Onyx Saber – For “DJ” the Man In Black

Hello Everybody, I am slightly excited today as I am approaching my 1 year Blogversary (I think that’s a word, if not I have just invented it!) and I may break the barrier of 4000 hits soon! Hopefully I will reach the milestone in time for my anniversary, but in the meantime to keep you entertained I have a new design. Recently there has been quite a bit of chatter around the galaxy regarding Benicio Del Toro’s character in The Last Jedi. Who is he? What’s his name? Who is he related to, where does he come from? Well, we still don’t know much more than we did before but Vanity Fair produced an article showing backstage images and a photoshoot, which included the Man In Black, or DJ as he is now known. We see that he has quite a large ship (possibly a cargo vessel?) and a distinctive jacket. I thought maybe he was a smuggler, like Han Solo or some type of mercenary. If so, he would need a suitable weapon, so here is my saber design for the Man In Black…I call it the Onyx Saber…

Onyx Saber Hilt

Onyx Saber Emitter

Onyx Saber Emitter 2

Onyx Saber Switch

Onyx Saber Body

Onyx Saber Pommel

Onyx Saber Horizontal

Onyx Saber Vertical Up

With so little information to go on, I decided to create a hilt that might suit DJ based on his looks in the Vanity Fair photos. A mercenary would have a distinctive weapon to make a statement and I think this hilt looks good. It has a Graflex style emitter (similar to Anakin’s, Luke’s and now Rey’s saber) which always looks stylish and gives a nod to the history of lightsabers. The blade is purple (I know it looks a little pinkish but it is the graphics used in the saber builder package causing that!) which indicates DJ so far has no allegiance to the Dark or Light side of the Force. The switch, body and pommel are functional with a nice brown leather grip on the body, and a loop to hang the saber attached to the pommel. The parts used are a nice gloss black making them appear much cleaner and new, showing the saber is cared for.

Copyrigh Vanity Fair/Disney/LucasFilm

My edited version.

So this has been my design for the mysterious Man In Black, DJ. It is hard to design for somebody with so little information to base it on…oh! the name….yes I nearly forgot to mention that. The name is taken from the black gemstones found on planet Earth, the Onyx!

I am now approaching the end of this post and will have to bring it to a close, but as always before I go I want to say thank you to all my followers and viewers (including a nice young lady called Jamie, who has recently started following…thank you!) Your support has carried me to 304 posts and (nearly) 4000 hits. Please spread the word about FTSabersite to your friends and do call back soon to see what I have coming up in future posts. Till next time.

“DJ”, The Last Jedi and all other names, logos and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm. The Benicio Del Toro publicity photo is owned by Vanity Fair magazines and was edited by me to include the lightsaber.

Forearmed – A Saberstaff for Pong Krell

Hello Everybody, and a big hello and thank you to ALL of the Sentinel Squad UK cosplay troop who came and checked out my design for them. You Guys and Gals are truly amazing and I think you may have broken the hit counter on my stats page! I was honoured by the post displayed in the Squad’s “Briefing Room” on their Facebook page and want to thank their founder for doing that. I again ask you, my viewers and followers, that if you haven’t already please go and check this group out at their Facebook and Twitter pages…I have placed links in the sidebar on the right to take you there!

And today’s business involves a Saberstaff for a Besalisk Jedi General. This character was for a while a revered Jedi warrior and master tactician but after he foresaw the demise of the Jedi Order and the Republic, he decided to better his chances of surviving and turned allegiance. He began to sabotage the campaigns against the Empire and sent troops on suicide no-win missions, while he became more immersed in the Darkside. This character is Pong Krell from the Clone Wars era. He was a reptilian humanoid who had FOUR arms! And during battle he wielded two lightsaber staffs. This is my interpretation of a weapon General Krell may have considered using….this is called Forearmed….

Forearmed Saberstaff

Forearmed Emitter 1A

Forearmed Emitter 1B

Forearmed Hilt 1

Forearmed Mid Grip

Forearmed Hilt 2

Forearmed Emitter 2A

Forearmed Emitter 2B

Forearmed Horizontal

I wanted a tough durable design for this staff and I think it works well. The emitters have protrusions (nicknamed Bunny Ears in real life) which I thought looked like the horns on Krell’s forehead. The emitters screw into a pair of Couplers which have Grenade Grip style ridges, which give the staff a non-slip grip..useful if you have large hands. The mid grip or shaft has twin activation buttons, so should the staff be damaged as Darth Maul’s was in The Phantom Menace, then it can still function as two separate hilts (which would mean four sabers, if Krell had two staffs!). The blades are a reptilian Lime Green colour, neither Jedi or Sith but shows Krell’s journey to the Darkside has begun.

Fortunately Pong Krell’s deception and plans were discovered by the famous 501st Legion of troopers and he was defeated when, whilst trying to slay a group of soldiers who confronted him, was shot and stunned by a Clone Trooper called Tup. Krell was later executed for his crimes…which kind of makes my design defunct, oh well someone else may like one of these staffs!

EDIT: I would like to thank Experience Film for reminding me I had forgotten to mention Besalisks hail from the planet Ojom, and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s friend in the diner called Dexter Jettster, is of the same species as Pong Krell!

I am running short of time and will have to end soon, but I have a few quick notes on what’s coming soon. I do have a “Darkside” version of this weapon for an upcoming post and a new weapon for a “War Orphan”, along with an update of my first attempt at 3d modelling! So I hope you will all return to see these posts, I appreciate each and every one of you for supporting me and this site. Till next time.

Pong Krell, The Clone Wars and all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/© Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm.

Sentinel Squad UK Lightsaber – Tribute for a special Cosplay Troop

Hello Everybody, and first before I go any further I offer my sincere apologies this post is WAY overdue. However it is not overdue because I got distracted, but rather my health has taken a bit of a turn for the worse. I have been hit by some form of infection which left me in excruciating agony and almost delirious. I have since been referred to specialists at my local medical center for batches of tests. I am still not 100% but am trooping on, which is apt as I want to push on and present this design I came up with for a fantastic group of folks I met at For Tyeth’s First Comic Con I attended recently. The group are called the SENTINEL SQUAD UK, a non profit organisation who create the most fabulous Star Wars themed costumes and make public appearances for charitable causes. You have already “met” one of their members, my friend Takamatsu, or as he is known in the Squad, BOSSK BH-5700. So in honour of their great efforts to support deserving local charities all over the UK here is my gift to them the SENTINEL SQUAD LIGHTSABER….

SENTINEL SQUAD UK hilt

SENTINEL SQUAD UK Emitter

SENTINEL SQUAD UK emitter 2

SENTINEL SQUAD UK Switch

SENTINEL SQUAD UK Body

SENTINEL SQUAD UK Pommel

SENTINEL SQUAD UK Pommel 2

SENTINEL SQUAD UK Vertical Up

This design is not based on any particular member or character but rather on one the props they have built and use for publicity photos with members of the public at events. That prop is the Imperial Tripod Turbolaser Cannon used by the SnowTroopers on Hoth to shoot the Millennium Falcon. I don’t think the Squad’s cannon actually fires but it was impressive looking. This hilt is meant to look a little like the upper part of the cannon (barrel, breach, stock etc) The only thing missing is the little Tie-Fighter style winglets mounted either side to cool the weapon.

These Guys and Girls do a phenomenal job and have a total love of what they do. Nothing ever seems too much trouble for them, whether it is a local children’s nursery they are visiting, or a big city convention they are always approachable. So please use the links I will provide below to go and check out what great work they do, and if you are based in the UK you may either want to book them for an event or just go and support them and the charities they are trooping for….please do.

Sentinel Squad UK Facebook page can be found HERE 

Sentinel Squad UK Twiiter page can be found HERE

To finish today’s post I want to thank the Sentinel Squad UK for all they do (and hello Takamatsu!) and will post a few images I have of the group from around the net and from my encounter. I hope you my followers and viewers enjoyed this post and I do have at least one more post left in me (don’t worry I’m working on more but I do have to be mindful of  my health now so they may be late). Please call back to see these upcoming posts.

Thank You from For Tyeth.

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Sentinel Squad UK is a non-profit organisation raising funds for charity in and around the UK. The name SENTINEL SQUAD UK is copyrighted as are all the images and related logos and other material. All other Trademarks/© Copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Wildcat Lightsaber – Kentucky’s ferocious felines

Hello Everybody, I have a saber I promised to design for a friend of mine jonnys95s10, who is a fan of college basketball and in particular the University of Kentucky Wildcats! Now having researched the team it’s not surprising they have a big following of fans. The team boasts the best overall win/loss record in NCAA history, winning 76% of their games (.765 for my American statistician fans!). One of the guys responsible for such performance is Coach Cal, John Calipari. He is the latest coach of the team which began way, way back in 1903 so having a .765 rating over that length of time is phenomenal and deserves a Lightsaber, and here it is, this is Wildcat Lightsaber….

Wildcats Hilt

Wildcats Emitter

Wildcats Emitter 2

Wildcats Switch

Wildcats Body

Wildcats Pommel

Wildcats Horizontal

I hope jonnys95s10 approves of this design, I think it captures the essence of the team! The hilt is clad in the Kentucky Blue and White of the Wildcats’ franchise colours. It even looks as if it is wearing a team jersey with the checkered design on the grenade grip section, just like the pattern found down the sides of the team vests. The saber has a powerful look to match the percentage record and the emitter has two white accent rings, representing the hoops at either end of Rupp Arena. These hoops get used quite a lot with the amount of points the team scores (not to mention the monster dunks!) And to finish the hilt off there is a golden amber blade which projects from the fang-like emitter to reinforce the image of the team’s mascot Wildcat.

Wildcats! Wildcats!

University of Kentucky Campus

I am approaching the end of the fourth quarter and will soon have to bring this post to an end. Hopefully this saber will count as another win for the Wildcats. I am still working on new designs (though I am having difficulty with SketchUp, but I will sort that out soon) and I hope you will return to see those and more from my friends in upcoming posts. Thank you so much for looking in on today’s post and for supporting me and FTSabersite, it is greatly appreciated. Till next time.

“UK Wildcats” and all names, logos and materials are Trademark/©Copyright of the University of Kentucky (Men’s Basketball Team). The Wildcats play in the NCAA College Championships.

Changes – For the Better!

Hello Everybody, today I have a few bits and pieces to address, a bit of bad news, a bit of good news, a few changes I need to make and a bit of expansion!

Firstly I need to address the cautionary post I wrote a few days ago, well it seems that finally my site has drawn the attention of a website that “Harvests” other people’s sites and uses the content to make wallpapers and background images etc for anybody to download. Now it is only one design and two images so far but I don’t know if any more are going to be “stolen”. I admit I made a mistake and didn’t individually mark each image with a watermark or logo but I will on all images from now on, so I hope that doesn’t spoil your enjoyment of my work. I’ll try to make them as discreet as possible but still hopefully effective in scaring off any more harvesting.

I had considered quitting this blog, if people are going to rip off my work and post it on a page that is probably generating cash for the “web company” then I was gonna finish. I make nothing authoring this site, it is a hobby to help me keep my sanity! I also don’t know what companies and sites advertise on the website responsible, so that is why I posted the caution so you didn’t click their links thinking they were mine and then finding yourself in a whole lot of Internet nastiness.

I however decided that I am going to carry on, as I cannot control what happens to my work when I post it so if someone wants to copy it etc then they will find a way to do it. I’ll add the watermarks and see how that goes, as today is a milestone for FTSabersite….this is my 300th post! I said way back in post no.200 that I couldn’t believe I had got so far, and I repeat that sentiment now. But I wouldn’t have made it without the help and support from some good friends and you my viewers and followers so a great big thank you for walking this adventure with me.

Now as a thank you present I have been hard at work learning a new skill, and I have got to a point where I can show you my efforts. I have been learning to build designs in Google’s SketchUp software and after a few struggles here are my first efforts. I “copied” a Kylo Ren style crossguard saber to learn the ropes and work out how Sketchup works, not bad for a first attempt I think…

This hilt is to scale with itself but isn’t based on real dimensions and measurements and certain details are different. But it does look like a crossguard which is what I wanted. I then practised some more and came up with a second attempt based on my own personal saber. If you’d like to see that then please click the button below and join me on Page 2…

Pages: 1 2

A Word Of Caution! – Please read for your online security

Hello Everybody, today (2nd July 2017) I have discovered something that I need to bring to your attention. Whilst browsing online and waiting for a post to be indexed by the search engines of the internet I found certain pages which have nothing to do with this site or myself but appear to imply they do. These pages have been created using Search Engine “Harvesting” or “Scraping” by bots to create Click Bait and fake Breaking News pages. I do not know if these pages contain malware, spyware or any other nasty pieces of hidden software. Another website has started linking to images on this site and allowing it’s users to download them as Wallpapers and Background images, again without my knowledge or permission.

I am not sure how I can protect my site and you from these hazards, but I am looking into the situation. I’m doing what I can do right now, and that is to inform you of these potentially hazardous webpages/sites and urge you not to click the links leading to them. This is the only site I post my blog on, however I do comment on other forums and YouTube, but any other site claiming to be or associated with me in any way are not linked officially to me.

I am sorry this situation has arisen but it is out of my control what other idiots do to mess up the Internet along with honest websites and blogs etc. I hope you all realise which is the real me (and my site here) and can all stay safe and far away from these sick scammers/con-people.

Thanks for your support and understanding,

For Tyeth/FTSabersite

ONE FINAL POINT! I REPEAT…

FOR THE IDIOTS…

THIS WEBSITE AND IT”S CONTENTS, DESIGNS, IMAGES, LOGOS AND ALL OTHER WORKS ARE OWNED BY ME, FOR TYETH, OR ARE USED WITH PERMISSION.

FOR TYETH/FTSABERSITE IS COPYRIGHT ©2016-2017.

The Master Lightsaber – Saber for the Doctor’s devious frenemy.

Hello Everybody, a few weeks ago I posted Mondas – Saber for a Cybernaut, my Cyberman themed hilt, little did I know that they would be making a spectacular return to the current series of Doctor Who! (Or maybe it was one of my visions that prompted me to post it.. 😀 !) Either way, there was another character who made a “surprise” appearance at the end of the episode “World Enough and Time”, and that was the Doctor’s foe, The Master! The Master first appeared in the Whovian universe way back in 1971, and was originally portrayed by Roger Delgado. But as all Time Lords do (even rogue ones) he/she changed their appearance as the Master regenerated. To complicate the Master’s story he even switched bodies with other characters to prolong his/her existence (in the story The Keeper of Traken). This meant the Master was played by numerous actors and an actress, including…Peter Pratt, Geoffrey Beevers, Anthony Ainley, Eric Roberts (Movie), Derek Jacobi, John Simm and Michelle Gomez. However it is John Simm’s Master that I have based this weapon on, or rather on his “Laser Screwdriver”, so here is The Master Lightsaber….

The Master Hilt

The Master Emitter

The Master Emitter 2

The Master Body

The Master Switch

The Master Pommel

The Master Pommel 2

The Master Vertical Up

The Master Vertical Down

This saber shares the same colour scheme as The Master’s Laser Screwdriver but I hope it has a bit more of an effective range! (I mean what can you do with a laser screwdriver? Build “laser flat-pack furniture”?) Seriously though, this saber has an amber blade to co-ordinate with the overall colour scheme and it projects from an asymmetrical emitter. The “Screwdriver” had three nozzles of varying length and this emitter best matched the part. The body represents the switch section, with a gold powder coated activation box. This control box doesn’t actually ignite the saber but is used to keep the look. The real switch section is next up and to finish the hilt there is a powder coated pommel which replicates the gold accented end cap of the screwdriver prop (seen below).

The Master and his Laser Screwdriver (copyright BBC TV)

So now the Master has his own saber to compliment his Laser Screwdriver, quite a pair! Oh, and remember I mentioned the actress Michelle Gomez? Well it turns out that her version of The Master, called Missy, will be joined by John Simm’s Master to form a pair in the season Finale! A double dose of distress for the Doctor!

I am running out of time on this post, but I have just enough left to tell you I am working on a “Missy” themed hilt (it only seems right I should) and one for a costuming group who do fantastic charity work. I’d also like to thank you all for looking in on this design and please call back to see upcoming posts, I appreciate your visits! Till next time.

“The Master”, “Missy”, the “Laser Screwdriver” and all other names, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of BBC TV.