Most of the LEGO Art mosaics released so far feature portraits of real-life persons like Marilyn Monroe (#31197), The Beatles (#31198), and Elvis (#31204), movie and comics characters like Iron Man (#31199), Batman (#31205), and The Sith (#31200), and other licensed images like the Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests (#31201), and Disney’s Mickey Mouse (#31202). The only exceptions are the #21226 LEGO Art Project – Create Together set, the #313203 LEGO Art World Map, and the recently released #31207 LEGO Floral Art set.
I was very interested in the #31207 LEGO Floral Art mosaic as it offers a large selection of alternate building instructions, features decorative motifs rather than licensed images, and it is the smallest and cheapest ($79.99) amongst the LEGO Art sets. So let’s take a closer look!
Just like the other LEGO Art mosaics, the #31207 LEGO Floral Art set comes in a black box with attractive designs and images. However, because this set only uses six 16×16 bases instead of nine and fewer pieces, the box is a bit smaller than the LEGO Art portraits.
Inside the outer box are an inner box and a divider to arrange the bags (all unnumbered) with the pieces. The instruction booklet features three different flower motifs to choose from, and you can access four other color variations of each of the three motifs from the LEGO Art section of the Online LEGO Shop. So all in all, this one set can be used to create at least fifteen different patterns.
The box also includes a wide brick-separator in black that makes it easy to remove the small round tiles and plates and a small turquoise tile remover key. The brick-separator works well, but the tile remover is made of a softer plastic and is pretty much useless for removing pieces.
The first item you build from the set is a small color guide on a 2×8 black plate. It includes a 1×8 tile with printed numbers and samples of all the colors used for building the mosaics. This guide is very handy for those who are visually impaired as it assigns a number for each color.
Next, you can pick one of the three different motifs with a flower pattern from the building instructions (or if you already know that you want to build another color variation, you can access them from the LEGO Art section of the Online LEGO Shop).
Each of the mosaics is built on six large specialized 16×16 LEGO Technic bases. These bases are connected by LEGO Technic pins and then framed with regular LEGO plates, bricks, and tiles. The final mosaic is 15.5 in. (40 cm) high and 10.5 in. (27 cm) wide.
The instructions are broken down into six sections, each showing both the colors and color numbers you can reference from the small color guide. Building the mosaic is basically like paint-by-numbers and you can place the tiles and plates in any order you like. You can go by rows, columns, colors, patterns, or a combination of them all.
In my experience, filling one of the 16×16 bases takes about 15 minutes in a relaxed pace, so the whole mosaic of six bases comes together in about an hour and a half. Then, you take another 10 minutes or so to build the frame around the whole mosaic. This frame is not necessary, as the bases stay together even without it, but it gives the mosaic a polished look with smooth edges. If you do want to make the mosaic bigger, you can simply remove the frame and attach more 16×16 bases with LEGO Technic pins.
The last step is to add two specialized LEGO Technic pieces at the back of the frame (also attached with LEGO Technic pins) that serve as wall hangers.
This particular mosaic comes with both round tiles and round plates to give the design a bit of an interesting texture. You get 242 blue, 281 dark-blue round plates with a stud, and 550 white, 370 light-orange, 370 light-nougat, 158 light-pink, 370 dark-pink, and 370 dark-turquoise smooth tiles. The different patterns don’t use all the pieces and colors, so you have plenty left over no matter which design you use. The total piece-count for this set – including the base, the frame, and the tiles and plates for the mosaic – is 2,870 pieces.
In my experience, building this set wasn’t as interesting as building one of the portraits because the flower patterns are quite simple. But the shapes and colors come together nicely, and the final design is pleasing to look at. In fact, I like it so much that I would like to get two more sets to display the three different motifs together. And if I would be rich, I would buy enough sets to build all fifteen floral patterns. But that will have to remain a dream…
I’m a big fan of the LEGO Art mosaic series. They offer a relaxing and rewarding activity for LEGO fans of all ages and experience levels, and the final products look sophisticated and attractive enough to decorate a home or office. I appreciate the licensed LEGO Art sets because they allow fans to create an interactive and attractive display piece of their favorite characters and franchises. And the non-licensed LEGO Art sets offer an even broader appeal by creating motifs that are visually pleasing without being too specific. I feel that the #31207 LEGO Floral Art is a particularly attractive set in this regard. If you want to check it out, it’s available for $79.99 at the LEGO Art section of the Online LEGO Shop.
What do you think? Do you prefer the licensed or the non-licensed LEGO Art sets? What other patterns and designs would you like to see in the future? And what do you think of the LEGO Floral Art set? Feel free to share your thoughts, reviews, and questions in the comment section below!
And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
- LEGO Art Elvis Presley & Batman Mosaics Overview
- LEGO Art Rolling Stones Mosaic
- LEGO Art Elvis Presley The King Mosaic
- LEGO Art Jim Lee Batman Collection
- LEGO Art Mosaics Alternate Building Instructions
- LEGO Art World Map Mosaic Review
- Customizing the LEGO Art World Map Mosaic
- More Alternate Instructions for LEGO Art Mosaics
- Building Custom LEGO Mosaics with LEGO Art Sets
- Brick Breakdown: LEGO Art Iron Man Mosaic
- LEGO Mosaic Maker Now Available Online
I have been eyeing this set. It looks wonderful.
This set might be a good starter for mosaic mocs. I suppose we can always pick up extra dot colors.
I would love to get several copies of this set for my own mosaics. But it gets expensive pretty quickly. Sigh.