Through the Swedish LUG Swebrick, I have come to know several amazing female builders. One of them is Eva Svartkrut (aka Blackpowderbricks) who I have the privilege to call my friend. She is one of the veterans on the Swedish building scene and is one of the most stand-out builders around in my opinion—man or woman. Eva is noteworthy not only for her gigantic Harry Potter castle but also for her intelligence, strength of character and nerdiness. I also admire her greatly for her independence, compassion, and for being a fantastic mom.

Eva tends to build MOCs based on TV series or movies. So, follow along in this conversation and you might find your favorite series!

Malin: I already made a small introduction but will you tell us a bit more about yourself?

Eva: I’m a 46-year-old teacher of art and Swedish to teenagers. My family consists of two wonderful kids and three cats. Creating, reading books, writing and watching movies and series are all very important in my life. These days, most of my spare time goes to building LEGO and reading books, but I have dedicated myself to different types of creative work throughout my life, such as drawing, painting, sewing and building in different materials. I’m also autistic and love to focus 100% on everything I do, even though it gets tiring sometimes.

Malin: I know an “all-in” personality when I see one, and the detail in your Hogwarts is a real “tell.” When did you start building your Harry Potter castle?

Eva: Actually, the idea of building a bigger Hogwarts Castle started to grow in my mind when I came out of my dark age and became an AFOL in 2011. I started collecting LEGO Harry Potter sets, but it took several years before I started building. My version of Hogwarts Castle was inspired by Swebrick’s Community Build “Kvarteret,” a module-based collaborative build with rooms that connect and form a multi-story house where you can see all the interior from the front.

Malin: What was your plan when you started? Has the plan changed during building?

Eva: I started building in May 2017, and the original idea was to build the dormitories and some classrooms. That plan definitely changed with time. When I finally got started, I couldn’t stop! I wrote a list of rooms and scenes I wanted to add, and it just grew and got insanely large over the years. One house became three and four towers. Now, four years later, I’ve decided to finish it this year. It’s been a lot of fun, but during the last year I’ve been more interested in building other projects and I’ve realized that I have to put a final end to this enormous project.

Malin: What would you say are the greatest difficulties when building such a large build and over such a long time?

Eva: Getting the composition of the castle right was difficult, especially because I changed the plan and expanded the project several times. I decided to ignore the fact that some rooms aren’t in the right place because it would have taken too long to rebuild and rearrange big parts of the modules. That would have taken the fun out of it. This is a creation with a spotlight on the interior, so I have focused on just making a big dollhouse with as many scenes as possible.

Malin: What has been your experience taking the castle to shows and meeting admirers? Do you have any interesting stories? I was appalled when I saw an adult visitor with their whole arm inside of the Great Hall…

Eva: The best part of taking the castle to events is meeting other Potterheads and seeing them recognize all the details from both the books and movies. Especially when they stay for hours to see all of it and discuss all the details about the scenes with me.

Malin: Building something this iconic is special. What would you say are the positives and the negatives? Are you known for being the Harry Potter builder, or do AFOLs remember your other builds?

Eva: I think I’m definitely mostly recognized for my Hogwarts Castle and other Harry Potter builds, but I don’t mind. It’s a great and magical universe that has inspired me a lot.

Malin: As we love Nerds, can you tell us more about your fascination with movies and TV series? Are there going to be other builds from other movies in the future?

Eva: Ever since my family got our first VHS player back in 1986, I have been fascinated with movies and TV series, but it all started with my interest in books and stories. I loved fairy tales as a kid and I still read a lot of books. Last year I read 111 books, so reading a couple of books a week is normal for me. I have several ideas for new builds based on both books and movies and TV series as well.

Malin: Last year, you competed in the finals in the Swedish Lego Masters TV series. What would you say you learned from that experience?

Eva: It was a wonderful experience, and I learned a lot from it. Mostly, I developed my ability to think creatively and work with different pieces and limited amounts of parts. You may think that there would be unlimited amounts of bricks in the Brick Pit, but of course, there were limits in bricks, colors, and amount—and you had to think fast to solve problems since the time limit was a great factor in the competition! I also learned to build faster, but I’m not particularly fast and have great difficulties in estimating time needed to build certain things. I’m actually a big-time optimist, to be honest!

I hope you all follow Eva on her building adventure in the future on Flickr and Instagram—I know I will. I long to meet and talk with you at shows, dear friend!

How long has your longest MOC build taken you? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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