An'ya Kuro-esque Saber

[tanzanlinnear]

johannshinobi said:

the guy at Luukesabers made a repllica of the Dark woman's saber...

That's where I showed my fiance the image of it, and she asked me to make her one...

[LoreenShadowchaser]

Hey, Johann Shinobi, Luuke really doesn't like anyone "Hot Linking" to his pics on his web pages and using up his band width.

You should be a nice Jedi and either delete those pics or save them to your own hosting site and post them from there.

I got reminded about that when I posted some pics of his on another board.

I'd hate to make the guy mad and have him take his site down. He's got a lot of good character lightsaber reference stuff on his site.

[Johann Shinobi]

Sorry, didn't know. I modified my post to delete the offending photos.

[KaiRhann]

This lightsaber has been one of my favorites, if not my FAVORITE, since I first saw it in Dark Horse Comics. Thanks, Tanzan for reminding me that I had yet to make this one. So, between Monday and today (Wednesday) I tackled this project. Didn't take long, thanks to the medium of choice...

The base is PVC, wrapped with PVC wire shielding (the very fine tubing that covers wire). The designs are sculped in place from epoxy putty (used for plumbing repair...has steel dust in it, lending strength). This includes the pomel "crystal". The flared pommel is made from a larger diameter PVC pipe (1 1/2") than the base pipe (1 1/4"), and was sanded to shape, giving it the flare needed. The emitter is a smaller diameter PVC (3/4") with a small piece of 1 1/4" with a plastic "caster cup" (used on the base of furnature legs) and then another piece of plastic (syntra) of a larger diameter atop of that. The activator button is made of a base of epoxy putty with a garment button set in that. Opposite of the activator is a brass knob. The belt attatchment is a furnature "cap nut" (very useful...made of steel, fits a cell phone belt clip perfectly). For added weight I used a piece of steel pipe inside the saber, giving a total weight of 1.6 lbs. The paint job is as follows: base coat of flat black spray enamel, three shades of purple Delta Ceramicoat Acryllic (Royal Plum, Eggplant, and Lavender mixed with Eggplant and Crimson Red), then a finishing coat of purple Stained Glass spray paint (clear, tinted paint).

It came out pretty good, I think, though I would have wished for better...



~Kai Rhann

[tanzanlinnear]

Now that, is an extremely nice recreation I wasn't going for an exact recreation for my fiance's saber, just a close approximation, but you've got it spot on, it's fantastic I'm glad the tutorial was of help, if albeit slightly modified

[KaiRhann]

Thanks, Tanzan. I like it well enough. Still, the best I've seen is Luuke's version...he really did a fantastic job with his version.

The overall concept of the style of this saber is great...much more interesting than many "traditional" designs. The "organic" look of this saber design has always been a major draw for me, and inspired my gold "ancient lightsaber" to a degree.

Thanks again...
~Kai Rhann

[Olos Nay]

Kat wants me to make something in the style of what Tanzan did - not a replica, but inspired by...
She has celtic origins, so she's like me to add celtic braids in the details. I figure it will look good.
I'd most likely paint it cameleon.

KaiRhann your replica is REALLY good looking. Impressive is that you made it within a week. Great job.

[tanzanlinnear]

kairhann said:

Thanks, Tanzan. I like it well enough. Still, the best I've seen is Luuke's version...he really did a fantastic job with his version.

The overall concept of the style of this saber is great...much more interesting than many "traditional" designs. The "organic" look of this saber design has always been a major draw for me, and inspired my gold "ancient lightsaber" to a degree.

Thanks again...
~Kai Rhann

I have to admit, I prefer your version, as there is a clearer distinction between the wraps and the sculpted shells, where as Luuke's is more indistinct. I really like your ancient lightsabers, too. I'm guessing the silver one is sanded PVC, but what material did you use for the gold one?

[KaiRhann]

Thanks, Olos. Knotwork would certainly look great... there's a swordmaker who specializes in that sort of handle design...does great sgian dubh and the like. Check out Jake Prowning's work at his site at www.powning.com/jake/commish/swords.shtml

Tanzan, thanks again, very much so. The curved, silver "ancient saber" is steel that has been curved, then has PVC additions to give the raised sections, with Bondo shaped over that. The gold one is a steel core, with PVC for the smooth raised sections, and Bondo in between for the sections that seem somewhat "melted". Little details like the raised embeleshments at the activator and such are cut from cardstock, epoxied in place. The "dry burshed" paintjob over flat black lends to the aged appearance...

~Kai Rhann

[tanzanlinnear]

yanlauzon said:

KaiRhann your replica is REALLY good looking. Impressive is that you made it within a week. Great job.

Not wanting to take anything away from any of the sabers in this style, despite the complexity of it's appearance, it really is an incredibly simple saber to make. The most time consuming aspects are waiting for glues/epoxies to set, and then for the paint to dry. It really is a good example of how a saber can be made in a very short time, if you have the correct materials to hand

[tanzanlinnear]

kairhann said:

Tanzan, thanks again, very much so. The curved, silver "ancient saber" is steel that has been curved, then has PVC additions to give the raised sections, with Bondo shaped over that. The gold one is a steel core, with PVC for the smooth raised sections, and Bondo in between for the sections that seem somewhat "melted". Little details like the raised embeleshments at the activator and such are cut from cardstock, epoxied in place. The "dry burshed" paintjob over flat black lends to the aged appearance...

~Kai Rhann

You're more than welcome, it's a fantastic recreation, I think the fact you were able to actually sculpt the outer shells rather than carving them as I did, is what adds to the overall appearance Ahh, I have to admit, I have not used Bondo as a medium (or heard of it) what exactly is it? Is it a metal putty similar to what you used with this saber? Out of curiousity, what color blade would the ancient silver saber have?

[KaiRhann]

Yes, the saber is deceptively simple. Just unique. Depending on how you approach creating it, this saber can be done relatively swiftly. Just stick with mediums you know, or first familiarize yourself with new materials to get the "feel" of them.

Tanzan...Bondo is a brand name of auto body filler. I think I actually used Micro Lyte, but it's the same general product. As for the blade color on the silver saber, I'm a traditionalist ... green or blue. Probably blue (my preferred color). But that's just me...

~Kai Rhann

[tanzanlinnear]

kairhann said:

Tanzan...Bondo is a brand name of auto body filler. I think I actually used Micro Lyte, but it's the same general product. As for the blade color on the silver saber, I'm a traditionalist ... green or blue. Probably blue (my preferred color). But that's just me...

~Kai Rhann

Ahh, do you mean the stuff that is smoothed into body work?
I had a feeling it would probably have a blue blade. I know what you mean about a preferred color, my personal sabers have always had green blades

[KaiRhann]

That's the stuff, Tanzan. I've experemented with lots of different mediums over the years...that's just one of them. Always trying to find new ways to achieve the desired results...

~Kai Rhann

[tanzanlinnear]

I might give that a try in a future project, thanks for the tip