Tenel Ka Lightsaber... need advice!

[srams]

Holy sith that's amazing! I missed it, what did you use to sculpt that? I love this saber! Point!

[jjpprob]

This will be awesome. Maybe you could try using some Sculpey. It's a polymer clay thats sold at most craft stores/hobby shops. You could easily mold it around a saber hilt,sculpt it to your liking, then use a heat gun to set it.  Sculpey is very strong, can be easliy sanded and very paint friendly.  Whatever you end up using, i'd suggest sculpting it in at least two parts so you can still unscrew the pommel and get to the guts.

As Eiyame has already mentioned, if you use sculpey with a heat gun, you're at a very high risk of melting the electronics of the saber.

[eerockk]

I see there are artists amongst us. Fantastic work on those! Dang...

[Manroon]

I'll take ten. lol That seriously looks amazing, I've seen a few of these around the web but they almost always look sort of fake, yours seems very real. The emitter and switch look fantastic, as does the little hand guard those two side teeth make. Absolutely awesome work. Bravo!

[Longdong]

That really does look fantastic! That's something to be very proud of!
I see the writing on it, does it say/mean anything? Or is it just for looks?

[eerockk]

That really does look fantastic! That's something to be very proud of!
I see the writing on it, does it say/mean anything? Or is it just for looks?

It's Aurebesh for "Baiko" if I read it correctly...

[flurrsprite]

thanks guys! 

@srams i made it out of magic sculpt, which @ninja-jedi suggested i check out. it was interesting to work with, it was a little more putty-like than clay-like, a bit softer than i had hoped for so it tended to droop while drying and i had to keep adjusting it every once in a while over the few hours it took to harden. i did have to go back and add a bit more to the point of the tooth at the bottom because it kept caving in and wouldn't hold the point (i had originally wanted to poke holes into the point so that if i ever wanted to add sound it could come out the bottom, but it wouldn't hold up so i just filled it all in!), but i think it worked out pretty well in the end and in the magic sculpt's defense, it was a billion degrees in my apartment (no a/c) while i was trying to sculpt it so maybe it was just too warm.. but at least no oven was required, hooray!

@longdong i carved "maiko" in aurebesh into it hahaha... smudged it up a bit so it wouldn't look so perfect, so you were close @eerockk! i was going to carve "tenel ka" but then i didn't think she'd do that or if she would, wasn't sure if it'd be in aurebesh... tried to see if there was a hapan alphabet out there but couldn't find anything. so i used my name instead!

[eerockk]

Maiko!! Of course. I misread the first character! 

You get a point, of course!

[Longdong]

Thanks!

What's aurebush? Sorry, new to this stuff!

[flurrsprite]

@longdong it's the alphabet for basic in star wars http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Aurebesh

[Longdong]

Sweet! Thanks!

[srams]

Thanks!

What's aurebush? Sorry, new to this stuff!

Dont feel bad Im not new to this stuff and I had no idea! I learned something today too

[flurrsprite]

alright... here we go! might try to take some cooler pics (like.. outside haha) at some point but here's the full costume

i took all of the images i found of tenel ka and used them as inspiration. i was kind of going for the young jedi knights style, but with my own spin. a little darker than usual, with black leather and reptilian style print everywhere. even my tights were snakeskin print haha! it was a fun outfit to make, and pretty comfy even with the corset.

[Longdong]

You look great! I'm seriously digging that hilt! Awesome combo!

[Rina Ascura]

Wow. Not only the hilt, you too look great as Tenel Ka.