How do you get a set of 120 sailors to look wet for the whole of a two year run on stage?

We dipped the costumes for the Lyric Opera of Chicago production of Billy Budd into water, and then dyed them to reproduce the colour they were when wet, before sponging on tide marks and salt marks.

Can't afford a set in alligator skin? For Johnny on the Spot at the National Theatre, London we took a 2 inch model of an alligator leather sofa and produced enough fabric for an eight foot couch and two enormous leather armchairs. By printing onto the fabric with an expanding dye we produced a textured leather effect that made outsize alligator scales to go on the outsize leather sofa.

We liased with the design team to create a series of costumes to make the dancers in The Cholmondeleys and the Featherstonehaughs production 3 look like skeletons. From anatomical models and reference books we produced a three-dimensional printed pattern which was then hand painted to make the muscles and bones come to life.

We work at all levels of involvement on a vast range of projects, from producing a single hat for Topol on the UK Tour of Fiddler on the Roof to dyeing shirts, doublets, hose, snoods, tights, hats, shoe laces, knickers and even corset laces for Kiss Me Kate at Victoria Palace.

Call us on +44 (0) 20 8469 0151 or email us at info@schultz-wiremufabricfx.co.uk if there's any fabric you need to put on stage.