How Those Awesome LEGO Oscars Were Made

New York-based Lego artist Nathan Sawaya has made replicas of the Brooklyn Bridge, Venus de Milo, and even the Mona Lisa out of the colored blocks as part of his career. So he was certainly up to the challenge of making 20 Oscar replicas for last night's 87th Academy Awards.

Sawaya had some experience making LEGO Oscars even before the preparation for last night's ceremony: He had built a single statuette to serve as a consolation prize to The LEGO Movie co-director Philip Lord last month after the film was snubbed for a nomination by the Academy. After a photo of the replica spread on Twitter, the creators of the movie decided they wanted to do more.

"The team behind The LEGO Movie approached me, they wanted to do something extra special for the Academy Award performance of best song nominee 'Everything is Awesome,'" Sawaya told Crave. Together they decided on 20 statuettes, to be given out during the performance, each made of 500 LEGO bricks—glued together for structural integrity.

Although some superstars were psyched to get their hands on one of Sawaya's Oscars—Emma Stone, Channing Tatum, and Oprah were some of the lucky recipients—the artist is hoping to make it possible for everyone to build a statuette of their own.

"So many people have asked me about getting their own LEGO Oscar that I submitted it to LEGO Ideas so that everyone has the ability to get one," Sawaya said. "Hopefully it will be approved in the next few days and we can all start supporting it." Or, you could try to replicate the process based on this video Sawaya posted on his twitter:

For more of Saway's work, check out his traveling exhibit, The Art of the Brick.