All the artwork I have created so far for my portfolio is built entirely from bricks. Toth the art and the frame. I have added a Framed variant of the Grinning Face emoji, that is mounted within a deep box frame.

The rest of this post tells you more about this new build.

Why?

The cost of an average frame, that is made out of bricks, is approximately £10. That’s not too bad, but a traditional frame made out of wood is likely to be a bit cheaper. This will allow me to offer products at a cheaper price point.

A shadow box frame, or a deep box frame, is a great way to mount and display 3-dimensional items. This seemed like the most appropriate choice for my products!

When framing toy bricks in artwork, some thought and experimentation was needed to understand how best to attach the bricks. This writing explores some of the possible solutions to this problem that I have tried:

• Adhesives
• Toy Brick tape
• Invisible thread

Adhesives

The most obvious way of attaching bricks is to use an adhesive of some sort. This could be a glue, or it could be double-sided tape. Using double-sided tape allows the item to be flush with the backing material, which is helpful in providing a clean look.

The underside of the brick, or plate, is not naturally flat. This means the surface area used in the attaching is smaller. The position of the tape or adhesive is important for maintaining maximum hold.

Some adhesives will chemically react with the plastic used in the brick. This is particularly important when bricks are being glued together. The bonding of the bricks provides a much stronger build, but this is at the expense of reusability.

I have tended to use double-sided tape, since this it is sufficient for my needs.

Toy Brick tape

As an alternative to an adhesive, toy brick tape provides a way of attaching the bricks to the back of the frame. The lack of adhesive on the brick itself ensures that the brick remains usable in the future!

But this tape is deeper than invisible tape, so the item being mounted will not be flush with the backing material. This effect needs to be considered when designing the build.

Since the toy brick tape is manufactured by a different company to the bricks, the clutch power offered by the tape is different to that of a normal brick. In my tests, the tape remained attached to the bricks well enough. But when multiple pieces of tape are being used, some connections were stronger than others. This was apparent only when working directly with the built model, so perhaps it would not be an issue when the model is established within the frame.

I have not made any products that use this toy brick tape yet.

Invisible thread

Using invisible thread would allows the brick to be attached in unique ways, creating spectacular effects. I have done some initial testing using this method to show a model “floating”, but more work is needed before I can share a product with this.

This thread is naturally thin so that it can maintain the invisibility effect. It’s very important to consider where and how the thread is used, so that it does not accidentally show in the build. For example, the thread is likely to show up when it is against a dark background.

I have not made any products that use invisible thread yet.