Make believe

Elaine Carr is prop department manager at Amalgam Modelmakers: a warehouse space in Cotham full of prototypes, life-like everyday and extraordinary objects, and a teaspoon holder in the kitchen – to keep those pesky spoons upright.

Elaine, originally from just north of Leeds, started her path to working at Amalgam model-makers with an architecture degree. She moved on to be a computer aided design (CAD) technician – “the drawing work, computer aided design” – in Glasgow for four years where she learnt model making in the workshop during quiet moments at the computer. Two ski-seasons in Norway and France later, she came to Bristol to study for a diploma in scenic art for films and theatre at Bristol Old Vic. 

One day, while walking past Amalgam after an interview with a “guy who had a small scenic painting workshop locally”, portfolio in hand, she knocked on the door of their old Post Office sorting office building, and told them what she could do. They rang her back the next day.

“Weirdly, although I had four years of architectural experience, the person who picked my CV off the pile was in charge of prototyping. So I spent my time in the casting shed, sanding and pressing a button on the casting machines.”

After two years at Amalgam, she received a call from the Wes Anderson film, Fantastic Mr Fox, because they needed more painters. This led to Elaine going on to work on Tim Burton’s Frankenweeny.

“Then on my last day on set in London, I got a call from Amalgam asking if I was free to start work the next week. I had sent them a Christmas card – so they couldn’t forget me! From that point onwards, anything that needed painting at Amalgam, I did. It all came my way. The display department, visitor centres, big sets, props, sign writing and TV side of things.

“For example, one of my favourites, we created antique-looking speaking boxes for Splash and Ripple at the Holborn Museum in Bath. They were supposedly ‘found in the basement’ while the museum was doing a clear out. The contents of the crazy looking contraptions were an iPhone and a speaker, with a GPS tracker. When visitors got to a certain location in the garden, this voice would crackle out of the ether. We painted cheap boxes to look like beautiful antiques, with fancy brass cogs all over them. It’s about making something look real.

“When I first got into model making, I felt I needed to be all things, but the best thing about working at Amalgam is there is such a diverse range of skills – with the elders at the top,” she says with a smile. “People don’t generally meet model makers.”

Elaine’s main tip: “Write your name on everything that you own, rulers and pencils – mark it! Also, have a project and dedicate time to something that is important to you. Pour your passion into it and people will see it. Make time to create something that makes you happy.”

Amalgam Modelmaking Ltd, The Old Sorting Office, Eastfield Road, Bristol, BS6 6AB 
www.amalgam-models.co.uk

Photo credit: Amalgam Modelmaking Ltd