Sophie Allen is a fine artist preparing for a show at The new Art Cafe in Winchester. She has chosen to cast the faces of some of Winchesters' residents which she will be translating into photographs for a show in June. She creates her portraits by first making an alabaster cast of her subject's face and from this moulds a latex mask to which she applies make-up to

reflect the subject’s chosen ‘inner character’. It was my turn last week to sit in her studio and have a cast taken of my face. Not having done this before I wasn't sure what to expect, pleasant in some ways to sit still and just listen, but in other ways an anxious claustrophobic half hour! Recommend vaseline as a facial treatment though.