Custom Stargate Items from Bryan Harris

David Read: I’m David Read with Dial the Gate. I’m here with Mr. Bryan Harris from — Alberta, Canada? Hello, sir.

Bryan Harris: Calgary, Alberta.

David Read: Calgary. How are you doing?

Bryan Harris: Very well, thank you.

David Read: I am blown away by your work. And I wanted to feature it on my show, if at all possible.

Bryan Harris: That’s lovely.

David Read: So are you a woodworker? What is what do you do?

Bryan Harris: I’m actually a die maker. Yeah. We produce different dies out of brass, or out of wood and steel. But, the likes of this… this is my hobby. The whole concept of Stargate, it just grabs me, you know? Ever since the show started, it was something for me. Doing what I do, applying my trade, I could do something like this.

Bryan Harris: A die maker?

David Read: So you’ve learned this as a profession and applied it to Stargate, what I’m about to show?

Bryan Harris: Yes, you bet. Yep.

David Read: So this blew my head off.

Bryan Harris: This is the coverstone.

David Read: He’s ahead of me. So the first thing that I saw last night at the live auction for Gatecon, the second live auction, is this piece. I left the room when this one went out to be purchased. Because if it hadn’t, the guy who bought it, and I would have had a bidding war on it, and I would have won. But, I left the room and I missed it. And this is why I said, “Please put the stuff out beforehand so we can see it and have an idea of, “Oh, I want to be there to bid on that.” I didn’t know this existed until after it was sold. Check this out.

David Read: Underneath the coverstone is the Milky Way Stargate and the coverstone here, you have this beautiful pattern. It’s almost like the the the inside of like a a sunflower, almost, the texture. And then here, we’ll come back to all this. And then here, inside of that is a diecast metal Stargate, the detail of which I have only seen in the Legends Memorabilia replica that was produced a number of years ago, along with a scale replica of the Eye of Ra pendant, and this can actually go like this. Is there a specific groove for

Bryan Harris: I can help you.

David Read: Please help me. Wow, it’s so subtle. I can’t even tell that it’s there. So you’ve got the the front of the gate matched here and the back of the gate matched in the bottom. And then on the back of that…

Bryan Harris: So the concept behind this for me was inside of this coverstone we have…

David Read: A gateway to another world!

Bryan Harris: On the on the inside of the top of the lid we have the Stargate in reverse.

David Read: Yes. So it’s literally an invert.

Bryan Harris: It’s an invert.

David Read: Okay. Inversion, yeah.

Bryan Harris: What my belief was, was that when this gate has been sitting for however many hundreds of thousands of years the gate opened and shut down and the opened and shut down.

Bryan Harris: They were trying to dial, Yeah.

Bryan Harris: So what it did was it burned in…

David Read: The heat from the…

Bryan Harris: Yes. And that’s reflective of front and back.

David Read: So you think this is a good idea of what the coverstone underneath may have looked like.

Bryan Harris: That was my interpretation. Yep.

David Read: Wow. And then on the back here, just look at that!

Bryan Harris: All the system lords.

David Read: You’ve got Anubis. I mean, you’ve got pretty much everybody there!

Bryan Harris: Yeah. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.

David Read: And some of the renegades, I think, too. This is just exquisite work and you can display it. I’d love to have one one of my set pieces in the back of my studio here, when we do Dial the Gate, but the amount of detail that you’ve put into this whole thing is just mind-boggling. How long did it take to create a piece like this?

Bryan Harris: Well, when I was checking out the blueprints for the coverstone, and I blew it up, and basically, computer, blue screen, all blue lines and stuff and so on, and was just copying them all down, and then placed it over top of the screen, [to] make sure I’ve got them all in there. al right, all same distance. And that’s how I came up with the coverstone.

David Read: And so a computer just carved this out of the wood.

Bryan Harris: Basically, yeah, the laser, yeah, when I sent it down to the laser.

David Read: Wow. And it gives it a lived effect. This is such an impressive idea. Then on top of that, that was SG-1. We have individual stands as well. This one is SGA. You’ve got Atlantis on one side. And then the Pegasus logo on the other side. So the SG-1 [gate] is gold. Am I right about that?

Bryan Harris: That’s correct.

David Read: OK.

Bryan Harris: Gold plate.

David Read: Gold plate. And then Atlantis is?

Bryan Harris: A nickel plating.

David Read: A nickel plating. The back of the Atlantis gate is identical to the SG-1 Stargate. Did I get it right?

Bryan Harris: You got it right.

David Read: Alright, I got it right! And then perhaps my favorite Stargate, the SGU Stargate, which was…

Bryan Harris: That was a favorite favorite of mine.

David Read: Mine as well fundamentally redesigned for that film — or for that film — for those two seasons of television. And he’s gone ahead and correctly reproduced the backside of the 1.0 gate as well, which is what this was. It was its own design, to the point where it just spun by itself. There’s a little movie magic involved in that as well. And this is made up…

Bryan Harris: That’s cast pewter.

David Read: Cast pewter?

Bryan Harris: With a brass oxidization.

David Read: With a brass oxidization. So, do you have these made? Or do you…

Bryan Harris: I do. What I did was I machined the original pieces out of engravers brass on my CNC mill. And then I sent those pieces down to a company in Los Angeles in North Hollywood and they reproduce them for me in cast pewter.

David Read: Boy oh boy. These are just exquisite. Tell me about these.

Bryan Harris: I had them make these for me from the original pieces again, pieces that I had sent down there for them to cast, and it was just one of those things where, “Do this for me,” and it sat in a drawer for years. There was only five of each one of those.

David Read: Of these?

Bryan Harris: That’s the SG-1.

David Read: Yes.

Bryan Harris: And then Atlantis.

David Read: Oh, you got the Atlantis one as well, with the Ancient?

Bryan Harris: Yep.

David Read: Is this specific Ancient writing?

Bryan Harris: Yes it is.

David Read: What does it translate to? Because it’s font transposition.

Bryan Harris: This is all Wraith in the background.

David Read: Oh, look at that, it is the Wraith!

Bryan Harris: That’s Wraith in the background

David Read: Ah, you got the Egyptian hieroglyphics, in Goa’uld, and then you got the Wraith in the background, and then the Ancient on top of it.

Bryan Harris: That’s all the characters, the names of the characters of the show.

David Read: Oh, wow, it’s the characters. How creative.

Bryan Harris: There is a story behind this, but don’t ask me what it is now.

David Read: OK. A fan can probably do font transposition and decod it if they’re really expert enough at it and you did the same with the wooden — you got some wooden Stargates here as well.

Bryan Harris: Solid maple.

David Read: Maple!

Bryan Harris: Yeah. Solid maple, three quarter inch.

David Read: So few fans… Well, I’m not going to, I don’t really want to talk bad about the higher-ups, but the SG-1 gate is repeated again and again. And again. You’ve got three different cases with three different styles. When you’re doing SGA or SGU, full content for the correct gate, like this gentleman has! this is an SGU design! So this is just… This is just spectacular! And then I just saw — go ahead.

Bryan Harris: When it came to… When I first started It was at one of the comic cons in Calgary and RDA was going to be there. So I reproduced six boxes. And actually, it was a seventh box I reproduced, and I took them to the show. And Paul Brown…

David Read: Mhmm. Legends.

Bryan Harris: Yep, was right there with Richard. And when I pulled my boxes out of the bag, Paul’s eyes lit up. And I said, “This one is for Richard, and this one is for charity. For Sea Shepherd. So he loved that concept. Since then, we’ve had a very nice relationship, Paul and I, reproducing certain boxes. Richard has two of his boxes on his desk at home. One box that I don’t think anybody’s ever seen. It’s all CN machined laser. They’re l lovely.

David Read: Oh, absolutely amazing. I just saw this replicator necklace. Is this gold plated?

Bryan Harris: That’s gold plated.

David Read: Absolutely exquisite. The craftsmanship that goes into things like this. Have you ever talked about speaking to MGM about doing, like, an official release? You just wanted to keep it as a hobby?

Bryan Harris: Yeah, basically. Amanda Tapping has one of my boxes on her desk also, along with David Hewlett.

David Read: Hewlett’s great. Destiny earrings, and a necklace on offer as well as a number of other pieces here that we’re going to want to show as well in the B-roll. What does Stargate mean to you, Bryan?

Bryan Harris: Years of enjoyment. Laughter. There’s actually, on the one box that Richard has, I put a little something inside… a little trinket inside. And I don’t think he’s ever found it. Unless you pull it out and pull it apart, you won’t know it’s there. It’s a little SGA emblem made out of machined brass. And under that, there’s a little note which says, “Thank you, Richard, for all the years have laughter.” And I don’t think he’s found it yet. I won’t tell him it’s there until somebody actually does take it apart.

David Read: Exactly. Absolutely. And what a great message. I cannot wait to incorporate some of your work into my set for Dial the Gate. I’d love to talk to you about that. But, is your work available online?

Bryan Harris: Not right now but I certainly intend on it being.

David Read: OK, well will you come to us and let us kow when you put up the storefront on Etsy, or some[thing], and start having some of these pieces published, because if I want one, at least 200 fans behind me will want something so you’re going to have to start taking pre-orders once you put that up there, because this is exquisite craftsmanship and you have done yourself very proud.

Bryan Harris: Thank you very much.

David Read: Thank you, Bryan for joining me on my show and all the best to you.

Bryan Harris: Very much appreciated.

David Read: See you on the other side.