lightsaber(!) shelves

So. We went to disney over thanksgiving, and enjoyed ourselves very much. One of my favorite parts was obviously visiting Galaxy's Edge, where the kids and I each built our own lightsaber at Savi's. Talk about a semi-religious experience. Thank god we spent the past year putting points together to get the cost more palatable. 

Of course, now that we're home we just have these three awesome lightsabers sitting around. Power and control for the girl, elemental nature for the boy, and peace and justice for me. Red, purple, and good old fashioned blue. The boy picked up an extra kyber crystal too in yellow. I got it in my head to make shelves to display each of them, and I just managed to knock them out over the holidays.

I kept these very simple; bracketed floating shelves with a stand to display the entire saber. Apparently even just keeping the blade in the hilt will wear down the battery but why not display the entire thing?

Just like anything else, the plans for these changed from start to finish but I like where they ended up. I found different brackets I liked, so the shelves are just inverted boxes open on the bottom. Simple and messy glue up for mitered edges.

Simple scrap holders for the hilt.

Proof of concept, ready to go!

The brackets are heavy L brackets in studs. I kept my shelf unfinished minus a couple coats of poly. But I love it!

On the wall, not bad. 

Okay, I absolutely love it. My desk is a little SW crazy right now. 

Both kids wanted shelves to match their crystals, so I used the red I had left over from the beds for the girl and the boy picked out a yellow he thought would work. His got spray painted, which wasn't quite as clean but looks decent.

Two more. I did not mind having the work at this point. 

I put a small bit in to hold the boy's extra crystal.

Shiny. 

I love it. 

Not as crazy about the yellow but the concept is good. 

These kept me busy, which I needed over break instead of stressing about school. At some points I was really wishing these were functional and I could slice a motherfucker, but it's probably for the best if they're just for display.