Out of the Carbonite!!!

After a somewhat slow period as far as my personal projects go, everything seems to be popping!!

The good news!

• There's only one more commission that JJ is working on before he gets to all of my stuff - Ranger sword, Faramir sword, Spartan armor and shields.

• Russ completed the Spartan "Mede-killer" pendant which I now have in my hands - it's definitely unsettling, to say the least. Just something a bloodthirsty Greek warrior would wear!

• David finished remaking the Spartan falcata scabbard. Instead of the cheap, Chinese leather (that probably had excessive lead in it too!) I have a beautiful antiqued brown leather covering for the close-combat weapon! Also, he put on a nicely primitive bronze clutch buckle instead of the stainless steel buckle with varnish that came with the original scabbard.

• I received the Spartan spear from Strongblade - very nice! Well put together, well balanced and frighteningly authentic at over 7 feet long. The spear is composed of two halves that screw together - a steel/iron leaf-shaped main blade and a sharp bronze butt spike:
  

So Why CARBONITE?

You may be wondering about the title of the post - I promised Andrea that I would take pictures of the entire Han Solo outfit once I got all the pieces together. And I have been jokingly referred to as the "Headless Horseman of the blogosphere" in some quarters - mainly because pictures of myself stop at the neck. I'm finally showing a bit more of myself and above the neck, too!

Just recently (and by multiple people, yet!), I've been told that I'm a very handsome, extremely sexy-looking man and that I have beautiful azure eyes - "just like the waters off the Cote D'Azur." Damn ... flattery will get you everywhere ... I guess my Cappie powers are on the rise again - I'm getting more copper-red strands in my hair (versus white or grey) and in the right light, my eyes do appear to have a blue-purple hue instead of the normal deep blue-green ...

Seriously, though -- I'm just very picky about displaying my likeness online in these days of Facebook and MySpace abuse by employers. So, after setting up the tripod and camera today, here's a sample of the photo session. Everything felt GREAT! Andrea performs her magic again!