Orville Wilson
Hallmark Artist

The Keepsake Studio caught up with Hallmark Artist Orville Wilson to talk about what’s ahead in 2026 and to share a look at an ornament he designed for next year.

Orville: “I’m really looking forward to continuing to create more new, exciting ornaments that fans and collectors will love—and that I’ll love, too! I’m also excited about getting out to see and talk with the collectors at in-store signing events. It’ll be great to visit with and see the faces of so many old friends I haven’t seen for a long time.”

The Sith Lord Strikes
Rogue One: A Star Wars™ Story

Orville: “This ornament was both fun and interesting to create, because we were able to implement a new lighting technology for the first time. It allows us to show Darth Vader’s™ light saber work just like you see in the movies, where the light draws out from the handle of the saber itself.
 
I also enjoyed animating the ornament’s light show to give an idea of how the lights could play with Vader and how many there would be. I did a bunch of renders, put them together within Photoshop and then created an animation that showed how the lights and sound would work together. That was given to our sound studio, and they were able to work from the animation to configure the sound with the lights. Vader has a red light saber but other lights on the ornament reflect when he comes into the door. It’s cool to see the motion of light within the ornament and how it works along with the sound.
 
Another interesting detail is that Darth Vader might change, even if just slightly, throughout the movies. If you’re just watching the movies just for entertainment, you might not notice that. But hard-core fans will notice subtle differences in helmets or other body features as the movies progress. It’s details like that we pay attention to because we want to represent everything properly for the licensor and for fans.

This ornament required a lot of collaboration with the sound studio, editors, engineers and our partners in manufacturing. I sculpted it and got the main structure developed, but then others helped make the sound and light come to life. There are a lot of details that go into magic ornaments, and we all worked together to get it just right.”