Amanda Thomas

Background

About Amanda Thomas

I am primarily a costume and model maker, having worked for Mackinnon and Saunders for over 25 years. I have a passion for costume work, knitting, crocheting, needle felting and making in general. I love working as part of a creative team, have a keen eye for detail, and especially enjoy managing my costume team, which involves sourcing the right fabrics, experimenting with different ways of treating/manipulating fabric to achieve the desired results, and overseeing the quality and finishing of all our costumes to the highest standard. I also liaise with other companies or freelancers to outsource digital printing, screen printing, dyeing, or costume making. I have been Head Of Department for costume for 15 years, starting on Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox, Isle Of Dogs background characters, and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio amongst many other commercials and children’s tv series. Before that as part of the team, I made costumes for principal characters on Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie, and created the knitting patterns for The Clangers. I have also worked within the Maintenance Departments on several shows, this gives me a broad set of skills includes armature, silicone, foam, painting, costume work, etc. During the last year I have also worked designing and redesigning toys, which are currently being mass produced using my patterns. I’m also a pet portrait artist, which I do along side any freelance jobs I am working on. I am based in South Manchester, but I am willing to travel for work. Films: Pinocchio, The House, Pinocchio, Isle of Dogs, Frankenweenie, Fantastic Mr Fox, ParaNorman, The Corpse Bride, Max and Co,Tchaikovsky, Poles Apart, Archie, NFTS, Slumberless. Television: Mix Mups, The Sound Collector, Numan’s Men’s health commercials, Macy’s Christmas Commercial 2021, Vanmoof Bikes Commercial, Coca-Cola A World Without Waste campaign, Intu Christmas commercial 2018, BBC Christmas Ident 2017, Sainsbury's Christmas Advert 2016, Gogglebox Ad Break, Text Santa Knitted Ad break, Netflix original series Rilakkuma and Kaoru, The Clangers, Twirlywoos, Moonbaby, Scream Street, Strange Hill High, Jeff The Chef, Gerry Anderson's Firestorm, Raa Raa The Noisy Lion, Toby's Travelling Circus, Rastamouse, Rupert The Bear, Postman Pat, Enji Benji, Fifi and The Flowertots, Andy Pandy, Bill and Ben, Rotten Ralph, Little Robots.