Handbell Minifigs with LEGO

 LEGO minifigures (minifigs) are available in a dizzying number of variations. The possible combinations of head, torso, legs, and headwear (hair or hat) is literally in the billions, making it likely that you’ll be able to find the parts to make a minifig that looks like you or your friends or anyone else you might know, such as this likeness of singing Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield I made:

But we’re here to talk about handbells, and Lego doesn’t have a “handbell” piece. They do, however, have two parts that can be used as makeshift handbells: the “Ice Cream Cone” (part # 11610 )and the “Goblet” (part # 2343 ).

In the picture of the Lego ringers up top in the banner, you’ll see both of these parts being used. The ringers on the left side of the pic are using the Ice Cream Cone parts and the ringers on the right are using the Goblet parts, but with the base of the part cut off. If you are a Lego purist and can’t handle cutting a part, then the Ice Cream Cone is your best option. Sadly, it (as of this writing) is not available in Pearl Gold, the colour closest to the bronze handbell colour, so you’ll have to use tan.

The Goblet is available in Pearl Gold, however, and cutting the base of the piece off is fairly easy to do with an X-acto knife of some similar tool. Or you could just order from East Wing YYC and I’ll do it for you. Here’s how that works: first, you’ll need to head over to Bricklink.

Bricklink is a LEGO-owned marketplace for people to buy and sell Lego sets, parts, and other related stuff. You’ll need an account there, but it’s totally free so there’s no worries on that. Just click the “Login or Register” button near the upper-right corner and set things up from there. Once you’ve done that, head on over to East Wing YYC - this is my store and the one I’ll be screenshooting for examples.

Bricklink is notoriously difficult to figure out when you’re a newbie, so that’s why we’re doing this walk-thru. On the main page, you’ll see the store banner, some newly-added items on the right side, and a box of text on the left. It’s that left-hand side that we’ll be heading to first. It breaks down the items in the store by type of item (sets, parts, gear, etc) then by various subcategories. Which section you want is going to depend on how you want to build your minifig bell team.

Minifigs are found under SETS, PARTS, and/or MINIFIGURES. I told you this was going to be confusing. So let’s look at each area and see what works best for what you want.

SETS are a complete package including the minifig, accessories, and (usually) a display stand, such as this set from the Muppets series with Fozzie Bear, a mic and stand, and a banana.

Getting your minifigs as a set is usually going to be the most expensive option, since it includes the accessories, but if you want to have the minifig in your collection and not just as a handbell player, this could be your preferred source. If you’re just looking to build a bell team, there are better and cheaper options, namely the MINIFIGURES and PARTS sections.

If you want an already-existing character to play in your bell team, then head down to the MINIFIGURES section. Here you’ll find fully complete “people” for your bell team. You can quickly build a team of your favourite characters this way. Maybe you’d like an Avengers bell team or a team of musical Jedi Knights or maybe Hogwarts had a bell team that never made it into the movies. It’s fun to come up with teams this way and it’s quick and easy to do.

If you want a bell team that’s more customized than that, say maybe a figure that looks like you or someone you know, then it’s time to start mixing and matching parts. It’s more time-consuming to do it this way, but it allows for a ridiculous amount of customization and control of how your team will look. Head on over to the PARTS section of the site and scroll down until you get to the minifig parts. Let’s start with the face - click on Minifigure, Head and you’ll see something like this:

You can set options such as how many results are displayed per page and whatnot. When you find one that you think is what you want, you can click it to see it larger on your screen:

Above the list of parts headings, you’ll see a search box (“search in this store”). This is handy if you need to narrow down your choices, such as if you want to just show, for example, faces with glasses or a beard or some other distinction. Don’t worry about the “hollow stud” or “blocked open stud” or other such descriptions. None of those have any bearing on what we’re doing and all variations will work just fine.

Once you’ve got your head picked out, click either “Minifigure, hair” for hairstyles, or “Minifigure, headgear” for hats and such. Note: there are some hats in the “hair” section, but those hats also include hair poking out from under the hat.

If your ringer is bald, no hair is needed (obviously) but you can choose a hat for them or just leave the head bare.

Now let’s head to the torso. For solid-coloured shirts, click “Minifigure, Torso Assembly” and for patterns, uniforms, costumes, and more variety, click “Minifigure, Torso Assembly, Decor”.

Here, more than anywhere else, you’ll need to keep an eye on the PRICE. Torsos can vary wildly in price, depending on the rarity of the part. Some torsos are pretty common and available in lots of different sets, so you can find them hovering around the $1.50 or less price point. Others are specialized (like a Santa suit) or only available in a handful of sets. Those can be much more expensive - anywhere from $2 or $3 up to $50 or more!

When you’ve got the shirt you want, you’ll need some legs to stand on. Lego has three sizes: short, medium, and standard.

The standard legs are under “Minifigure, Legs” and the medium and short legs are under “Minifigure, Legs, Modified”. Both also have a “decorated” option for legs that have printed pockets or multiple colours and whatnot. All of them will fit the torso you just picked out, so you can pick whichever set of legs you like. Price varies on legs as well - black and blue are very common and so they’re pretty cheap. Rarer colours or printed patterns can get pricey.

That’s it! If you want to make more bell ringers, keep going and build out your whole team.

When you’re done, head to your shopping cart and checkout. Here’s where Bricklink is going to differ from other sites you’ve probably shopped at. When you get to the checkout, you’ll choose your method of payment and your shipping option. Some stores offer “instant checkout” where the shipping costs are automatically figured, added to the total, and you complete your order right away. East Wing YYC does this if you want your parts mailed to you.

Other stores do an invoice instead. East Wing YYC will do invoices for orders that choose “Local Calgary Pickup” as their shipping option. Regardless, if you get an invoiced order, your card won’t be charged when you checkout. Instead, the owner of the store will email you an invoice for the order and you’ll pay for your order then.

Once your order shows paid, the owner of the store will pull all the parts and pack them up and either ship them to you (if you chose that option) or let you know when it’s ready so you can pick it up (if you chose that option).

But wait! What about the handbells???

In the checkout page, there’s a box where you can add a message to the seller (that’s me). Just type ADD HANDBELLS and I’ll include the pre-cut Pearl Gold goblets for free (one pair per minifig). That’s all you have to do!

If you’re shopping at a store other than East Wing YYC, you’ll need to go to the search box and put in the part number for the goblet part (2343). That will bring up the part in all the colours that store offers. As I mentioned earlier, the Pearl Gold is the colour closest to handbell bronze.

When you get your order, you’ll need a blade of some kind or perhaps some pruning shears to remove the base of the goblets so they look like handbells.

Need a director’s baton? Those Harry Potter-style magic wands work fantastically well as a director’s baton. Search for part number 36752a . Or if you want just a basic stick, part number 87994 (bar arrow) is a basic round stick that comes in lots of colours.

Of course, you might want to build tables, a backdrop, or maybe even a concert hall for your bell team to play in! You can do all of that, of course, either by building your own design or finding an existing Lego set that will work for you. Either way, the same procedures for choosing your parts and things to build your creation work exactly the same as choosing your minifigs. Have fun poking around the Bricklink site and going down the Lego rabbit hole. The possibilities are endless.