(Photo from tagalishus.com)

Sure we all love and admire Jedi Master Yoda, however those of you wanting to bake a lifesized Yoda and then gobble him down may want to pay close attention to this step-by-step guide on how to bake up your own green delicacy.

Using angel food cakes, Rice Krispy treats, and colored fondant, this fan made one awesome birthday cake for his 4-year-old son. Bravo!

Check out the instructions here:
Yoda Birthday Cake (tagalishus.com)

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SOURCE: Cinematical.com

For those of you crafty fans, here’s a fun project to make your own mini-stormtrooper helmet in the classic white, all the colors of the rainbow and even woodgrain! However, the instructions are in Japanese and you have to use the Pepakura Designer papercraft program to make them. Here’s the link if you can figure it out! Good luck!

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SOURCES: Club Jade, LikeCool.com

Boba Fett never wore a clean, pristine outfit, so why should you? Learn how to weather your Boba Fett cape using a pizza cutter, cardboard and spray paint from TK409.com! Personally, I love the dog cameo at the end.

VIDEO: Boba Fett’s Cape Weathering Tutorial

Even if you aren’t a fan of the Gungans, it’s hard to resist the lure of an edible Jar Jar. Using jicama as the artistic medium, one fan carved a rather realistic resemblance of Jar Jar, and listed step-by-step instructions so you can too!

Check out all the instructions here:
Jar Jar Binks Salad: A Food Carving How-To Guide

(photo by Sherezada Kent)

Words: Bonnie Burton

When I first spotted the Han Solo Blaster Quote Cross Stitch by craftster and fellow Star Wars fan Sherezada Kent I was inspired to find out more. After all, it’s not every day you see a Star Wars sampler. I interviewed Sherezada about the cross stitch, how the idea came about and any tips to get other crafty fans started on their own Star Wars quotes in cross stitch.

What made you decide to do a Star Wars sampler?
Craftster.org was hosting a summer challenge, for quotes or sayings done in needlework. I’ve been really into “geek crafts” lately, especially 8-bit inspired stitching and other pop culture influenced embroidery. I felt this challenge would be the perfect chance to make my own unique, geeky stitching, so of course I thought of Star Wars! I’ve been a fan of the films pretty much all my life, so it was the natural place for me to start dabbling in fan-based crafting.

Why did you choose the blaster quote?
Heh. Funny enough, my husband and I have been playing the Knights of the Old Republic video game lately. We started it up while I was trying to decide on my contest entry. As the title of the game suggests, there’s a strong Jedi element to the plot, and I’m much more of a “blasters and bounty hunters” type of gal. I kept kiddingly grumbling about the “stupid Jedi” in the game, and it just reminded me of Han in A New Hope, lounging in the Falcon, snarking on the Force.

Thus, the idea was born. I had an image in my head of this being something Grandma and Grandpa Solo would have on their Kashyyyk cabin wall, while they rocked in hand-whittled chairs with blaster rifles over their knees. It’s pretty silly, but it’s true!

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The creative folks over at IndyMogul have done it again! This time they show you how to make your own lightsaber hilt prop from simple materials available at any hardware store, and then how to make cool special glowy lightsaber effects for your own fan films!

VIDEO: Build a Real Lightsaber and become a Jedi: BFX
(via IndyMogul.com)

(Photo by Paul Souders)

Words: Bonnie Burton

Not every fan can say they have a stained glass window taken from the design of a drawing they did of Darth Vader when they were a kid. Paul Souders has such bragging rights. Here’s the backstory of the Stained Glass Darth Vader and how it came to be.

What’s the story behind the stained glass design?
In 1977, my family was living in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, where my father (a geologist) was working on a long-term project. His colleague Jim was visiting from the Big City (Lincoln) and took the family to see Star Wars at what was probably the only movie theater in town. Scottsbluff is pretty remote — we got all our movies a month or so after the rest of the country. Anyway, Jim was a big SW fan, had read the Lucas novel, and seen it probably a dozen times already. He was an excellent interlocutor — I was 6 years old and my brother was 4, so a lot of the movie might have sailed over our heads if he hadn’t been on hand to translate. For about five years Jim was like my favorite grown-up.

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(photo by Bonnie Burton)

Words: Bonnie Burton

Chances are if you attended Celebration Japan, you got to climb onto the full-size dewback created by Japanese Garrison member Goro Inoue and his dedicated crew which include Kayo Saeki, Ruriko Tsutsumi, Yayoi Negishi, Otoe Takahashi, Jun Agata, Daisuke Togami, Takatoshi Makiuchi, Masaaki Fukada, Kakuyuki Yamazaki, Hiroshi Shounai, Keisuke Aiso, and Masaru Sato; with special thanks to Mish’al Samman, Takefumi Tenshima, Toshio Fujisawa, Toshiki and Kaori Komiya, Art Andrews, Kazuhisa Kawahara, Takeshi Ogawa, Mary Frankin, Steve Sansweet, the Dented Helmet, the 501st Legion and Lucasfilm Ltd.

Walking past the dewback, I spied everyone from little kids and their parents, to fans dressed as Princess Leia and Obi-Wan Kenobi, among others. The dewback always had a long of people eager to get the photo op of a lifetime.

I chatted with Goro about his fantastic creation, and what prompted him to donate his blood, sweat and money to The Dewback Project.

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(Yoda cake by Mikkel Mihlrad)

Words: Bonnie Burton

When we spotted this Force-tastic cake of Yoda made by Mikkel Mihlrad for the Star Wars Weekends (at Disney’s Hollywood Studios) cast and crew wrap party, we had to know more about it.

Why did you decide to make a Yoda cake for the party?
The special event Yoda was created for was the Star Wars Weekends wrap party. My fiancee, Jason Surrell, was one of the show producers of the event.

What is the cake made from?
Yoda’s head is sculptued Cocoa Krispies (like Rice Krispie treats), as are his hands, feet and walking stick. His body is sculpted layers of cake. Chocolate is Jason’s favorite, so the cake is a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling. The entire cake was covered in chocolate buttercream and then with fondant (which I make from scratch so it’s essentially a marshmallow and confectioner’s sugar mixture).

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As a follow-up to the original series of tutorial videos that found limited release on DVD in 2007, Lucasfilm Ltd. has authorized a new DVD from DK Publishing: You Can Draw: Star Wars - Vol. 2. Hosted by artist Matt Busch, the DVD will collect all 7 episodes from Season 2 released this year.

The first series chronicled the entire creation of a 30th Anniversary poster, whereas Season 2 includes the creation of the Revenge of the Sith Style D One Sheet, but also spreads focus to areas such as drawing on the road, storyboarding for film and animation, and comic books. Each chapter includes comical skits, including a few where Busch parodies Indiana Jones.

The tutorials began as a side promotion for the book of the same name from DK Publishing, written by Lucasfilm’s Bonnie Burton and to which Busch produced nearly 400 illustrations along with fellow artist Tom Hodges. Before released on DVD, all videos can first be seen on StarWars.com and KidDK.com.

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