Over the past year we’ve been testing the waters on what a Women’s Brick Initiative workshop will look like. At BricksCascade in Portland, OR, we were able to bring our hard work together into one fun filled two hour workshop.

What Inspires Us

Our fearless leader Alice Finch welcomed everyone to our workshop with a powerpoint presentation outlining why we’re creating these workshops and why we think they’re important. You can say our mission statement breaks down into four major areas that inspire us:

When LEGO said they wanted to create toys for girls and boys, we feel they lost their way. We want to let women and girls know there is plenty of room in the LEGO universe for them too.

Because LEGO is such a flexible and inspiring toy, we want to show that it can be used in a variety of creative ways like using minifigures in toy photography and creating new products like jewelry from bricks.

LEGO is well known for its clutch power; its ability to hold together under pressure. We want to take that same idea and bring the Women Fans of LEGO (WAFOL’s) together to learn and share together.

The last piece of the puzzle that inspires us is our fellow WAFOL’s. What an amazing group of women! Lets celebrate our accomplishments and support each other to greater heights!

Part of our mission is to share our knowledge with our fellow WAFOL’s. All three of the principle founders of the WBI have years of professional experience in their area of expertise. We are all committed to sharing and inspiring other WAFOL’s. Our hope is to bring like minded women together through LEGO’s legendary clutch power.

Now that we all know why we’re here…lets go play!

Chat and build

Alice brought four mini builds based on her LEGO Architecture Idea Book. Each participant was invited to choose one of these builds and through the building process learn a new technique. What we didn’t expect was how this table full of women would essentially turn into a quilting bee style social event. There is nothing more inspiring than a table of women talking, sharing and building together. Our WBI mission had burst into life.

Who doesn’t love power tools?

My favorite part of the workshop is from the JacQueline because it involves power tools. Who doesn’t love power tools? Plus you get the attentive direction of one of the most talented jewelers I know. She patiently helped all the participants create a fun piece of jewelry featuring a LEGO brick in one of the WBI colors. How cool is that?

Come play in my sand box

For BricksCascade I brought four different scenes to inspire creative toy photography. I was thrilled to see the smiles and enthusiasm around my set ups as participants played. It was hard to tell which was the favorite: beach, forest, stormy sky or blue sky. I had fun playing alongside the attendees demonstrating how to make rain, fog, use additional lighting and bending wire to make minifigures fly.

In Conclusion

It was plain to see from the smiles on everyones faces that the inaugural WBI workshop was a huge success. Each of the presenters learned a lot from the experience. We’ve taken the feedback we received and will be fine tuning future events. We want to thank all the women who took a leap of faith and joined us at BricksCascade at our inaugural full two hour workshop. We look forward to seeing you at future events!

Shelly

Look for Alice in Hong King May 25 where she will be running a Women’s Brick Initiative workshop. Alice and JacQueline will be traveling to Skæbæk, Denmark in late September to attend the LEGO Fan Weekend. Please pass the word along to anyone you think might be interested in attending.