My Novel Brick Sorting Idea

[Gondorian]

Hi, everyone!

 

I have a lot of loose bricks (for us to build with).  I try to keep them sorted, usually by type and colour.  The problem with that is that it may not be practical and can slow down building times.

 

For example: We have a big 30litre tub of white/pink/purple bricks (actual bricks, not plates or tiles or slopes).  Looking for a 1x3 in there can sometimes take a while.

 

My novel idea is to have a multi-container method with 4 colours and 4 brick sizes in 4 smaller tubs, but not quite the way you would expect.

 

e.***.

 

In tub 1: 1x1 white, 1x2 pink, 1x3 dark pink, 1x4 purple.

In tub 2: 1x2 white, 1x3 pink, 1x4 dark pink, 1x1 purple.

In tub 3: 1x3 white, 1x4 pink, 1x1 dark pink, 1x2 purple.

In tub 4: 1x4 white, 1x1 pink, 1x2 dark pink, 1x3 purple.

 

Now, for whatever colour you are currently building with, you just rearrange the tubs by brick size and pick out the part you want easily from the right tub (because colours are easy to spot, but brick sizes are not usually).

 

This itself is an extension of my multi-colour palette system, as opposed to only bricks of the same colour in a tub.  Other colours I mix together: black/grey/blue, yellow/orange/brown/green.

 

You could also use this approach for storing bricks from your brickset inventory, I guess.  Very quick to get at the part you are looking for and no need for lots of very small tubs and bags.

 

Once you go above 1x4 size, it might make even more sense to have something like 1x2 ColourA, 1x4 ColourB, 1x8 ColourC in 3 tubs and then 1x3 ColourA, 1x6 ColourB, 1x10 ColourC in other 3 tubs.  That spread of sizes should lead to roughly same size tubs being required.

 

 

Oh, another thing: I tend to treat anything that is 1x1 as special and won't actually mix them in with the other tubs.  I guess I should write a blog series about my methods!