Hello All,
I have a story to tell you about a very brave young man by the name of Ian Kiesacker. He was a member of the local 501st and helped to start the unit in Sioux Falls. He loved Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter and LOTR movies. He had a great smile and quick wit that never failed to deliver a one-liner at the best time. He also battled brain cancer and complications from the treatment for over 6 years. In November, 2014 a tumor reappeared and after so many years of treatments Ian's body was no longer able to tolerate the treatments to fight the cancer. He chose, instead to spend the last month as a series of "Party Days". He went to movies, met with friends, ate out, and threw one of the largest "Going Away" parties you have ever seen. Attended by friends and family alike there were 501st members, Marvel Superheroes, Batman, LOTR and Harry Potter characters as far as the eye could see. It filled an entire basketball gym!
In December, a few days before Christmas, Ian passed quietly at home with his family. He had one final request at the end. He wanted an urn that was also a lightsaber! How cool is that! Talk about style and commitment to being awesome to the end!
Ian and His father drew up a quick sketch and contacted me the week before to see what we could have made. He wanted a clean saber with no switches or boxes and his name in red Aurebesh letters. I cleaned up a quick plan and a series of drawings to make this happen.
We only had a couple days before Christmas and then the weekend after would be the viewing and the funeral. Once the drawing was approved I quickly brought the finished design to a friend of mine that runs a machine and tooling shop. After hearing the story he agreed to help and we worked out a plan to machine the urn from two pieces of aluminum and drill out the center to form a container. The pommel was made to be removeable and fitted with a set of "O" rings to form a tight seal.
While he worked on Chirstmas Eve and the day after Christmas on the saber housing. I started work on the base and container. I found a project box at Hobby Lobby and added moulding to the base to dress it up. I used a pair of spindles and curved wood corner moulding to create the supports for the saber.
After talking to the the funeral home it was determined the that the ash generated would not fit in the saber. I found an aluminum tube that would fit inside the base and I capped it with two screw on caps and dressed those with copper accents.
The box was stained and coated with several coats of polyurethane. I held off on attaching the supports until I had the saber and could cut down the spindle to make the saber sit level. Once I had the finished saber I masked off certain parts and airbrushed a thin coat of metallic copper paint to add detail to the saber.
The next step was to take the saber to a local jewlery engraver and have him add Ian's name in Aurebesh (the Star Wars lettering system). They too went above and beyond after hearing Ian's story and had the letters engraved within two hours of me dropping the saber off. This was Saturday morning and the viewing was on Sunday. I took the saber home and painted a thin layer of candy red to the letters and then sealed the entire saber with an acrylic clear coat.
It was then time to put it all together!
That is Ian's Saber! As he used to say, "That's flippin' awesome!".
I have a story to tell you about a very brave young man by the name of Ian Kiesacker. He was a member of the local 501st and helped to start the unit in Sioux Falls. He loved Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter and LOTR movies. He had a great smile and quick wit that never failed to deliver a one-liner at the best time. He also battled brain cancer and complications from the treatment for over 6 years. In November, 2014 a tumor reappeared and after so many years of treatments Ian's body was no longer able to tolerate the treatments to fight the cancer. He chose, instead to spend the last month as a series of "Party Days". He went to movies, met with friends, ate out, and threw one of the largest "Going Away" parties you have ever seen. Attended by friends and family alike there were 501st members, Marvel Superheroes, Batman, LOTR and Harry Potter characters as far as the eye could see. It filled an entire basketball gym!
In December, a few days before Christmas, Ian passed quietly at home with his family. He had one final request at the end. He wanted an urn that was also a lightsaber! How cool is that! Talk about style and commitment to being awesome to the end!
Ian and His father drew up a quick sketch and contacted me the week before to see what we could have made. He wanted a clean saber with no switches or boxes and his name in red Aurebesh letters. I cleaned up a quick plan and a series of drawings to make this happen.
We only had a couple days before Christmas and then the weekend after would be the viewing and the funeral. Once the drawing was approved I quickly brought the finished design to a friend of mine that runs a machine and tooling shop. After hearing the story he agreed to help and we worked out a plan to machine the urn from two pieces of aluminum and drill out the center to form a container. The pommel was made to be removeable and fitted with a set of "O" rings to form a tight seal.
While he worked on Chirstmas Eve and the day after Christmas on the saber housing. I started work on the base and container. I found a project box at Hobby Lobby and added moulding to the base to dress it up. I used a pair of spindles and curved wood corner moulding to create the supports for the saber.
After talking to the the funeral home it was determined the that the ash generated would not fit in the saber. I found an aluminum tube that would fit inside the base and I capped it with two screw on caps and dressed those with copper accents.
The box was stained and coated with several coats of polyurethane. I held off on attaching the supports until I had the saber and could cut down the spindle to make the saber sit level. Once I had the finished saber I masked off certain parts and airbrushed a thin coat of metallic copper paint to add detail to the saber.
The next step was to take the saber to a local jewlery engraver and have him add Ian's name in Aurebesh (the Star Wars lettering system). They too went above and beyond after hearing Ian's story and had the letters engraved within two hours of me dropping the saber off. This was Saturday morning and the viewing was on Sunday. I took the saber home and painted a thin layer of candy red to the letters and then sealed the entire saber with an acrylic clear coat.
It was then time to put it all together!
That is Ian's Saber! As he used to say, "That's flippin' awesome!".
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