Crusader Saber – Inspired by Knightfall

Hello Everybody, today I get back to displaying sabers after my little acceptance speech I had to post last week – thank you Annlyel. And today I have a very new design I have come up with based on a History Channel TV show I have recently started watching. That show is, as the title says, Knightfall which tells the stories of The Knights Templar of the 1300’s. The show is a fictional story about a Knight Templar named Landry de Lauzon and his fall from grace from the order and his attempt to rebuild his life and reputation. During the Crusades the Templars lost the battle in the Holy Land and “The Holy Grail” to the Saracens and it took fifteen years for the Grail to resurface in France. Lauzon had in the interim been made commander of the Paris Temple and saw this as an opportunity to reclaim the Grail and solve the mystery surrounding the death of his mentor. However this course of action by the Templars resulted in some very powerful enemies to spring up.

Lauzon, in the second season of the show has to prove himself once more to be worthy of being a Knight Templar….and he has to pass the tests set by his new teacher, Master Talus the Initiate Master. The Initiate Master is a wise battle hardened instructor and just happens to be portrayed by….Mark Hamill!

Luke?Mark? Ah! Master Talus.

Yes! Luke…I mean Mark Hamill plays Master Talus so I had to make a lightsaber based weapon based on this show knowing that. So I set to work. However there is a bit of a difference with this hilt as I modified an existing design from Ultrasabers, the Texas based custom saber manufacturer. I will show you the studio work in progress shot that I have (sorry it is only one but I modelled this so quickly so as to get it published I got carried away and only snapped one pic!)…

I will be honest I haven’t really done too much to this design, structurally I just added the crossguard pieces and gave it some colours (which you’ll see in the Glamour Shots). The saber I used as the basis for this design is the Ultrasabers Initiate and as Master Talus is the Initiate Master hence my choice of base model. The saber is available at Ultrasabers and you can find the Initiate model on this PAGE.

I WILL TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO POINT OUT I AM NOT AFFILIATED WITH ULTRASABERS IN ANY CAPACITY AND AM NOT BEING PAID BUT I AM A MEMBER OF THEIR FORUM – Ultrasabers don’t even know I have modified/created this design yet!

Now the legal bit has been covered how about some “Glamour Shots”? Ok here you go…

“Crusader Saber” 1

“Crusader Saber” 2

“Crusader Saber” 3

“Crusader Saber” 4

“Crusader Saber” 5

I gave the hilt a new set of crossguard pieces to recreate a cruciform shape to resemble the famous red cross on the Templar’s shields and battle tunics. The red powder coating is actually inlaid into the metal and there is a matching band of colour around the edges. The emitter and pommel have a band of red powder coat while the handgrip has two bands of gold to accent that section. I kept with a silver base coat as white wouldn’t work as well, making the hilt look plastic rather than metal as it should be. Because I did minimal work on the saber handle I needed to do something different to add my touch to the design…so I designed a custom belt clip and hanger for the hilt. Here are a few more pictures of the hilt and beltclip combo….

“Crusader Saber” Beltclip 1

“Crusader Saber” Beltclip 2

“Crusader Saber” Beltclip 3

“Crusader Saber” Beltclip 4

I did attempt to create a sheath/beltclip made with a texture to look like leather but I am still struggling to make realistic looking materials. I tried to make the beltclip look like leather but when I added the grain effect it looked more wooden, but there was one good thing – the clip can also double as a display stand! You could unscrew the belt loop from the bottom and then you could have a free standing display plinth…or hang it on a wall. And as a final touch I added another Templar cross insignia on the top panel.

Now I think that just about wraps up this design, and I hope Ultrasabers don’t mind my little modification to their design but I think it worked quite well. If you want to watch Knightfall it is on the History Channel in the UK. Thank you all for looking in on this design and for all the fabulous support you give me, it really is appreciated. Just before I go I have news of a bit of an expansion as I have been introduced to a very talented artist who sketches saber designs and he will be featured in my “Guest Designer Gallery” very soon, so please call back to see that and more in future posts. Till next time….

Oh and just in case you wondered what I’d look like in armour here you go….

“Crusader Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions concept inspired by the TV show “Knightfall” produced by The History Channel and A+E Studios. It is also based on the Ultrasabers Initiate V4 saber which is a Trademark/©Copyrighted design of Ultrasabers llc. FTSabersite and all it’s contents are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019.

Mystery Blogger Award 2019 – I’m Honoured.

Hello everybody, today I have had to change my plans once again because, as you can see from the title, I have been nominated for another blogging award! And again I have the nice young lady named Annlyel of annlyelonline to thank as she nominated me for the “Mystery Blogger Award”. (I think Annlyel may be spying for the First Order who are hunting me…she keeps asking me questions – maybe to gather intel on me?) Anyway thank you Annlyel, I do appreciate my nomination and to qualify for the award there are the usual rules and procedures to follow. As always I am going to struggle to name 5 or more blogs that I haven’t already mentioned as recommendations but I will do my best with the other segments.

The “rules” are as follows:

1.Put the award logo/image on your blog

2.List the rules

3.Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog

4.Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well

5.Tell your readers 3 things about yourself

6.Nominate 10 – 20 bloggers (if possible)

7.Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog

8.Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question (specify)

9.Share a link to your best post(s)

I have sort of put the logo image on my page because I thought I had to make my own version of it at first so used it for my title header image above ^^…but it kinda looks a bit “X-Files”. I didn’t know where to get the official image from then I thought “maybe the person who created and started this award has it on her site” so I visited the site and there it was! Rule 4 states I need to mention the creator so I will. Her name is Okoto Enigma, and her blog is Okoto Enigma’s Blog which can be found at: Okoto Enigma’s Blog

The Official Award Logo

Now here are the three facts about For!

1) I have only been designing seriously since 2015 after I bought my first lightsaber. The company I bought my hilt from offered a product called “Adaptive Saber Parts (ASP)” where you could use an online virtual builder to “design your dream saber” . You choose different pieces to make your own design from a selection of handgrips, switches, blade holders and pommels. You could then buy the corresponding parts to assemble the saber at home. I spent way too much time using that website designing hilts like this..

This saber won a design contest.

The company then held a saber design contest on their forum which I entered and was fortunate enough to win. This convinced me I could probably design sabers as a hobby…I designed over 300 using that website.

But around a year ago the company updated their website and my laptop wasn’t able to access it any more so I had to learn how to use 3D modelling software to continue designing. The good news is that I can now design my own bespoke lightsabers from scratch and make them look like this…(this is just a few!)

2) I am a pianist/keyboard player and used to be part of a cabaret act! I had to sing, dance and play keyboards in bars and clubs around the UK. We also had a full stage show with lighting and costumes. One of the highlights of the job came when I got to perform at a club, on a stage, that my favourite band had played on. That band was Queen – Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon! And I got to play Bohemian Rhapsody – LIVE – on the very stage they had performed on! I got rather emotional that night.

3) As a youngling I had a very unusual claim to fame. I was one of only three people in my town who could operate the film projector in my local cinema! My father knew the chief projectionist as they talked to each other on “Citizen’s Band” radio. I was invited to check out the projection room lots of times and learnt how the projector worked. I knew how to load the machine and swap reels (which were approximately 1m/3ft in diameter, not the small decorative film canisters you can get for your home décor!) and even got to run a “show” for a paying audience while the official projectionist watched on!

I think I have to answer 5 questions including one “Weird” one….

(Weird) 1. What strange food combination have you ever experimented with and realized it was actually kind of delicious?

A) I did try Portion Bread with Peanut Butter spread once (Portion Bread is the green bread roll, or biscuits as they are known in the USA, that you might have seen Rey eat in The Force Awakens). But a strange real world food combination I used to eat was Sugar Sandwiches. As it sounds it was just two slices of buttered bread with a sprinkling of sugar as the filling. I suffered from bad health as a child and when I was ill I’d get so poorly I couldn’t eat proper food so I was given these sandwiches to keep up my energy. It was a “recipe” my grandfather used to make along with his “magic” Whisked Egg Milkshakes.

2. If there was any ancient civilization you could visit what would it be?

A) I think I’d like to visit ancient Egypt to see how the pyramids were built and compare them to the Jedi Temples like those on Yavin 4 and the Sith Fortresses like the one on the moon named Dxun.

3. What’s your favourite holiday movie?

A) I don’t really have a favourite holiday movie as I watch films all year round if I have the time. But I do like the National Lampoons vacation films!

4. What’s your idea of a dream vacation?

A) I like to get in my Naboo Star Skiff and fly out to Bal’ Demnic. It has mixed emotions for me as it is on Bal’Demnic that I was seriously injured in a battle trying to stop the Confederation of Independent Systems (CIS) from taking control of a Cortosis mine but the planet has some seriously beautiful ocean and forests away from the civilised/industrial areas. They also have great big Hawk-Bats swooping around in the misty atmosphere all along the coastlines. But I’ll be spending most of my time in future in my new apartment…nice huh?

5. Reality, drama, or comedy; what’s your favorite television show genre?

A) Tough one this as I like both drama (mainly sci-fi) and comedy. It depends on my mood but maybe comedy – just. I like crazy comedy like the British shows Red Dwarf, Fawlty Towers, Dad’s Army, Allo’Allo’ and Only Fools and Horses.

Star Wars Trivia!…..Bruce Boa starred in an episode of Fawlty Towers titled “The Americans” as a tourist who stays at the Fawlty Towers hotel and tries to order a Waldorf Salad and a Screwdriver to drink. It is probably the most popular episode of the show. Well….Bruce Boa also played the part of General Carlist Rieeken, the Rebel Alliance commander on Hoth in Empire Strikes Back!

Finally I need to direct you to my favourite post or posts. I have a few posts I am proud of and would like to share them with you:

First up is “For Tyeth Tries Blender 3D!” where I began my real journey into designing using dedicated 3D design software and not have to rely on Third Party websites. It was where “The For Awakened” you could say! Here is the LINK

My second post is a post that caused me a lot of anguish as I had a design I was extremely proud of…but it was lost to a computer glitch as I attempted to save the files. I had to rebuild the saber from scratch using my memory. To see how I managed you can check out “New Asguard” – Inspired by Marvel’s Thor” by clicking HERE.

And lastly, I have “Furious – inspired by the Red Fury Stormtroopers” which I posted a few months ago. It shows how good my Force premonition is as Disney/Lucasfilm recently announced some new Troopers (and toy merchandise) namely the “Sith Trooper” and guess what? They wear red and black armour…just like my saber! To see how similar they are you can click HERE.

I still have many more sabers and designs to bring to you all and as a treat here is a sneak peek of the Master Series collection of hilts I announced last week. There is a Rey Graflex from the new Episode 9 film, Anakin’s saber from Episode 2, a hilt for Darth Vader….plus a saber for THE master…Luke Skywalker!

Thanks once more to Annlyel, I hope this post meets approval. I also hope you will all return to view future posts…as you have seen there is plenty more to come. Thanks for all the support. Till next time….

FTSabersite and all it’s content (including all saber designs and imaging)  is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019. Star Wars related material is Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm.

 

“Lost Veridian” – Inspired by Lady Revan’s SW Fan Fiction Story

Hello Everybody, today I have a new saber inspired by the great fan fiction storytelling of a friend of mine from the Ultrasabers SaberForum.com. Her name is Lady Revan and LR has written a fabulous Star Wars story based on the characters found in the Star Wars games I have been inspired by recently (those games being Knights of the Old Republic [KOTOR] and Star Wars The Old Republic [SWTOR]). I have already designed a hilt based on a character from LR’s story, that hilt was for a person named “Opela Moraf” but this one I’m not sure who it belongs to! I chatted with LR and she spoke of a mysterious “viridian green coloured saber” which had been lost/rediscovered in her story. The chat went on and LR sort of suggested she’d like to see a For Tyeth 3D model built from her description, so I went to work. My first attempt was OK but looked a little short and stubby but I did make it in less than 30 minutes and was just a test build…. it looked a bit like this…

Lost Veridian Saber test build 1

Lost Veridian Saber test build 2

Lost Veridian Saber test build 3

LR told me the saber was a long lost relic so I needed to keep the design fairly simple but interesting at the same time. To achieve this I used a clawed emitter and added a pommel that had similar spines. I also built a “primitive” crystal chamber section too. This chamber though is more complex than it looks! There are two halves, created from one part mirrored to form a whole chamber. It also has two crystal spheres to create the pearl like gem located in the chamber…oh and it has transparent plexiglass panels to enclose the upper sections. However, as usual I wasn’t 100% happy and felt it needed stretching a bit (I felt it a little too short) and it was too linear. I went back to work on it…

Lost Veridian Saber test rebuild

I rebuilt the hilt and realised whilst doing so that the pommel was too cluttered so I removed some of the spines. This resulted in the emitter and pommel having the same number of claws/spines and provided some continuity. And to add the necessary length I added a fluted section between the chamber and pommel. I felt this made the saber more elegant but not look too advanced. The saber was now more balanced, had a D-Ring attachment to hang it from a belt hook and I recoloured the blade to make it more “silvery green”. OK enough chatter, it’s time for a few Glamour Shots, here is Lost Veridian deep in the depths of a distant jungle…

Lost Veridian Saber

Lost Veridian Saber pommel 1

Lost Veridian Saber top view

Lost Veridian Saber emitter

Lost Veridian Saber grip with crystal chamber

Lost Veridian Saber D-Ring pommel 2

You may have noticed I added a new texture that is semi glossy and some nice pinstripe detailing on the emitter and pommel’s spines. The pommel has a new speaker grille added and the “Krayt Dragon pearl” has an updated speckled appearance to make it look more organic. Hopefully this hilt should fit the bill for Lady Revan’s story…But wait! There are always two sides! So here is a Dark Lost Veridian that may have been corrupted by the Dark Side of the Force and a few more  Glamour Shots of this saber’s dark sibling….

Dark Lost Veridian 1

Dark Lost Veridian 2

Dark Lost Veridian 3

Dark Lost Veridian 4

Dark Lost Veridian 5

Dark Lost Veridian 6

And that just about brings me to the end of this post…but first I have to say a big thank you to Lady Revan for the great story “Only Light Can Cast A Shadow” (which you can read on SaberForum.com by clicking HERE . However please be aware the story has adult themes and may not be suitable for younger Padawans!) I hope you like the Lost Veridians.

I also need to thank all of you my viewers and followers, new and regular, as always your support is fantastic and much appreciated. Hopefully you will call back to see future posts and my upcoming saberstaff designs and my recently announced “FT Master Series” builds! Till next time…..

“Lost Veridian Saber” and “Dark Lost Veridian” are For Tyeth Edition designs inspired by the fanfiction story written by Lady Revan, and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019.

Coming Soon! – The “Master Series”

Hello Everybody, just a short post to tease you all with a glimpse of my upcoming “Master Series” collection of hilts. So let me shine a “Rey” of light with this sneak peek….

And it kinda looks a bit like this with it’s textures!….

I hope you’ll call back to FTSabersite and see the full collection with all the pictures you could hope for!

For Tyeth

“For Tyeth Master Series” ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019. Star Wars and “The Rise of Skywalker” are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm.

Rain Saber – Inspired by Darth Zannah

Hello Everybody, I hope you all liked the slightly different Steve Austin Six Million Dollar Man hilt last week but this week I take you way back to Nov 2016 and revisit an old design with a new Blender rebuild. Viewers and followers with a very long memory may recall I created a design using the old software system I used for a Sith Apprentice named Darth Zannah.

Rain also known as Darth Zannah

ZANNA Staff

ZANNA Staff 2

ZANNA Emitter

Darth Zannah was a human female named Rain. During the Great Sith War all the Sith were wiped out by a cunning warrior named Bane using a mega weapon called a “Thought Bomb”. Bane was left as the sole Sith warrior, but for the faction to survive he needed an apprentice to carry on the ways of the Sith. That person was to be Rain. Rain was a Jedi sent with the Jedi Light Army to investigate the events and aftermath of the war. However she never made it to the location, as her ship was hit by gunfire and crash landed. Rain was injured and disorientated but a local named Laa took care of her. As fate would have it, her new friend was unfortunately killed by a second group of Jedi scouts which sent Rain into a fit of rage. She killed the Jedi in a Dark Side fuelled attack which Darth Bane detected. He tracked Rain down and she became his student. This led to the beginning of the famous “Rule of Two” where there are only two Sith members, one is the Master and the other the apprentice – ready to learn all that their Master can offer then have to overthrow the Master and take on their own apprentice. This would ensure the survival of the Sith Order and make sure each generation would be stronger and more powerful.

In a similar way I felt that my Zanna Saber was ok considering I used the old design software but I needed to improve on the design and now I use Blender 3D I have the technology to do so. Here are the pictures of my new updated staff, I call it Rain Saber…

Rain Saber 1

Rain Saber emitter and controls

Rain Saber swithes

Rain Saber emitter and CcverTech knob

Rain Saber emitter lit

Rain Saber ignited

Rain Saber Wireframe

This is the weapon of the first true “Sith Apprentice” and it was deadly. A double bladed staff which allowed Darth Zannah to battle much stronger and more formidable opponents. The staff has a menacing black and silver colour scheme and multiple controls for adjusting blade length and power settings. I was able to pick and chose where to add the silver accents, which is something I had no control of with the old software (well not without extensive photo editing of the preview images!). The proportions are more accurate now also.

Some viewers may be thinking, “I’ve seen that weapon recently…wasn’t it in The Phantom Menace film?” Well, yes you did in a way. Darth Maul, the apprentice of Darth Sidious used a double bladed staff after having had a battle with a person that used a wooden staff. The incident influenced Maul to build a double bladed weapon as a staff and discovered Darth Zannah’s design from a thousand years earlier. So here are a few Darth Maul version images….

Darth Maul Staff (Rain Saber) 1

Darth Maul Staff (Rain Saber) 2

Darth Maul Staff (Rain Saber) 3

Darth Maul Staff (Rain Saber) 4

Darth Maul Staff (Rain Saber) 5

Darth Maul Staff (Rain Saber) 6

They do look similar don’t they? It just goes to show a good design will always endure. We first see Darth Maul’s staff when he attacks Qui-Gon Jinn and the young Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine and Darth Zannah spent a lot of time on the desert planet named Ambria, so where better to do a Glamour Shot photoshoot than in a desert? Here are a few extra pictures…

Darth Maul staff “ANAKIN DOWN!”

Rain Saber desert picture 1

Rain Saber desert picture 2

Ooh a scavanged lightsaber part from The Rise of Skywalker

I think this just about wraps up this post, but wait, you may have seen a scavenged part in the last image? Well you will see that part on a saber in the new Star Wars film coming out in December and I have a special model in an upcoming post featuring this hilt! I hope you will come back and see that and other posts which will feature more staff designs, more Old Republic style designs and a set of designs I call my “Master Series”. But for now I’d like to thank all of you for checking this post out, your support is fantastic and word seems to be spreading about FTSabersite as my viewing stats show I am gaining viewers from new areas! So thank you very much and….Till next time…..

“Rain Saber” is a For Tyeth Edition design and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2019. “Darth Zannah”, “Darth Bane” and “Rain” are characters which appear in the Bane Trilogy of books written by Drew Karpyshyn.