Drama Republic, a new speciality drama production company, approached us with an opportunity to create a prop for a new Netflix series, The Irregulars. Set in Victorian times, the series follows a set of delinquent teens named the irregulars. Based around Sherlock Holmes, the teens work together to save London from supernatural forces, all whilst following Dr Watson's orders and searching for Sherlock Holmes himself.
Our task was to create the book corners and clasps for an item with a major plot point in the storyline. This book enables the characters to find out further information about Sherlock Holmes and ultimately lead to his introduction into the story. Knowing this information, the book had to look perfect and with zero flaws. We needed to make sure we used all our model-making and silversmithing skills to ensure that this book looked suitable for this time period.
Sitting down with the art director, we discussed how we wanted this book to look and feel. The general gist of the series is dark and supernatural, so it had to have these features. After finalising the idea, it was up to us to create this prop. We started by creating a 3D design on our specialist software to get a visual aid and share it with the art director to ensure the client is happy with the design. Once this was refined and finalised, we ran the design through rapid processing to create a prototype. The props were then sent to get wax cast.
The props were cast in Brass, and using our model-making techniques; we aged the appearance for the prop to have an old Victorian effect.
