The 63-year-old mum of two started a self-portrait Instagram diary of famous characters from the world of TV, film, art and literature including Worzel Gummidge, Patsy from Ab Fab, Sharon Stone and The Girl with the Pearl Earring.

Not only did Denise take the photos, she also spent hours creating all the costumes using odds and ends at home, including plastic bags, Marigold gloves, PVA glue and gaffer tape.

Denise as Worzel Gummidge

She is calling the project Covid Characters and you can see her album of images on her Instagram account delusarcovidcharacters.

Denise began the project in the summer - and has just kept going.

She said: "I did it to challenge myself and keep myself focused during lockdown and furlough as I spent over 78 days alone so I turned to my hobby of photography to help me." 

We asked her to tell us more about the project...

Tell us about Covid Characters?

Denise as Barbarella

They feature on my Instagram account delusar, delusarcovid (which was the visual diary I set up) and then a new page dedicated to the characters which is being populated delusarcovidcharacters.

I started a Covid photo diary and was also trying my hand at some recreations such as the pepper by Edward Weston. I started seeing posts on social media where people were recreating art work in a photo which was a project being run by the Getty Museum then I just did Red Riding Hood. I was a little nervous as my first photo was done on one of my walks in the local woods and so I had to get changed and set up my camera to take the shot.

What do you get out of doing it?

Denise as Boudica

It ended up not only did I enjoy the challenge, the research, the planning and creating the image but I realised that I was also making other people laugh. People stopped my in street or left me a message on social media to tell me how much they enjoyed them and couldn’t wait to see what was next.

It also provided me and other members of friends and family with a great amount of humour especially when we were talking about the creation of the Wicked Witch of the West and how I wanted to create that in the woods but I didn’t want to be arrested or make some one crash as they saw a mad women with a green face driving a car.

What do people think of the photos?

Denise as Beetlejuice

Some think they are really good some enjoy the humour in them – that is what spurs me on. I loved it when I found out that people where enjoying the images.

How do you get your ideas?

I have to think who can I do next then I have to research.

What is your favourite photo and why?

Denise Hall as The Girl with the Pearl Earring

I don’t think I have an out and out favourite there are a few that I prefer over others and there are a few that I would like to redo now that I have gained confidence such as Alice in Wonderland as I want a bigger bottle with a bigger label and Red Riding Hood as I would like to be closer.

I think the ones that I like currently are the Ghost of Christmas Past, Beetlejuice, Sharon Stone and Barbarella. The thing most people loved was The Girl with the Pearl Earring, but mostly because I think that was technically better than the others – but that is not what I am trying to achieve.

What was the trickiest one to do?

Currently, probably, Mary Poppins as I wanted a Victorian house in my photo. I was checking house-front images on the internet but they just weren’t doing it for me. Anyway my friend in Manchester lives in the type of house that I wanted to feature so I waited until I could go to visit. I think her neighbours wondered what was going on!

Who else would you like to feature in your photos?

Denise as Patsy from Ab Fab

Many. Currently the next one on my list is the Mad Hatter and I just created the Man with the Red Turban [based on the 15th century Dutch painting by Jan van Eyck]. I would like to create and more children's characters, but I would also love to be able to do more elaborate ones such as Queen Victoria or Elizabeth I, but I create probably 95 per cent without spending any money so some characters are just out of the question as I can't afford to buy outfits nor can I make them!

What do you use to make the images? 

Denise as the Child Catcher

Generally the only things I use to create the images are what I have at home, my own clothing, or bits and pieces of stuff like bubble wrap and gaffer tape for Barbarella.  For the child catcher, I found a rubber glove in my drawer cut the finger off and filled it with cotton wool then I put masking tape on it to neutralise the blue colour of the glove and then put make up on it and stuck it to my nose with PVA glue.  

To create Worzel Gummidge, I bought a £3 bag of straw and pulled strands out and stuck them on gaffer tape and then stuck the gaffer tape with more gaffer tape into my jacket and my hat. 

For Calamity Jane I found cardboard and cut it up into strips to make tassels for my jacket, again using the gaffer tape. 

It has made me more creative because I have to think out of the box sometimes. For instance  I need a green hat for Mad Hatter so I have used my green tights which I have wrapped round my hat!

The head piece of the man in the red turban was created by wrapping a red plastic clothing bag around my head. You might just be able to work out the brand if you look close enough. Of course I turned the bag inside out!