An awesome design, can't wait to see more of them! How did you get the idea to combine two well known iconic saber hilts? Certainly something novel.
Hey thanks guys! Andras, the idea came from those two hilts being my absolute favorites of all lightsaber designs from the movies, and it seemed a challenge to combine such different designs. It seemed the sleek and scalloped shape of the Qui Gon was in contrast to the beefier, metal cylinder shape of the Graflex.
However, there must be a connection with these hilts. Had Qui Gon lived, he would have been Anakin's teacher. Since the Master and Apprentice have lightsaber design cues that carry over, I knew there must be a connection between the hilt designs (as if in the Star Wars universe). The connection here is Obi Wan. When Obi Wan had his TPM lightsaber hilt, you could see the connection to Qui Gon's hilt in the design. There was black ribs and some shroud work that had some influences from Qui Gon's lightsaber... however on first glance it looks completely different. Then when Anakin came to build his second lightsaber; the Graflex we all know from Luke, I thought there must be some connection... even a faraway one... that connected this lightsaber to Qui Gon's.
The Qui Gon to me looks the most like a laser sword hilt... vented scallops look like the parts of the inner workings of some kind of powerful heat sink... maybe it is almost like an American muscle car from the 1960's that has hole cut out on the hood for the engine to poke out... revealing the inner workings. The Graflex from Episode III-VIII looks like these inner working could be inside... but it's covered by the chrome-like full cylinder shroud.
Just the fact that Anakin (as a boy) pointed out Qui Gon's lightsaber and recognized it as a laser sword... means there is connection there between those characters... and I wonder if Qui Gon would have lived... would he have had more of an influence on Anakin's lightsaber... Obi Wan wouldn't have been in the picture anymore.... he probably would have went on to have a different apprentice. So, knowing Anakin was going to build the Graflex under Obi-Wan's tutelage and influence... what would Anakin's saber have looked like if he was learning from Qui Gon his whole life instead?