Hello everybody welcome to my last post……of the year that was 2020! Don’t worry I’m not quitting blogging just yet – even though this past year has made me think about it. What a year it has been, viruses and operating system crashes….laptop failures….premature and sad deaths….and a terrible pandemic sweeping the planet called Covid 19.
January started with mixed reviews of the final film of the Star Wars Skywalker saga with The Rise of Skywalker. By the end of the month it also had the UK worried about a new illness discovered in two Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in the city of York. Covid had already been detected in China during December but this was the first time I had heard anything about this killer illness. But in more positive news I did model and create a couple of hilts from the movie Rise of Skywalker. I got to see the film on the 20th December and by the 22nd I had built these…not bad for a beginner!
February was a good month (sort of) as I finally resolved an issue with my bank and received some compensation for mis-sold insurance. This meant I had a little bit of earth cash and I needed a new laptop as my existing one from 2007 was nearly at capacity and was struggling to perform what I wanted. So I knew I couldn’t afford a complete new setup so I decided to purchase a higher spec refurbished model. I thought the machine would last a year or two while I saved the full amount needed for a new desktop. I was wrong but more on that in a little while. In February I posted a few designs ranging from hilts inspired by LucasFilm’s new Mandalorian tv show on Disney+ along with a hilt from Mulan too. I also had the honour of building a model based on my friend PsychoSith’s beautiful artwork and a well known custom saber company in Portland Oregon was selling off cheap lightsaber parts in a “scratch and dent” sale. These parts were either Quality Control rejects or parts that were damaged in the building process and the company’s owner was selling them to amateur builders to use. Well one of these bargain basement deal pieces caught my attention so I made my own 3D version and turned it into a full hilt – I like to recycle! Oh and I built a saber for Zorro….yes a lightsaber Rapier!
March was another mixed bag as the first deaths were announced (UK) and worries about the Coronavirus grew and a Partial National Lockdown was implemented to contain and control the spread of the disease. It was also during March I started having tech issues with my new I5 laptop. I put the issues down to the problems Windows 10 had on certain computers and tried to work round any glitches. BUT I ended up having to re-install the operating system. I lost some of my files…but miraculously I salvaged some later. Some of the files and designs included these interesting items…another Rapier for Inigo Montoya, a saber for a Doctor Who fan I know and a new item, a Holocron for Darth Logos.
Please join me for Part Two of this review – click the button below!
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate today. I hope all of you are having a great day with your families and are having fun (while staying safe). It has been a strange year and a hectic one, so I sorta forgot to make a Christmas card this year to post so I hope you don’t mind me “recycling” an old one I had…but it does show the lightsaber which I received 5 years ago for Christmas and which set me on my journey!
My Christmas “Decorations”!
So, from the Tyeth household, thanks for the gift of your support and I hope you all have the best of times.
Till next time…..please saber safely if you got a new lightsaber,
Hello Everybody, I wasn’t sure whether to post this design bearing in mind the sad news yesterday of the passing of Jeremy Bulloch, also known as the original Boba Fett actor. However I had the post lined up and the pictures prepared so I may as well post it. I will be taking a bit of a break after this for the Christmas Holidays and the fact it has been a long, very long year I need a rest. I will use the time to attempt to recharge my batteries and prepare a retrospective review post for 2020. That won’t be easy…but there were a few bright spots during the year.
But back to today’s post and it is “Miraculous” that I am able to bring this to you at all. This hilt was nearly lost when my laptop failed for the last time – luckily though, I had just uploaded copies of the files to cloud storage. So this hilt is inspired by an animation called “Miraculous – The Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir” and is based on the character Ladybug. In this show two young teenagers are bestowed magical trinkets known as Miraculous(es) which allow them to transform into superheroes to save the city of Paris whenever it is in danger from supervillain Hawkmoth . The two teens are Adrien Agreste and a young lady, Marinette Dupain-Cheng .
Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Ironically both are in the same class at high school but are unaware of each other’s secret alter-egos! They both kinda like each other too – well Marinette definitely likes Adrien but is shy. while he is more guarded and develops an interest over time. Marinette uses a pair of magical ear-ring studs to transform from timid mild mannered teen into Ladybug whenever Hawkmoth hatches a plan. Hawkmoth “infects” butterflies called “Akumas” with negative magic powers which then fly into the city to infect and transform citizens into Supervillains based on the negative emotion they are feeling. So enough chat for now, here are my first attempts at creating the “Miracle”…
The saber is simple and functional but does sport a natty red and black spotted paintjob to match Ladybug’s outfit, including the hexagonal panelling on the grip. In the show Ladybug’s costume has hexagonal texturing to it (similar to the new Superman and Spidey bodysuits) and I recreated the panelling using a wire frame which I wrapped around the hilt. The red and black paint is actually one layer of texture generated in Blender (meaning I didn’t paste images onto the model). The second object you can see is Ladybug’s yo-yo which she uses as a weapon and a tool to cleanse the infected butterflies once they have been freed and released their hold on the emotional citizen host. Ok, onto the next batch of pictures…
The yo-yo as I mentioned is used as a weapon, as a shield by spinning it and as a device to cleanse “Akumas”, it also has the power to create a “Lucky Charm” object that helps Ladybug defeat whichever villain she is battling. This Lucky Charm is usually an everyday object which when used in conjunction with other items gives Ladybug an advantage. You will notice that this version of hilt and yo-yo has a slightly altered paint job with a discrete white outline around the black dots. This came about when Ladybug received new powers later in the show and became LadyAquabug. I removed the hexagonal grip as my borrowed laptop couldn’t cope with all the details at first but the hilt didn’t look right so after a few technical tweaks I managed to force the computer to create this final batch of pictures….
So now Marinette/ Ladybug has a powerful new tool to tackle Hawkmoth with. And she will need it as Hawkmoth is determined to steal the ear-ring “Miraculous” of Ladybug and Cat Noir’s finger ring to combine their powers and achieve his goal – to obtain the ability to change reality (he does have a noble reason for this but there are complications involving Adrien and Cat Noir – but that is a story for later).
Hello For, I’m Ladybug!
That just about wraps up this offering as I have run out of Glamour Shots! The story of Ladybug and Cat Noir runs for three series and there is a feature length special set in New York. There are many more characters and villains too so maybe in the new year there might be a few more “Miraculous” inspired designs. Stay tuned!
For now I would like to thank all of you, my friends and followers for the fabulous support you have shown to me and FTSabersite this past year. I am truly lucky to have such a following and I couldn’t do this without you. You have helped the site surpass the 25,000 views milestone last week which I am proud of. I am also proud that I think I’ve posted a design every week (or pretty close to it) and rest assured I still have more ready for next year so I hope you’ll all return for my end of year review (there may be some surprises) and all the new stuff in January. Stay safe, have a happy and peaceful holiday season, take care of each other and Till next time…..
“Miracle Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the animated series “Miraculous – The Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir”. The “Miracle Saber” design, 3D model and renderings are Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020. “Miraculous – The Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir” was created by Thomas Astruc and developed by Zagtoon Method Animations. All names, logos, images and related materials are Trademark/Copyright of Thomas Astruc/Zagtoon Method Animations.
Hello everybody, today I logged onto the web and was brought the sad news that the world and Star Wars community has lost another legend. Mr Jeremy Bulloch has sadly passed away after a long battle with Parkinson’s, he was 75 years old. As you will know Jeremy was the body actor for the now legendary character of Boba Fett, THE bounty hunter in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. What some people may not know is that Boba made an on-screen appearance many years before back in 1978! Boba appeared in animated form in the Star Wars Holiday Special….but George Lucas kept Boba’s character in mind and brought him back for ESB. And Jeremy Bulloch was the gentleman to bring Boba to life. And what a job he did. Boba famously only had five lines of dialogue in the film but with his mannerisms and mystique created such a fan movement that he earned his place in Star Wars lore and got his own action figure, spaceship and inspired The Mandalorian.
The character of Boba was so great that I created a saber in his honour as part of my MandaLAWrian series of hilts I created. The Boba Legend looked like this…
BOBA Legend Saber
I wish I had had the opportunity to meet Mr Bulloch but unfortunately never got the chance, but I did meet his alter-ego sort of. This is my “meeting” with Boba…
I think Boba wants my saber!
My thoughts and prayers go out to Jeremy’s family and friends, and I want to say I appreciated all that he gave to the Star Wars family and community.
Hello Everybody, I hope you are all well and staying safe. Today I don’t have a saber design to show you….shock and horror! No saber? Well not one of my sabers no, but I am going to show off my new custom lightsaber I recently purchased and added to my only other saber. I have wanted a new saber for a while so I can say I am an actual “collector” rather than just a Star Wars fan with one saber, so I had a bit of fortune earlier in the year and I got some money back that I was owed . With the credits I got I bought my boots, outfit and robe….I just needed a saber. Eventually one became available to purchase that was just too good of a deal to turn down, and it is called the “Flyte” lightsaber from a manufacturer named Ultimate Works. I saw the list of features and the price and had to get one. It came within 1 week of ordering (that’s fast from Hong Kong to the UK) and when it arrived it looked like this…
This saber is a beauty, and has some nifty features. For one it has sound, but it doesn’t just have one set of effects – it has SIX sets of sounds (a set of sounds is known as a Soundfont or Font for short). So this saber can have the hum and clash sounds of Rey’s lightsaber…or the crackle and hisses you hear from Kylo Ren’s! The saber also has the ability to swap those default sounds for new ones you can purchase and download. You then use a USB cable to upload the fonts into the saber like you would transfer files on a computer. The USB cable can also recharge the battery that powers the saber, so no more buying batteries or looking for spare ones! Oh and I mentioned multiple sounds…but I forgot to mention this has multiple blade colours too by having an RGB LED installed. This LED bulb has three smaller LEDs inside, one Red, one Green and one Blue. By programming the electronics I can set how bright each colour is and mix my own colours (a bit like Colour Balance on a TV set.) So this saber can be red or blue as well…
Due to the sensor in my digital camera the blue looks a bit purple and the red looks orange but they are red and blue…oh and not just these three colours…here’s a slideshow of a selection of what’s possible….
With this technology I can have any combination of lights and sounds to mimic any lightsaber in existance. And even more tech is installed on this beauty. The sounds on some lightsabers you can purchase are very “static” meaning no matter how you swing the blade the noise remains the same, well in this hilt there are sensors that detect which direction and how hard you are swinging and it processes the sounds accordingly. So if you just wiggle the blade it will sound “whum, whum” but if you swing like a baseball player the noise is louder and harsher “WWWHHHUUUM!, WWWWWHHHUUUM!” This saber even flashes different colours when it hits another blade or when you tap the switch it will flash and make the noise of a laser blaster so you can “deflect” enemy fire! It is just unbelievable how good this hilt is and it has earned a place next to my first saber. Here they are next to each other…
Don’t they make a nice pair, hang on! There’s three sabers!
Er, I seem to have miscounted! I see three sabers in this picture…and you would be correct…there is another….light…saber! Yes, not only have I received an Ultimate Works saber but a new company based in the UK has set up selling lightsabers and they too had an impressive offer so I was able to buy a “Mystery Box” saber from them too.
The company is called Padawan Outpost and is based in London so I didn’t have to pay any import tax and the hilt had free UK shipping…and I purchased a Mystery Box saber. I had no idea which hilt I would get or what features it would have, but for £59 ($78) the price again was too good to pass up. I could have received a movie inspired replica (costing £200+) but I was sent a model called the ECO Zeta, and it is sooo cool. It is a base model with the basic electronics installed but it is awesome and looks beautiful….here take a look….
The Zeta comes in a classy rose gold colour and too features SIX fonts (however these fonts aren’t swappable), has a recharge function too and yep, you guessed it it has RGB colour change blade. And to demonstrate my Force powers I took a quick video of the saber to show you it working. I’ll apologise immediately and say that I turned the sounds to muted so I don’t bend any copyright laws and the whirring and clicks you hear are my camera trying to focus!
How about that! I am one with the Force and can control my saber without touching it. Jedi Mastery 😀
Now I am approaching the end of this exciting post but first I need to point out I am in NO WAY AFFILIATED with either Ultimate Works (available via The Pach Store) or connected to Padawan Outpost. I am just a very satisfied customer who is happy with my purchases. As such I am going to leave links to both vendors so you can check them out for yourselves .
Padawan Outpost website features 19 models of hilt in three price/specification tiers and can be found here: https://padawanoutpost.com/
Both companies were swift and efficient, their packaging (outstanding and recyclable) and shipping options were good and I hope to purchase more from either company in future.
I might have to as Mrs Tyeth has taken a liking to the Zeta hilt and has sort of owned it for herself!
Thanks so much for looking in on my new expanded saber collection. I hope you liked the new sabers and don’t worry I will post a full ensemble gallery of me in my robe and costume, using these hilts when I get the belt and pouches I am shopping for. As always your support is fantastic and we have broken the 25,000 views milestone this week, so even bigger thanks. Till next time….
Ultimate Works “Flyte” is a lightaber design built and sold by Ultimate Works via The Pach Store web retail store. The design and Intellectual Property are Trademark/Copyright of Ultimate Works.
The “ECO Zeta Saber” is available via Padawan Outpost and the name “ECO Zeta Saber” is Copyright of Padawan Outpost.
Hello Everybody, last week as you may know brought the sad news of David “Darth Vader” Prowse’s passing and as a result it was another hard time for me. It didn’t help that I also had an Influenza vaccination and that made me feel lethargic and under the weather. So I wasn’t able to get the mini photoshoot I hoped to do with my Flyte saber and new robe done – plus my cameraperson, Mrs Tyeth was also busy. My camera has a self timer so I tried doing it myself but it only features a 10sec delay…I may be fast but even Jedi speed isn’t quick enough to set the camera then run into shot and pose in time! However I have been busy designing and made a small modification to the Coaxium Saber I showed last week. Members on the Ultrasaber’s forum suggested the hilt would look good in a coppery/bronze colour scheme to make it a bit “Steampunk” inspired so here is a gallery of the new painted hilt….
By tweaking the settings on the colour wheel picker I was able to select a nice burnt orange/coppery finish for the hilt. I think it goes well with the purple blade still so I left that and the “Coaxium Helix” chamber contents as they were. Speaking of the Coaxium capsules here is gallery two showing the refinished chamber…
These images really show how nice the copper sets off the purple. I thought it was so nice I would try and create some abstract art and took an artsy close up picture of the Coaxium in it’s chamber – this really shows off the spiral twisted torus of the helixes.
But I felt this saber needed just a couple more tweaks so I added a couple of safety valves on the chamber (as I had seen Steampunk Engines and Automata with little exhaust vents and pipes) and I added some conduit vanes on the emitter. Here are those modifications…
These are only minor details for now but I am beginning to push the limits of what this lower spec laptop can model and render (I am still using the borrowed laptop for now). But the minor mods just differentiate the original model from this version.
I am again nearing the end of this post but as always I have my thank you’s to make and let you know what’s coming up on the site. I will do my best to get the mini photoshoot done and I also have some Star Wars The High Republic inspired hilts to bring to you (if I can render them!). And if that wasn’t enough I have some Miraculous hilts that should appear in a few weeks time. I hope you will all call back to check these future posts out. For now I’d like to thank you for your visit and support today, whether a first time visitor or one of my loyal long time followers, you are much appreciated. If this is your first visit and like what you see don’t forget to leave a comment and maybe subscribe – there is a “Follow Me” button at the top of the screen…”I would be honoured if you would join me”! Till next time…
“Copper Coax Saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design and the design, 3D models and renders are Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2020.
FTSabersite 