Based on customer feedback, we've streamlined our global shipping rates and policies, which means you can now get FREE SHIPPING around the world for qualifying orders.  What does qualifying orders mean?  Head on over to our Shipping Rates page to get full details.

Spring is really picking up-- so much so that we ran out of our Lighting Starter Kits for awhile.  The Light Strip and Micro Light Board starter kits are now back in stock!  We also have a very limited number of the Lighting Effect Starter Kits available, but we're having more Effect Controllers made in the next 2 weeks, so these will also be back in greater stock soon.  Thank you for your patience!

Some of you may notice that we have increased the prices on some of our products-- our power products in particular (the 3AA battery pack, the USB cable, and the 1AA power source).  In some cases (like with the 1AA power source), we increased the price because the new product does more than the old version (providing 3x the output current with the new version of the 1AA power source, for example).  In other cases, we've had to increase the price on some of our products for one of two reasons:

1. We produce most of our products in small batches.  This means that, while we always try to purchase in quantities that provide the best bulk discounts, we are subject to component and market price fluctuations.  A batch of 100 battery packs we bought last year may cost more to buy this year, which means we need to increase our price.  We're still a small company, so until we can buy in mass bulk like the big guys, we need to ride the wave of market pricing.
2. As our manufacturing processes mature, we need to build in fair costs for assembly time into our products that are assembled by hand.  Initially we didn't do this (basing the price solely on the cost of materials), but as we continue to expand our product range, we want to make sure we're fairly compensating the folks that help us assemble our products.  This is one of the main reasons for price increases in the power product category: almost all of these products are hand-assembled in Minnesota.

We debated whether to write a blog post about these price increases, but we want to remain as transparent as possible in our processes and our company.  Adjusting prices allows us to continue making great products for your awesome creations while also fairly compensating those who help manufacture, test, assemble, and package those products.

As always, please reach out to us through our Contact page, or leave a comment here on this blog, if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you for your continued support-- thanks to you, 2014 is going to be an amazing year for the LEGO® lighting industry!

April is here, and with it comes a move to a new and bigger space for us.  No more storing our stock and materials on cramped shelves!  The move took much of the last half of March, so it took longer than expected to get some parts back in stock.  We've had requests for the 1AA battery pack, and we're happy to say they are BACK IN STOCK!  Thank you for your patience as we moved to our new digs.  We're excited to have more space to build great things to bring your creations to life!

Update December 1, 2016: If you have questions about our upcoming light kit for the LEGO Disney Castle, please post your questions/comments in our online forum instead of this blog page-- the forum allows for richer communication than this blog.  Click here to go to the forum topic.  Thank you!

Here at Brickstuff, we often get questions along the lines of, "I just bought <x> LEGO set, and I'm wondering what lights I need to go with it.  Can you help?"

OF COURSE we can help-- we love connecting with our customers and hearing about all the awesome things they are creating!  So if you have a question about any of our products, don't hesitate to reach out and ask.

Since we often do get the same question, however, we thought it might be helpful to publish this blog post with some of the most common advice we provide.

When considering which lights you need for a given model, the most important factor to consider is: what overall effect are you hoping to achieve?  By this we don't mean lighting effect, but rather the approach you plan to take to the lighting process as a whole.  Here it is important to decide whether your goal is to add basic lighting (for example, adding general, broad light to one or more buildings), or whether you're aiming for something more detailed (for example, lighting each individual lamp in a house, headlight on a vehicle, or laser on a space ship).

If your goal is to add a large amount of general light to relatively large spaces (such as the interior of a building), your best bet is to use our Light Strips.  We offer these in packs of 2 and also in a 9-pack starter kit.  As a general rule of thumb, you'll need three Light Strips per floor of a Modular Building-sized structure (use fewer per floor if you have a smaller building, more if you have a larger building).  You can connect the Light Strips end to end, so you can expand your lighting installation or add more light at any time.  We have published an online guide that provides more ideas for using our Light Strips to light Modular Buildings (you can use these same techniques to light non-buildings as well).

If your goal is to create detail lighting (lighting individual lamps, engines, headlights, laser cannons, etc.), then our Micro Light Boards are the right solution.  As with the Light Strips, we offer these in packs of 2 and also in a starter kit.   We have published an online guide that describes how to light the Winter Village Cottage using our Micro Light Boards-- the information contained in this guide can also be useful for lighting other non-building elements (headlights, for example).  Using the process described in Step 6 of the online guide, you can gently sand the corners of the Micro Light Boards so they will fit inside 1x1 round bricks (out of the box, the Micro Light Boards will fit inside 1x1 non-round bricks).

So, to summarize: there is no one "right" way to light your creations.  Depending on the type of effect you are seeking, you will benefit from using either our Light Strips or our Micro Light Boards (or both, if you want to light both general areas and detailed spaces).  For models like Technic models, space ships, and the like, you will probably want to use the Micro Light Boards.

No matter your approach or what you're hoping to light up, the easiest way to get started is to use one of our starter kits-- these include everything you'll need to be up and running quickly, and since everything in the Brickstuff system is modular, you can easily expand or adjust your installation (or your approach) at any time.

We hope this information has been helpful.  If you have additional specific questions, we'd be happy to help!  Just send us a note via our Contact page and we'll be in touch.

2012 was a year of product development for us.  2013 was all about getting the word out, and 2014 is going to be about growth.  We just released a bunch of new products (check them out in the New Product section of our Products page), and we have many more in the pipeline.  We're planning to release more new products in 2014 than any other LEGO® lighting company, and we will soon have the broadest range of products available anywhere.  Exciting times, but also very busy times!

Last year, we shipped product to a total of 18  different countries-- what an amazing fact!  It was wonderful getting to know many of our customers and working with them to bring their creations to life.  We couldn't do any of this without YOU, so as 2014 gets underway, we will say another big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us.  This is going to be an amazing year for LEGO® lights!

Happy Holidays from all of us at Brickstuff!  Now through December 31, you can get 10% off your purchase in our online store by using code 2142525 at checkout.  We still have a few of our limited edition 2013 Christmas Tree kits in stock, so now's the time to fill your stocking! 

Hard to believe we published our last blog post in May!  Whenever we visit a company's website and see that they haven't been making frequent blog updates, we always wonder, "What are these people working on?  Are they still around?"  I guess we could accuse ourselves of this same laziness in blogging, but rest assured, we had a VERY busy summer prototyping and releasing several new products and product assortments.  We also had the privilege of working with some of the best LEGO builders in the business on creative uses for our lights, so you can now see examples of our lights in everything from Micropolis buildings to space ships to multi-level dioramas.

In addition to getting the word out in these and other ways, we're also close to announcing a totally new way to use our lighting components, with all new effects, that will allow you to do things with lighting that you can't do with any other product on the market.  Keep checking our website, as we're close to having big news to announce for the 2013 holiday season.

Thank you for your continued interest in and support of Brickstuff products!

Although our schedule won't allow us to be at Brickworld 2013 in Chicago this year, we wanted to make sure everyone was able to light their awesome creations, so we're having a special sale on our lighting kits through the end of June!  You can find the kits on our Tindie webstore.  Stock up, and light your creations!

Last night, we were fortunate to be a guest on Joshua Hanlon's excellent webcast, Beyond the Brick.  You can watch the webcast by clicking here.  Joshua was a great host, and it was great to be able to share (and show!) more information about our products.

This was Rob's first webcast, so he really didn't know what to expect.  The hours leading up to the webcast were a little crazy as furniture was re-arranged, computers were moved, and LEGO models were shuffled to create a good on-screen appearance.  There are always things you don't plan for, like a squeaky desk chair that forces you to put on a geeky headset at the last minute, but overall it was a great experience.  Since the webcast, we've had some great follow-up from builders asking great questions.

The experience has shown that people really want to see more of our product in action, to see it being installed, and to see more examples of the kinds of results you can obtain using our lights.  We're going to be launching a series of short YouTube videos soon to provide more of this hands-on visibility.  Since we've already had our first webcast, it's time to get over our virtual stage fright and put ourselves out there!

What kinds of information and demos would you like to see?  Let us know, and we'll do our best to get the word out.  Our goal is to make it as easy as possible to use our products, so let us know what would make thing