Giancarlo Cipri — Qui-Gon Jinn Halloween Costume

PRESS! (FROM THE AMAZING PARADE, ON NY DAILY NEWS)

INTRODUCTION/INSPIRATION

For the 2021 Halloween Parade I was Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson’s character) from Star Wars.

Why this costume?

I decided to do Qui-Gon Jinn, since I am a huge Star Wars fan and his character is (SPOILER) unfortunately short-lived, but definitely impactful. When I was a young kid, I would always watch Star Wars Episode 1 with my mom and Qui-Gon was her favorite character. He was a great mentor, and a Jedi career highlight was finding Anakin (for better or worse).

How was it to wear?

Overall, the costume was great to wear, as it was just a super long Star Wars robe. I purchased it from Party City — as making the lightsaber from lathe to hardware and software was a tall task — but still tailored it so that the hems fit me well, the hood wasn’t absurdly long, and so it closed with velcro (thanks Marko!).

PROCESS

What I learned in the process

Make more lightsabers! Getting it perfect is difficult, but definitely a gratifying process. I’m glad with the way mine turned out, especially since I gave it a bit of a twist. In making my saber, I was using Qui-Gonn’s as a template, but in early iterations I added/subtracted various elements. Here are some photos of different handles/finishes.

Step-by-step

The project first started on the Lathe, where I turned a block of wood into a dowel, and then carved the dowel into the handles I currently have via different chisels.

2. After the lathe, I primed the saber and let it dry over night. Then, I drilled various holes through the middle of the saber (from top to bottom), with the final being about 3/8″ thick.

3. From there, I found what finish I wanted on the saber and actually switched from a black gloss to a black “wood stain.”

4. Then, I ran to Canal Plastics with the lightsaber crew (Cathy, Erika and Liam) for frosted polycarbonate tubing and drafting sheets. These were the LED casing and diffusion for the saber.