Bone Sleeves

[ScopesMapeo]

I have searched around on this forum and others...but I was looking for a "how-to" on making "bone" sleeves for MHS lightsabers. I am in the planning stages for a saber that will used a bone shroud, so I wanted to make sure I could get it to work / pull it off before I became too invested in a pipe dream, no pun intended.

I thought I would share my experience prototyping a bone emitter shroud out of a PVC pipe. Basically, I took a PVC pipe (I used some leftover 1 1/4" pipe) and went to town with a Dremel and a sanding drum. The effect was essentially sculpting the PVC into the shape I was imagining...I was going for a vertebrae feel, hence the ridge effect. I also made sure that there was no smooth portion left and then worked my way around the emitter in one direction, then the opposite direction to give it a sort of weaved looked. Then I rounded off and gouged up the edges so it would look like a little more organic and chipped/battle damaged.

Weathering the piece was accomplished by brushing on some light brown accents around the ridges and in the gouges, then I sprayed a relatively thin coat of flat white (just enough to "wash out" the light brown) over the whole thing, then I dry brushed a mix of yellow, brown, and white to age the bone and bring out the surface details. The inside of the emitter is a flat grey that I brushed in then wiped it away as it was still drying to give it a streaked burnt look...then I took a lighter to the edge to burn it and give it a carbon scored finish. Initially I was afraid that I was going to melt the plastic, but then I rationalized that an actual lightsaber blade could cut bone rather efficiently, so a little burning and maybe a little melting would just add to the effect. One other note, when I was cutting out the shroud I wasn't too worried about making it perfectly uniform. I figured the more irregular it looked the more realistic it would look.

Enjoy some pics!


Bone Emitter-6 by scott34567, on Flickr


Bone Emitter-5 by scott34567, on Flickr


Bone Emitter-3 by scott34567, on Flickr


Bone Emitter-1 by scott34567, on Flickr

[Kyaryo Ysoyav]

That looks really good!

[Nick Knight]

Amazing job. Ya its hard to find the secrets to this type of saber peace. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[ScopesMapeo]

Second attempt, this time with some carving.


Untitled by scott34567, on Flickr

[sharppunk]

Holy crap that looks great! I thought it was real bone when I saw that first picture.

[Silver Serpent]

Very impressive. Can't wait to see more.

Your hand appears to be far steadier than mine.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Very impressive. Can't wait to see more.

Your hand appears to be far steadier than mine.

i agree with SS, that is impressive! Good work!

[ScopesMapeo]

So far I am happy with the PVC, but it doesn't come without a few drawbacks. The schedule 40 pipe is thick, and it isn't a perfect match to MHS parts. Though, I have a few more mediums to try out (polymer clay, and some sculpting compounds) which will probably yield better results. I will let you guys know what I come up with!

[Silver Serpent]

The 1.5" PVC pipe fits perfectly over 1.5" sinktube, which in turn fits perfectly over MHS parts. You could use sinktube either as a spacer, or for a multilayered effect.

[ScopesMapeo]

Thanks for the tip!!