Anne Lister's Chaumière

Rebuilding it out of Lego

[yellowmotomami]

Anne building a lil gayven for her gf

[legochaumiere]

First the chaumière, then the girlfriend.

Build and they will come, amirite. 😏

[dykeofhalifax]

My recreation of Shibden Hall on Sims 4 to the best of my ability. I created this by only looking at pictures so it may not be 100% accurate in some places, however, I think I really captured the essence of Anne Lister’s home :-) (thank you again Mary @we-are-all-lady-women )

[legochaumiere]

This is fabulous.

[legochaumiere]

Once more, with feeling

I was away on vacation then back at work and have not touched this project at all in 3 weeks. Last night while we were watching a movie my hands idly started to rebuild the chaumière; because reasons. 🤷

I scaled it down from the last (5th) model where I had mentioned the overall size was too big. I also built the brick part in brick (ha!) rather than the brick plus faux castle walls I used last time.

I hate it. 😂 The scale is indeed much better, but I did not scale down the windows so now they feel huge and disproportionate. I played around with some roof options and they all collapsed so this is a losing proposition.

I am less enthused about the idea to model it in software now, but will let this marinate and see.

[legochaumiere]

Modeling the chaumière in Lego with software

I decided to give it a go with modeling the Lego chaumière with software! This is giant leap from trying to put bricks together. I have never really used CAD or 3D software in any meaningful way before, much less for a specialized need like Legos.

I started out by looking at what’s already out there. LEGO underwhelmed right away as their own software has not been maintained in years. There are a bunch of apps for phones and tablets but this scale of a project simply won’t go anywhere with such an inefficient UI (lots of dragging and opening and closing option panels). Luckily, I soon found that there is an open standard for Lego modeling for CAD software called LDraw.

That’s way more interesting than whichever software I’m using because it means thousands of people have already contributed parts to this centralized open library using this format, so whatever I decide to adopt I can count on this being fairly reliable in how it translates every brick into a drawing on the screen. Thank you nerds!

It also means it will respect a schema and naming convention for colors that corresponds to what real Legos look like and some of the software may even assist in putting together a build manual once I’m done creating a model I’m happy with (ha, look how adorable I am imagining life ~36 months from now)

The documentation seems ok with extensive info on the format as well as the part list that is regularly updated as people add to it. It shares the same taxonomy as other popular Lego collections like Rebrickable where I have all my parts listed.

That takes care of the Lego-specific part of this project, the rest is going to be me learning how to use 3D modeling software. There are many seemingly good options; I’m starting with Bricksmith.

I have no sense how long this will take to learn. I don’t yet know where the people who do this hang out; time to go make some new friends.

[legochaumiere]

Final (5th) chaumière model

This has been so fun! See previous.

I added as many furnishings as was sensible (no room for the chair on the right) and built out the front wall with second top window.

Now that it is furnished I can see how it could be improved. Possibly taking a brick-width out of every white wall section on each side, would shorten the length of the room and make it a perfect square; there is possibly too much space between the front door and the day bed.

Either that or add the same one-brick measure per wall length to the front walls and back brick wall behind the fireplace, and then expland the proportions for all the furnishings (I made all tables fairly small on purpose).

My choices are smaller scale or move on to designing this with software. I'm bummed because the tactile enjoyment of just trying things out with actual bricks is the best.

Sadly, I have run out of enough parts to keep this up! Candlesticks without candles, tables not quite the right shape. Alas, I tried!

This is not a sophisticated build in terms of techniques but it is my first model based on a real building so I am very happy with how far it's come. Even if the roof is basically impossible! 😝 This is probably as far as I am taking this MOC, I think.

For now I'll just close my eyes and think about Anne Lister and Anne Walker and the many good times had at their lovely, cosy and private refuge, the magical chaumière. ♥️

[legochaumiere]

5th Lego Chaumière sketch

I am beside myself with excitement! This is what I have been dreaming of. 🎉 The new approach totally works! Check it:

The different features of the room are proportional and make sense relative to each other! 😍

I decided not to sweat the rounded corners on the front of the room or window treatments. Things now make sense as a whole!

While I'd make more polished choices if I had the right color bricks, I am very happy with this so far.

It warms my ❤️

[legochaumiere]

Sketching with bricks

I decided to try a different approach today, imagining what structures I'll need to create the internal ambience of the chaumière instead of the external aesthetics.

The proportions between inside and outside have been difficult for two reasons: first, most features are center-aligned which makes the brick interlocking logic difficult. Second, the corners of the chaumière are slightly rounded with internal and external walls of different textures, which is hard to accomplish without creating a very bulky wall.

Also, I just don't have enough bricks of the same type in the same color so going from previous smaller scales to this is going to be tough.

I'm gonna stick with it until I have something or have learned something from this effort, but modeling this in software may really be the only real path forward.

I'm not even going to worry about that damn roof at this point.

UPDATE: See the final version.

[legochaumiere]

The moss house

I came across this novel called The Moss House set in the chaumière. I can't wait! Look at this sweet (and infinitely more reasonable structure and style) illustration.

[legochaumiere]

BBC scripts

Happy Lesbian Holidays! Today the BBC released the shooting scripts for the 8 episodes of Gentleman Jack's season 1.

And here is how the chaumière is introduced:

And the ambience:

♥️

[legochaumiere]

4th Lego Chaumière sketch

Trying out a completely different style this time and at the smallest scale. I think this is my favorite so far, aesthetically.

See sketches 0, 1, 2 and 3.

[legochaumiere]

3rd Lego Chaumière sketch

Ah, our favorite grubbling shack. 💦

See sketches 0, 1 and 2. 😜

[legochaumiere]

♥️

True love is when your wife shouts from another room "I've been thinking about your Lego project…" followed by several specific comments and ideas about assembly techniques.

[legochaumiere]

Roof structure

I am on a mission to make this roof happen. I was doing some more research which included rewatching the chaumière scenes—of course (I mean, do I need an excuse, really?), and I realized I missed a whole angle!!!

Voilà, the corner angle reveals the internal structure of the building showing it goes up at an angle, which serves to support the external thatched roof. Now that I see it, this makes sense. It is not a cabana after all.

There is also a whole other lux tapestry hanging above the wall line on the left, seen here behind the Ann(e)s. Dang, look at those puffy sleeves.

Anyway, I now have some ideas for how to make the roof structure happen. Potentially, four flat triangular shapes on hinges above each wall, angled towards the middle. Possibly. Maybe. It could get bulky. Or not.

Only one way to find out. This is fun.

[legochaumiere]

Thatched motherfucking roof

The level of detail required to accomplish a thatched roof in Lego is ridiculous.

At first I had no idea where to even begin. There is the color, there is the texture, there is the ridiculous slanted angle, there is the absurd pyramid shape. And somewhere a chimney needs to come out. And then there is the little front window thing!

I am looking at different techniques people have tried and it is bonkers. I'm talking about 100s of tiny rods attached to droid arms bonkers. Hundreds of individual blades of grass bonkers.

The conclusion is, this chaumiere is not a beginner level Lego model. I'm starting to wonder if modeling it in CAD or something might be more viable than actually trying to build it out.

[legochaumiere]

Mid-build chaumière!

😱 My friend came across this amazing photo a while back (no source, please tell me if you know) and so now I am staring at it with so many questions.

Apparently someone came across it in the woods during mid-build for the first season of Gentleman Jack. Can you imagine?!

I think it becomes immediately clear how small it really is. They must have shot the internal scenes not on location. Honestly I'm a bit heartbroken 💔

This angle does not help me understand what's up with the chimney, but it does show the entire external wall on the left side with the window AL shuts very clearly, confirming my expectations.

This different lighting also shows the overall structure well, especially this base of large gray stones, also confirming the stone mortar corners I anticipated.

So far I think I made all the right assumptions except I don't think the outside scale and inside scale will be feasible with the same model. I mean, it's not a fucking TARDIS! 🤔

Still no clue how I'm going to make this pointy-ass roof happen in a texture that makes any sense.

[legochaumiere]

2nd Lego Chaumière sketch

This is scaled down from the first sketch. And up from the MVP. 😜

I knew a full on brick roof would look terrible, especially in yellow, but I did it anyway. We're not alive, are we, if we're not taking the odd risk now and again?

Like Eugenie, useless! 😆

P.S.: jagged cross beams still suck at this scale.

[legochaumiere]

Minimum Viable Product 🤣