A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

This isn't a post about a vintage pattern but since this is Craft Across Time I'll occasionally have a few things from the present.  This is a post about making a Death Star.  

​A few months ago someone asked me if I could make a Death Star; preferably a big one.   It seemed like that would be pretty simple.  It’s basically just a sphere with a dish area and some details.  So I agreed to make one.  This  My process usually starts out with seeing if anyone else has made the requested item because why reinvent the wheel?  In this case, Pops de Milk has an excellent post about how she created her pattern.  I followed that same process with a change for the Superlaser.

I started with the sphere calculator.  You enter the number of stitches you want in the circumference and it gives you the pattern to get there.  That was pretty easy but I wanted to make an actual dish instead of adding a flat piece to simulate the Superlaser so I had to come up with a way to get the yarn to dip into the stuffing and look like a dish. 

I left a rough opening in the size I wanted the dish to be as I worked the sphere and then came the hard part.  How do I get the dish to look like a dish?
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This was my first try:

​I made a round piece and sewed it in and then pulled yarn through the center of the dish and secured it on the other side.    This ended up looking more like a Sarlacc pit than a Superlaser.   Not a great look for a Death Star.  Plus this made a divot on the other side which made it look like someone ran into the Death Star on the other side and left a dent.  I needed something with more structure that would hold the shape.  

I decided I'd try to find a piece of plastic in a dish shape that was the right size for the opening.  Off to the grocery store I went and wandered around the store trying to find something with a plastic lid that would work and I went home with two possibilities:  Oikos Crunch yogurt and Sabra Hummus with pretzels.  

The lid to the Oikos Crunch seemed like it would be the perfect fit.   I reworked the crocheted circle so it would fit the lid and glued it in.   

Then I sewed the dish into the opening of the Death Star and ended up with this.  
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​I love how the plastic lid worked in this and I have the Sabra lid as a back up lid if I decide to make another one.

Next week we're headed to the 60s again.  It will be the year the Beatles released their first album and the year the first episode of Doctor Who is broadcast.