(Henry Jones’ Holy Grail Journal)

There were plenty of Star Wars sights and events at this year’s Bay Area Maker Faire, but for more adventure-seeking fans there was a rather interesting exhibit about some handmade Indiana Jones props made by “Mythbusters” host and former ILMer Adam Savage. He’s such an Indy fan that he decided to make his own Indy bullwhip and Henry Jones Holy Grail Diary.

Savage explains about the Indy whip:

“I wanted a whip from Raiders of the Lost Ark so bad, but I absolutely couldn’t afford one. So in 1997, I bought a book on whipmaking, made one from cow hide, and then called up David Morgan, who built the action whips for the films. He coached me through some of the techniques specific to a two belly kangaroo hide whip, which is this, and also hand picked a correct hide for me. I built this whip in a very productive 14 hour day. The main laces that make up the outer shell are over 17 feet long. Overall there’s over 200 feet of hand cut leather lace. The whip took 4 hours to braid, but it took over 7 hours to make and cut the leather!”

Savage explains about Henry Jones’ Holy Grail Journal:

“One of the most iconic props in the Indiana Jones movies, this prop consumed me for well over a year. Scanning and cleaning up pages from exhibit books, auction catalogs, and from the movie itself, I was able to replicate nearly every page that’s visible in the movie. As there are others like me, I culled tons of data and reference material on the period bus passes, stamps, pictures and detritus that make up the ‘inserts’ that add such wonderful authenticity to this piece. I taught myself bookbinding and hand stitched the signatures of pages. The weathered covers are from a cheesy leather jacket purchased for 20 bucks at a thrift store. I made 10 of these, and traded the other 9.”

This entry was posted on May 5, 2008 at 6:35 pm and is filed under Celebrities, Indiana Jones, conventions, crafts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.