Hi,
those lightsabre blades are made from metallic red garden wire I got from a hobby shop. I've since replacced them with transparent red plastic rods from a space lego set.
I would like dearly to post Mr. Burns, but unfortuantly while I was halfway through painting him, my shelves all fell down. Being made out of polyurathane resin meant he shattered. I haven't got around to buying another yet.
You can see a better (and therefore lower rated) picture of this guy, he's number 7969.
Thanks for all the comments.