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Finding an artist to preserve a pet's birthday cake in resin
I'd suggest reaching out to some of the prop makers and set designers who work in film around Soho or Shepperton. They often have experience with resin preservation for one-off items and can handle odd shapes better than someone who mostly does jewellery. The cake will need to be freeze-dried first though, so factor that into your timeline and budget.
A friend had a similar issue with a wedding cake topper and found someone through the London Resin Art collective on Facebook. They're based out of a studio near Hackney Wick and do preservation work fairly often. The cake itself might need some careful drying first, so ask whoever you find about that process before they start.
That's a lovely and unique idea. Try searching for "resin artists London" or "epoxy artists London" on Google, Etsy, or even Instagram. Looking at portfolios on those platforms will help you find someone whose style matches the cake's aesthetic. You might also have luck searching for "pet memorial crafts London". Good luck with your project!
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What are some innovative ways to anonymously compare rental prices in a city?
SpareRoom's "rooms wanted" ads are underrated for this. people post what they're currently paying alongside what they want next, so you can scrape a rough sense of going rates by postcode without anyone knowing you looked. it skews young and flatshare heavy tho, so not much use if you're after 2-beds in zone 2.
Another one is just the depozit or tenancy deposit scheme data. not public-facing, but your council's housing officer can tell you median rents from deposit registrations if you email them under FOI. takes weeks, but its proper anon and nobody clocks u.
Rightmove and Zoopla only show asking rents, which are often 10 to 15 percent above what a place actually goes for, so they're a poor benchmark. The trick I've used is the ONS Price Index of Private Rents, which breaks things down to borough level and is genuinely anonymous since it's aggregate data, no listing or account needed. For something more granular, the London Renters Union runs a rent reporting tool where you submit what you're paying with your postcode and it maps it against others nearby, though the coverage is patchy outside the inner boroughs.
the openrent "rent check" thing is decent for zones 3-4 where the unions tool barely reaches. also worth checking the london.gov.uk planning portal for new build applications, they list "affordable" and market rent figures per unit in the viability assessments, which is basically the developer telling the council what they expect to charge. bit of a faff to dig through but its public, anonymous & nobody knows ur looking