Design ideas, kryptonian crystal dagger (not smallvilles)

Hey guys and gals and Superman fans of all ages.

I thought I would run this idea past the best group of Superman fans on the planet (or at least the sanest), and see if anyone had some cool ideas on this.

I have been wanting to make a crystal dagger for YEARS. Not specifically for Superman related stuff, but because I read about it in a book when I was a kid and thought it would be the coolest shiniest thing ever.

Now, I have access to a crystal factory, and a somewhat unlimited imagination, and a severe lack of good taste, so I can make this project happen :lol

My question to you guys is this... what would you (realistically) expect it to look like?

My take on the idea was sort of a Returns based crystal, maybe 1" thick for the handle, maybe a little more squared off, and a randomly faceted bottom. Make the handle about 5" long (giant man hands here) and then the handguard can be a little wider area above that, still randomly faceted. After the handguard, the crystal starts to flatten out, then narrow out, and eventually ends up at a point, total length being around 10-12". It still has random facets down it, and small "ridges" where it isn't a smooth flat design.

The upside is if this is thick enough, it will be INSANELY fragile but one hell of a display piece. The downside is HOLY ****** this will be insanely fragile and look damned good on the shelf. Probably expensive too , but hey, it doesn't cost money to talk about it!

I can't draw worth half a crap, so I can't really doodle out my ideas and show them off, but I know some of you can draw and have ideas, and I invite you to share them with me.

This isn't an interest thread, because I really can't think of anyone but myself who would want this, but more of a "hey, share a cool idea/description". Chances are I am only going to do this one time, and I want to make it count.

So... anyone have a good idea they want to toss up?

The only thing I want to avoid is really using a material other than crystal unless there is a spectacularly awesome reason for doing so. I don't want to replicate smallville's dagger because it's been made, and I want something more tacky and cool looking, plus I didn't like the metal blade idea. (Besides, rob already makes em and they kick ass)

Share em if ya gots em!
Chris

Here's my concept of a Kryptonian Dagger. I can't take full credit for a design, as a friend (who wishes not to be named) gave me some pointers on the grip, and he seemed to like these double-ring things in the center of the handle to fill the palm of the hands. Actually, it makes sense. I forgot what cultural or historical influence this comes from, but the blade is a very subtle leaf design. The base of the handle isn't supposed to be a jewel - more like a crystal in the Donner-esque asymmetrical elegance, but it's getting late and I wanted to share this quickly.



I don't want Smallville, but I felt the design called for a very simple and elegant white handle - white because Jor-El was dressed in white, and everything around the baby Kal-El was all white. At least the white interiors of the set at the beginning of the first movie made a huge impression on me. Everything seemed white except for the crystals.

Smallville hacked it from here ---


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTcO1WA6pnY

Jet Beetle said:

Smallville hacked it from here ---


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTcO1WA6pnY

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Yea, it's shown up in a few diff places, comics, tv shows, I think it was even in one of the old cartoons.

The Superboy one is.. well, kind of plain though. You can tell they were shooting on a budget, but I kinda want mine to look more intricate than just a a sanded down block of plexi :lol

CS- That design is AWESOME, except the wings portion on the dagger would be too hard to do. The rest might be able to be done though... It's a pretty cool design!

Chris

Maybe instead of the wings you could add two rings symbolizing the rings that the criminals were standing in before sent to the phantom zone.

Jet Beetle said:

Maybe instead of the wings you could add two rings symbolizing the rings that the criminals were standing in before sent to the phantom zone.

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nice idea, how to attach it and make it look right though

Agreed... It would be pretty cool though...

Hmm... Maybe as a rotating base to hold the dagger upright?

(btw CS, sent your pic to the factory and the guy said if I make that one he wants one as well :lol)

Great ideas guys, keep em coming! I gotta go buy a pencil sharpener in a few so I can get to work on my doodles. With luck I can work out a cool design and get it made with the TOD gems.

Thanks!
Chris

hydin said:

Agreed... It would be pretty cool though...

Hmm... Maybe as a rotating base to hold the dagger upright?

(btw CS, sent your pic to the factory and the guy said if I make that one he wants one as well :lol)

Great ideas guys, keep em coming! I gotta go buy a pencil sharpener in a few so I can get to work on my doodles. With luck I can work out a cool design and get it made with the TOD gems.

Thanks!
Chris

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Thanks for the kind feedback. Again, the crystal on the handle's end was drawn in a kind of kludgy way (not my intention) but if you finally decide on the design on the right (or even my design for that matter) I'll try to draw out the facets properly to serve as a design guide. I don't know how to do 3D stuff yet but I can guess on and advise on the opposite face as well as the sides of the base. The design influence is definitely a nod towards the Donner crystal as opposed to, say, Superman Returns.

Natural crystals are never symmetrical, and I found there was a beauty in asymmetry, kind of like Vader. But you can take that asymmetry and balance it on both left and right so that it looks natural.

The grip, I imagine, should be a bit like a bar of soap in cross section - kind of a rounded octagonal thingie.

If you want to omit the middle bumps for ease of sculpting, I'm all for that. I'd probably make the hourglass profile a little less pronounced.

I wanted to give this a sense that it was still a knowledge crystal. Who knows... this may open all kinds of ideas. Perhaps ancient Kryptonian weapons comprised crystal daggers, swords and certain shields, and each had the potential of some kind of huge collection of knowledge. But with that kind of technology, wouldn't it make sense to get a frickin' "LAZER"? :angel

I'll try to throw out some ideas when I have a second to breath from work... I like the idea

I am still in the doodling stage of this, but I did have a quick question...

Flat blade or shaped blade?

I can't really decide. A flat blade would be a lot easier to make, but it doesn't really lend itself to really catching the light or doing that rainbow thing.

A shaped blade would be pretty cool, but at the same time it would be pretty difficult to make...

ARGH, choices!!! So many!

Chris

Les bump for the people who might want to share their ideas.

Right now I have a great idea, and horrible drawings, and one of our best RPF artists is doing his best to get it looking cool

As soon as they show up I will share the pics!

Chris

hydin said:

Les bump for the people who might want to share their ideas.

Right now I have a great idea, and horrible drawings, and one of our best RPF artists is doing his best to get it looking cool

As soon as they show up I will share the pics!

Chris

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An Idea:
Kryptonians used technolagy to build things with crystal, why not have the daggers handle be grown as well. I did a search for some white crystal and found something called :Calcite

If i had done the dagger i would go for a black handle like it's made from the mineral Cuprite:

It would need to look like its been grown together, not like 2 pieces put together.

Bismuth is also a cool crystal to use

/Conny

how about instead of the machined blade look, make it look like a broken shard of crystal?