Knives

        To look convincingly like an abattoir, our set would require a number of fairly intricate details, such as grates, drains and knives. Our initial instinct was that these items would be best created with a laser cutter, in order to get a clean and professional finish. The first disruption to this plane was the discovery that the laser cutter could not be used to cut metal, as the laser is just not strong enough. This was not so much of an issue for the drains and grates, which could easily be cut from scrap wood or MDF before being painted and inset it the grout Fiona planned to cover the floor of the set with.

        The knives would need to be cut from a thin material, or when filmed alongside our puppets they would look far too chunky, not like sharp blades at all. I found some very thin basswood, intended for model making, which I thought would be suitable, as it was sturdier than balsa wood, which seemed at risk of splitting and splintering.

        Taking inspiration from a selection of intimidating knives, I drew around the blades before scanning in the image and scaling it to the correct size for our puppets and set. I chose to make the knives a little oversized (about 2 inches long) so that they would show up well in our film.

        To use the laser cutter, the image of whatever you wish to cut needs to be properly prepared as a vector file, or it will not be possible to cut. I had attempted to convert my scanned JPEG image of the knives into a vector using illustrator, and it had seemed to be successful, as when I looked at the image close up there seemed to be no pixelation. However, as I attempted to set up laser cutter it became clear that my image was not in fact a vector, and the workshop staff were unable to correct the problem. I would have needed to consult an IT technician, by which time I would have lost our pre booked slot with the laser cutter, and with little time to arrange another slot, I chose to make them by hand. (Fiona had a similar problem with the grates not being a vector image, despite being drawn in illustrator, yet in this case the workshop staff were able to help her redraw the assets).

The laser cut grates and drains.

        I already had some Fimo and Premo Sculpey clays which I had been planning to use for other props, so I gambled that if I could roll the clay thinly enough, and it didn't snap when baked, then this material was my best option. Using very small paper templates I cut the required shapes from the clay before baking them. At this point I also used the clay to make a stun gun, a rack for the knives to sit on and a tap for the sink.

        Unfortunately, as the knives cooled (once they had baked) they began to warp and bend a little, presumably because I had cut them so thin. I attempted to remedy this by weighing them down with a heavy book, but there was still a slight bend once the book was removed, as the clay appears not to go completely brittle when baked, but maintains a degree of flexibility. The bend was not however severe enough to be an issue, and seemed to lessen once the blades were painted (with enamel model paint for and metallic areas and acrylic elsewhere). 

The knife rack was painted to give the appearance of having a magnetic strip.
The cord for the stun gun is made of wool. I judged embroidery thread wasn't substantial enough.