‘I made giant strawberries for Margot Robbie on Wuthering Heights’
A food artist said she was 'thrilled' to make giant six-inch-tall strawberries for Margot Robbie in the new Wuthering Heights film.
Sarah Hardy, 55, works as a food artist and was recruited to work on the new adaption of the Emily Brontë's novel for her 'weird' creations.
Sarah, from Colchester, Essex, spent a whole weekend making 20 strawberries, made from sugar, to fit in Robbie's fist.
The artist who has 15 years experience said: "I get a real thrill when I get a task and I have to solve the problem of how to make it.
"While I haven't seen the film yet, I have seen a photo and that was definitely a thrill to see the strawberries become an important part of the storyline.
"I said yes because I liked Kate Bush's 'Wuthering Heights'. I love the magic of making something you don't quite understand what it is."
Sarah was previously commissioned to make chocolate beetles for Netflix's Frankenstein and said she had a short time frame to turn around her fruit creation for this year's blockbuster.
After she carefully planned how she was going to make the strawberries, she spent a whole weekend putting them together.
Sarah said: "I know how long it took because we watched three series of Stranger Things. The brief was for a large strawberry and it was decided it had to fit in Margot's fist.
"When I scaled them up to six inches, I found the weight of it was such that it could crush itself. The actors were going to bite into them so I used a combination of sugar paste and modelling chocolate.
"It was all about making the dimples and getting the seeds to sit as the skin is pitted with such tiny seeds. I realised sesame seeds were the right scale so they were dyed green and yellow - they looked just perfect.
"Each one had to be done individually by picking them up with a tiny paintbrush. If you do it too quickly, the shape will slump - and if it's done too slowly, the skin would crack."
In the film Catherine Earnshaw, played by Robbie, takes a bite out of one of Sarah Strawberry's.
She said she made 20 in case of any breakages on set or if the film crews needed to do retakes.
Sarah also told how she has yet to see the film, but says she is very proud they have been used on the silver screen.
Sarah said: "It is really exciting for me to know they are used in the film, especially knowing Margot bit into one. There is always a chance they might have cut them out when editing the film so to know they have some screen time is really nice.
"I hope to see the film on Friday later this week, I have been told it is great. I plan to go with a punnet of strawberries to enjoy whilst watching."
Sarah started as a sculptor and soon moved into wax work figures, sculpting human forms.
She also used to make wedding cakes but said she became 'very bored' and wanted to move into 'weirder' things.
The food artist even created a cake for Mick Jagger's daughter's birthday.
Sarah now runs The Edible Museum, a place for people with 'normal' budgets to purchase her wacky creations such as realistic hearts and brains, all made from chocolate.
She added: "I love the chocolate hearts because while a heart is something you expect to see in a chocolate shop, you have the 'what the hell' moment. It's a litmus test. If someone else is doing then it's probably not right for me."