A FROME man has taken his love for Star Wars to new heights as he has helped set up a new business selling state-of-the-art Star Wars props!
TSL Props is run by a trio of Star Wars-obsessed creatives who have taken their love of the epic space adventure to new levels by creating realistic life-sized mannequins of more than 70 different Star Wars characters, as well as bringing to life various weapons and items from the many shows and films. The company also accepts commissions from fellow Star Wars fans around the world.
Steve Whitehouse, from Frome, explains that TSL Props is named after founder Terry Hillier, Luke Barnes and himself. He said, “I’ve been building Star Wars props since I was 12. I’ve been a Star Wars nut since the first time I saw the first film and I have 14 fully dressed mannequins from Star Wars at home myself!”
Steve is also a long-term member of the MK Garrison group, which is a non-profit Star Wars costume group, that attends a variety of events to raise money for different charities.
He continued, “I used to work with my friend Terry, who set up this business, about 25 years ago and my obsession with Star Wars must have rubbed off on him as he had built five or six mannequins from the films in his own time, as I had been doing for years.
“I cheekily suggested that I could tidy his mannequins up, which I did, and he went a bit loopy over the final result and asked me to improve the other ones in his collection.
“I started spending more and more time working on the pieces for Terry and it got to the point where I was spending most days working on it, so Terry decided to make this a business in November of last year and to start selling the products to other like-minded Star Wars fans – I haven’t looked back since!
“This is absolutely a dream job for me. It feels me with joy seeing the creations in their final stages and knowing just how much work has gone into each one.”
The products are made in-house and are available to purchase from the TSL Props website, directly from their Facebook group or through their Etsy page. TSL Props also has a museum by appointment displaying the 70+ life-sized mannequins – email tslprops@gmail.com for more information.
TSL Props’ website can be found at www.tslprops.com and you can join the group’s Facebook group to stay up to date with what the guys are working on at ‘TSL Props’.
