As part of a group project for external clients in second year of university, I helped a team of fellow students Jacob and Kirsten construct the rose, case, and plinth for Worthing Theatre's production of Beauty and the Beast.

Jacob did the main original designs that we pitched to the theatre. He also mapped out the files for laser cutting the styrene sheets to make the case out of. Kirsten made 4 or 5 different roses in various states of decay out of eva foam, floral tape, and steel wire. 

I did the broad planning and measuring before we got started on the bulk of the work, which was polycarving the plinth out of expanded polystyrene. There was much talk between us and the tutors about how best to create it, with much talk of turning the upright of the plinth on the lathe. However, we had a design too big for that, so we hot wire cut a rough octagon, then sawed, cut, and surformed the shape we needed. The base was easier, being two layered squares that we carved out, and the top was probably the hardest part, but it was all cut and shaped. once we had attached the three sections with expanding foam, we coated it all in scrim to bind the pieces together, smooth out the texture, and strengthen the surface. Afterwards, we created a jesmonite coating then sanded it smooth. The desired finish was Marble, so I had to go and research how to create a marble finish, and ended up using my mum's old interior design research books to work it out. We spent several days applying different layers of veining across the surface, before clear coating. The Cage was held together with both two part epoxy and solvent welding, with acetate windows stuck in. the frame was then stuck to a sheet of plywood we stained, both for transport and storage, and to give the frame some more rigidity.​