Photo gallery: Award winning Norwich man shares figurine hobby
Award-winning figurine artist Tony Woodward told how he has spent nearly four decades perfecting his skills in a tiny workshop at his home.
Mr Woodward, 58, of Oval Avenue, New Costessey, has been hand-building and hand-painting a selection of tiny figurines for the last 36 years.
He said: 'I've got a good imagination. My two great passions have been art and history and this is a combination of the both.'
Mr Woodward has worked at the Kettle Foods factory on Barnard Road in Bowthorpe for the last 10 years and said he still puts in a lot of hours creating his figurines around his shift work at the factory.
'I also do it every Sunday without fail,' he added.
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His collection is mainly inspired by military, native America and westerns, and he has almost 200 separate pieces including scenes depicting a Roman bridge, the Battle of the Alamo, the American Civil War and Boudicca. He also has figurines of Steve McQueen from the film the Great Escape and a scene from the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
He has also started to work on busts.
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'I always said I wouldn't do them but I love doing faces. They are more lifelike on busts,' he said.
Working in both metal and resin, Mr Woodward used to paint in his garden shed but now devotes his spare room to create his art, which also includes hand-crafting intricate individual items such as weapons and feathers, using modelling putty.
Many of the figurines take over a year to complete and can sell for up to �500.
A former member of the Norfolk and Suffolk British Model Soldiers Society (BMSS), Mr Woodward has not competed in competitions for 20 years, but he is proud of his success and he still remembers which of his models won prizes.
'To me they are like pictures but you can make them three dimensional instead,' he added.
Visit Mr Woodward's website www.yessy.com/sylvanawoodward for more information and to purchase his work.
View our photo gallery at the top of the page to see how and where Mr Woodward paints his figurines and also to view examples of his art.
Do you have an interesting or unique hobby? Email reporter Donna-Louise Bishop at donna-louise.bishop@archant.co.uk or call 01602 772438.
