PRESIDENT Stewart Ross was so impressed with a model of a hedgehog in the window of Colemans Stationers that he enquired about it in the shop and met its creator, employee Stephanie Bennett. As a result of that encounter he invited Stephanie to a meeting of Ross Rotary to give a talk about her artistic work.

Stephanie obtained a degree in textiles at Cardiff University and although her original career thoughts were with theatre costume design she discovered there was a popular demand for costumes of fantasy game characters and Marvel comic characters that fans of the genres wear at conventions, festivals, and exhibitions. In response to this demand she set up a costume design and construction business.

She brought some of the costumes and accessories along to the meeting to illustrate her talk and the quality, competence and design of these items was fantastic. However, Stephanie did admit that the vinyl spider costume she passed around was both very difficult to make and very hot to wear. She said the most time consuming element of her work was making ornate armour, which has to be very lightweight but look realistic.

Although the demand for these costumes is high, Stephanie decided it wasn't consistent enough to sustain an ongoing business and as a consequence she is returning to Cardiff University to obtain a teaching degree and is looking forward to teaching textile design.

Ross Rotary meets every Monday evening 6.30pm for 7pm at the Chase Hotel. Guests and potential members are very welcome. Please visit the website at rossrotary.com.