A school cleaner racked up millions of followers on social media with her side hustle.
Hannah Gerrard, 37, from Birkenhead, had been cosplaying since her teens, but turned her love of practical film effects and puppetry into a job in 2008. It started off as just sewing, but turned into taking commissions and building props that would showcase at conventions across the world.
Hannah makes all of her creations from her bedroom and works on a "budget", frequently recycling products. During the day, she works as a school cleaner, but in the afternoon she turns her attention to her "passion".
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She began posting videos of her creations in 2012 but more recently on TikTok her account “blew up”. After posting a video of a snake puppet, she gained a fan base and got more than 13.3 million likes.
Hannah said: "I’m a cleaner in a school. I go in in the morning and clean from six until nine and then focus on my passion project." She added: "It all came into play in lockdown - because everything was closed, it was hard to get things online so I kind of had to work with what I had.
"The mechanisms were made from random things like rubber bands. I take pride in the fact that I can make these crazy creatures on a budget."
Hannah hopes to get more out of her hobby in the future, pairing with businesses like Maker Space, that could provide her with a workspace, allowing her to take more commissions and move her creations out of her bedroom and into a proper studio.
Hannah said she is spurred on by her supportive friends and family, admitting she got her love of sewing from her grandmother, Ada
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