Storage solutions: Galaktek
Posted by Huw,
Today Galaktek, whose work you can find on Flickr, shows us his LEGO space:
Hello everyone! I’ve found this “Storage Solutions” series fascinating not only for the wonderful variety of spaces and storage ideas, but also for the different ways AFOLs think of LEGO. For me LEGO is mainly about building rather than collecting. I think of LEGO as a “craft” or “maker” hobby and LEGO parts are my art supplies. I use Bricklink and also buy some sets for parts. Sets rarely get assembled and if they do, they don’t stay assembled for long.
Space is at a premium here outside of Seattle, one of the most expensive housing markets in the United States. My little family lives in a 1,000 square foot (93 square meter) condo, and we have several hobbies that all need some space. So LEGO is limited to a corner of the master bedroom, with a corner desk and a couple of shelving units. All the furniture is from Ikea of course.
As a kid I played with City and Space sets, and those are still an influence, although mostly I’m inspired by the enormous variety of MOCs on flickr. As an AFOL, my LEGO collection grew from nothing eight years ago to about 70,000 parts -- nowhere near some of the collections you’ve seen in this series.
As a builder I don’t want to be distracted by hunting for parts. Therefore, I take a “front loaded” approach to sorting: parts are highly sorted to save time later, and parts can’t stay unsorted for long. Sorting is a nice break after a long day at an often stressful job. I rough sort into a few bins first and then into storage containers. Here are the rough sorting bins:
To the never-ending question of sorting parts by colour or type, for me “both” is the best answer. My building style is very influenced by colour; when building I’m often asking myself something like, “what could I do here in Sand Blue?” And so then I want to see what I have in one colour in one place. But I also like to make MOCs with moving or hinged parts, and for that I want to see clips, bars, Technic, and such in one place.
So in sorting I make a (personal and arbitrary) distinction between “basic” parts (mostly non-modified plates and bricks) and “other” parts (modified plates and bricks, Technic, and everything else). Basic parts get sorted by colour and type, and everything else gets sorted by type. (Large plates and bricks also go into tubs by type, because they take up so much space.)
My primary unit of storage is a few different sizes of container made by Artbin, which you can find as Artbin Solutions Box on Amazon. These have movable internal dividers; in most of the containers I use, the rows of compartments are six studs wide. The containers are big enough to keep most elements of the same colour or general type in one place, and portable enough to pull out and keep next to me while building.
For basic parts, some colours have just one container, while colours I have more of “overflow” into an additional container or into the tubs with blue lids that you also see on the shelves. Those are just repurposed food storage tubs, with parts bagged inside them.
Smaller containers go into the two large white bins you see on the shelves, while larger contains are stacked under the bed:
For photographing MOCs I set up a paper backdrop (on a table in another room) and use a flash with as much natural light as possible. Completed MOCs are allowed to stick around for a few weeks -- sometimes, part of a MOC for longer -- but then they have to come apart again. It’s always fascinating to me to see a MOC I’ve spent weeks building turn back into a few surprisingly small piles of nondescript parts.
And there you have it: everything packed away as tightly as I can make it fit, while still being organised and within reach for building. I hope this has been as fun for you to see as yours have been for me -- thank you for sharing!
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13 comments on this article
"My building style is very influenced by colour; when building I’m often asking myself something like, “what could I do here in Sand Blue?” And so then I want to see what I have in one colour in one place. But I also like to make MOCs with moving or hinged parts, and for that I want to see clips, bars, Technic, and such in one place.
So in sorting I make a (personal and arbitrary) distinction between “basic” parts (mostly non-modified plates and bricks) and “other” parts (modified plates and bricks, Technic, and everything else). Basic parts get sorted by colour and type, and everything else gets sorted by type. (Large plates and bricks also go into tubs by type, because they take up so much space.)"
My approach is very similar. I sort all my basic bricks, plates and slopes by colour first and then shape group (1-wide, 2-wide, etc), and specialised parts by type first, separately from basic parts.
I really need to look into getting a few of these storage containers with compartments; with so many featured collectors utilising them, I should at least give them a try. The main drawback of any storage solution that's not drawer-based for me is the extra effort of pulling one out if it happens to be deep in a stack of them full of parts, and putting it back when done.
Lego under DIRECT sunlight
No good
Nice and tidy, very nice... I loved the color/type combined sorting method.
You use your Lego collection much like the first person in the storage article series, Higdond, as a medium for creating, which is very interesting in terms of the intrinsic value of a specific part or collection of parts. We are all buying boxes of plastic parts, but those boxes have different value and meaning to each of us. It is something I find quite fascinating about Lego collecting and looking at Lego collections. I have read about various creative builders sorting by colour as a way to fuel their creativity which I would find a little daunting. Your mixed method of sometimes sorting by colour and sometimes part seems more manageable:) Thanks very much for participating in the series!
Oh, hey, nice to see a familiar name here! :D Awesome LEGO room!
If I'm not mistaken, I spy the same white square melamine plates from Target that I use for sorting bricks... https://www.target.com/p/square-dinner-plate-white-10-5-x10-5-room-essentials-8482/-/A-14782092
Amazing work on Flickr! It's amazing what you can do with a corner of the room and a compact sorting method
Seems like I have a similar mindset. I also sort with my "basic" or "standard" parts separate from my other parts. Thanks for the article!
VERY nice MOCs! Love the variety of them.
I could not "kill" my moc, put it apart. Also, similar, most of the sets I have are moded
Thanks for sharing! Your creations are nothing short of "WOW"!
This is very similar to the way i sort pieces. To those that might read this, if you happend to have a DAISO JAPAN (japanese dollar store) near by, they do have a variety of cosmetic/medicine boxes that are very similar to the Artbin boxes, although smaller (6x12 , 4x10 inches) for $1.50 which is a great value.
Thank you all for your comments and compliments! This is a really fun series.
@LegoSonicBoy: I agree that sometimes it's awkward to pull these containers out, but on the other hand once you do, you have a bunch of related parts in one place that you might have had to go to multiple drawers for.
@Able: It's an East-facing window and the blinds stay closed until the sun moves, so it's not too bad. But since I'm not a collector I also don't mind a few UV-discolored parts; they make for nice variety in some MOCs.
@Bison_Bricks: Yep, I use a few of those plates for sorting.
One more idea I didn't mention: To inspire creativity, I keep a special container of some parts that I've never used before in any MOC. By color of course. These help me see opportunities to try new stuff.
Thanks for the link to flickr! You got some very impressive mocs out there. :)