 5:27 AM, jakbar said:

So beautiful! Very interesting idea of an opened house. I love the bedroom and the bookshelf. Fantastic blacksmith's workplace with that many details.

Thanks, the details around the forge were fun to make

On 3/11/2017 at 7:20 AM, Kai NRG said:

Well done LJ, the building itself is of course very nice but one of the things I like best about this is the dark green ground which really makes the vegetation pop!  Making it easily removable from the base was a good idea... it's always somewhat complicated to include hinging functions when taking the base into account as well!

Thanks Kai! And yes indeed, making the whole base hinge can be quite challenging. The only trouble with this method is that the foliage directly around the building likes to come off when you take the building off...

On 3/11/2017 at 7:36 AM, Garmadon said:

Very nice classic-style blacksmith's shop, LJ, the workspace, with the overhanging roof, fireplace, adn tools is my favorite section, and the whole looks very fitting for Avalonia!   Glad to see an interior as well! 

Thanks Garmadon! The interior was one of the main things I focused on with this build

On 3/11/2017 at 10:11 AM, TheLordOfBricks said:

Another great one John! :D Keep it up!

Thanks

On 3/11/2017 at 2:24 PM, Merc4Hire said:

Brilliant work on this! Really has a classic castle vibe with modern detailing. I especially like the roof design and the front porch pillars. And the interior has a nice clean detail look. Vegetation is also on point. All around, there's a lot to admire. 

Thank you, that's exactly what I was aiming for. Glad you like how it turned out.

On 3/11/2017 at 3:22 PM, Dankyee said:

I really love all the foliage and the detailing in the interior, especially the bed.

Thanks, I quite like the bed design too. Isaac came up with it for this build:

(Picture is a link to the topic.)

On 3/11/2017 at 5:35 PM, The Maestro said:

I really do love this classic feel it gives off, as well as the interior. Even though its simple that stone work is great 

Thanks Maestro, I really like this stonework style too.

On 3/12/2017 at 6:08 AM, TitusV said:

Small but quite cool! Everything just fits very well together: the little bit of landscaping, the woordwork and the stonework, the interior... Nice job man!  

Thanks Titus! Glad you like it.

On 3/12/2017 at 11:20 AM, en_zoo said:

really nice! I love the only-dark-green base, I shall keep it in mind  [is the flag custom?]

Thanks en_zoo! And yes indeed, the flag is a custom.

On 3/12/2017 at 1:55 PM, zoth33 said:

This is a really nice build.  I love the interior.  The candle holder is a nice touch.  I like the texturing of the exterior walls and the black and white looks nice.  The landscaping is very cool.  This build has that old 1980's vibe to it great job. 

Thanks, the candles were one of my favorite parts

On 3/12/2017 at 7:00 PM, Littleworlds said:

Really great combination of classic castle (yay for forest men!) and modern pieces. It has a ton of lovely details and just makes me want to play with it  

Thank you, glad you like it!

On 3/13/2017 at 0:37 PM, soccerkid6 said:

Quite a beautiful blacksmith's shop The spinner bases add just the right touch of detail to the tudor sections, and the dark green landscape really does contrast well with the building

Some clever designs hidden inside too! The candle sticks, little corner desk, and curtains are my favorite details there

Thanks Isaac! Yep, the spinner bases were a great addition

On 3/13/2017 at 5:06 PM, Henjin_Quilones said:

While this build is excellently executed, there is something about it that just seems a bit off, to me. I think it might be what others have said, that it has a classic-castle vibe with modern pieces, which just does not quite work for me. Others like it, and it is certainly well-done (a given from you). I guess I am used to seeing builds with more complex textures on the walls, but this is just so clean and spare, seeming almost plain in comparison. Maybe it's the shutters and the old windows. I don't know. I hope this makes some sense. On the other hand, it is good to see your bellows make another appearance here, as I loved it the first time I saw it in the dwarven mountain in your large collab with SK. 

Thanks Henjin, and I understand, it's definitely a big departure from the usual heavily textured walls we see much of these days. Glad you like the bellows though

On 3/14/2017 at 11:32 PM, Grover said:

Absolutely fantastic!  I like the light grey tiles on dark grey stone.  The whole thing gives me the feel of a revamped, more detailed, castle set from the 1980s.  It reminds me a lot of Daniel Siskind's Blacksmith Shop.  I love the interior and the opening features.  I think the playability of the set makes this way above and beyond a model that is just a façade.  Fantastic work!

Thanks, I am quite fond of the dark grey with light grey texturing combo. Glad you liked the interior as well