Snooker loopy Great Barr man creates miniatures of his favourite stars

The 43-year-old from Great Barr has embarked on the painstaking task of recreating his favourite players in 3D sculpture form.

His background as a 3D designer has equipped him with some of the skills for the job – his own artistic talent and passion for the sport has done the rest.

So far he has completed three figures and has set himself a target to create a total of 50 miniature sculptures of snooker stars past and present, which he is calling The Crucible Collection.

It will feature the likes of Alex Higgins holding his baby girl in one arm and the 1982 World Championship trophy in the other, Steve Davis winning his sixth world title, Ronnie O' Sullivan's triumph in 2013 after taking a year out and, more recently, Mark Williams winning the 2018 title at 43 years old.

Jimmy said: "I've been to the Crucible in Sheffield many times to watch the snooker. I fell in love with the game when, as a nine-year-old, I watched Dennis Taylor v Steve Davis in 1985.

"My parents let me stay up late and it was a truly magical and memorable match which has stayed with me all my life.

"Snooker is often overlooked by the news and sports channels today and I think it would be good to get it back on the map and pay homage to the skill it takes to play the game.

"I love the idea of creating these characters so people can collect them, celebrate them, paint them and keep them forever. I feel so passionate about making this project work but I'm struggling financially to continue."

Each character has taken 125 hours of work on days off, weekends, holidays and evenings, and cost £3,000 to create, including resin copies. Jimmy needs to raise £150,000 in total. There are rewards on offer to anyone who pledges.

The father-of-two is asking people to make pledges to back his Kickstarter campaign. To support Jimmy, visit kickstarter.com/projects/jimmymole/the-crucible-collection