Christmas is edging ever closer, soon we’ll all being heading into our attics to retrieve those dusty boxes of Christmas decorations. For many, LEGO has become a big part of the festive season, appearing not only under the tree but also upon it. LEGO have produced a number of great holiday ornaments and sets but there’s nothing like grabbing your own bricks and building something a little more unique. That’s the essence of No Starch Press’ latest LEGO title. Grab a cup of hot chocolate, deck the halls with bows of holly and read on for our review of The LEGO Christmas Ornaments Book.
Official Synopsis
This Christmas, LEGO is moving from under the tree to on the tree! With The LEGO Christmas Ornaments Book as your guide, you’ll make classic globe and barrel ornaments, all out of LEGO, as well as original gingerbread houses, a merry Santa, arcade cabinets, and many more. Packed with step-by-step instructions for 15 charming builds, The LEGO Christmas Ornaments Book is the perfect family activity this holiday season.
Review
One of the things I most admire about No Starch Press’ LEGO titles is that they give great LEGO builders a platform to share their amazing creations and LEGO building skills with a different audience. Chris McVeigh has become well known within the LEGO community ans although his builds are quite varied, as you’ll see in this very book, they all have one thing in common – a unique way of piecing parts together.
The engineering that goes into many of Chris’ builds is really impressive, as you flip through the book and view many of the instructional steps, they can seems a little daunting, however once you see just how the various builds are brought together and have the finished article in front of you, it’s easy to admire the inventiveness of Chris’ style.
The book itself has a high quality feel to it with hardback binding that is dotted with shiny clear snowflakes, these are only visible in the right light and are a fun little touch. The book is a little more compact compared to other No Starch titles but that doesn’t impact on it’s content. Each of the book’s 220 pages are filled with content.
The book contains 15 different festive designs to build, with a mixture ornament styles. Many of the builds are hangable tree decorations but there’s also a couple of display pieces, which are perfect for table pieces or even gifts ideas. Most of the designs have a festive edge to them but Chris has also included a couple of ornaments based on some of his everyday builds including the Computer and the Arcade Cabinet. Each chapter focuses on one of the builds and at the beginning of each you are greeted with a parts list. These have the elements ID numbers, making it extremely easy to track down the pieces you’ll need to build the ornaments. Chris often provides build instructions on his website, these are animated renders to portray build steps, these are a little different from what LEGO used but are just as easy to follow.
As ever No Starch Press continue to publish unique and inventive titles that offer a different look at LEGO. They provide talented LEGO builders like Chris McVeigh, with a great platform to showcase their builds towards a different audience. Many of the designs featured in the book can be found else where, but nothing beats having them all combined into one place.
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