With 14 recoloured elements and parts ranging from butterflies to umbrellas, the latest LEGO® Botanicals set, 10345 Flower Arrangement makes for a pretty good parts pack. I recently reviewed set 10345, and now here are 2 of my own creations using parts from the set.
Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
This article contains affiliate links to LEGO.com; we may get a small commission if you purchase.
Umbrella ball
My first inspiration came from an old element in a new colour. The broad convex shape of the umbrella had me wondering if I could combine a few to build a sphere.
It turns out that yes, the umbrella can make a decent sphere. It did require a lot more brain power to figure out than I expected, though...
The problem lay in the umbrella's awkward dimensions; just short of 6 modules in diameter. I wanted my sphere to be as smooth and free of gaps as possible so the inside of my sphere would need to be sized accordingly. This wasn't so much of an issue in placing the umbrellas themselves, but it did create problems for filling the triangular gaps where the edges of 3 umbrellas met.
After numerous attempts (and checking old New E. articles for inspiration;
a LEGO sphere Moko built for us helped a little), I finally cracked it when I came across Technic Pin Connector Round with 4 Clips (
90202, 49756) in my collection. Conveniently this element comes in a large number of LEGO Botanicals sets, including the peonies from 10345 Flower Arrangement. The solution had been blooming right under my nose the whole time!
Paired with Plate Round 1 x 1 with Hollow Stud and Bar on Underside - Long Space (
79194), everything was positioned perfectly to attach my triangular road signs (
65676) to fill the gaps.
Attaching the last few parts was super-satisfying as all the elements finally came together with almost zero gaps!
If you're wanting to build your own umbrella ball, you will need 6 umbrellas. The original Design ID, introduced by LEGO® Paradisa in 1993, is 4094 as used by
BrickLink and
Brick Owl. There have been 11 colours over the years, but some are discontinued colours, and almost all colours have appeared in just a few sets with the exception of Trans-Dark Pink, which has appeared in 26 sets.
Search PaB for
element 6483386
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element 6276071
Crab
The Minifig Neckwear Ladybug / Ladybird Wings (
69948) are used in 10345 Flower Arrangement to make perfect petals but perhaps they could be perfect pincers too?
This li'l fella isn't based on any particular crab, but I did look at a few different species for inspiration.
The ladybird wings themselves are a little tricky to work with, thanks to the part's 0.5 plate thickness, but I figured out something that looked decent enough.
An idea that didn't make the cut involved Large Figure Shoulder Cover, Armor, Round, Smooth in Lavender (6398491 |
21560) which I acquired from another LEGO Botanicals set,
10309 Succulents. That design ended up a little too big for the look I was going for.
I've reviewed a few sets from the LEGO Botanicals range for New E. When I looked at the parts in
10329 Tiny Plants, they had a similar effect on me. With the elements in that set I was inspired to make a hermit crab which you can read about in my
review of 10329 Tiny Plants.
There's a theory that the crab is the pinnacle of evolution, or at least there is a tendency for creatures to evolve into crabs... Perhaps it's true of LEGO Botanicals too!
LEGO® 10345 Flower Arrangement
READ MORE: Review of the 40762 Mixed Flowerpot GwP available until 21 March 2025
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