Gandalf's staff check. Goblin lanterns check. Elven keys check.
Crafting such mystical accessories was all part of a typical day for Chelsea Mainwaring, who spent eight months at a props studio for The Hobbit while the fantasy trilogy was filming in New Zealand in 2011.
The 25-year-old is now taking the experience she gained from Middle-earth and journeying into another magical realm later this month, when she flies to Northern Ireland Oct. 23 to seek work on the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones.
And while The Hobbit features the dragon Smaug, Thrones is known for a trio of young fire-breathing dragons under the care of an exiled princess.
Mainwaring said she has a tough time picking a favourite character from the hit HBO series, which has a reputation for killing off its significant players in rather capricious manners, but she's ready for even the toughest conditions following her stint in New Zealand.
"Work on The Hobbit was one of the best, and also the hardest, experiences in my life," she told The Undercurrent via email from White Rock, B.C., as she prepared for her European trip.
"Apart from geeking out 24-7 and figuring out how to make these complicated things, was the pressure to get the work out on time. If not or not done perfectly then the scene would not get shot."
Her first day working on the film series consisted of being plunked in front of her own steelwork table. She had never welded before in her life.
But the prop maker eventually fell into a groove, and would often come to work in the morning to find conceptual drawings of various objects sitting before her.
"From these, I would have to figure out how to construct them, followed by making them in all scales: human scale, dwarf scale and hobbit scale," she recounted.
"A prop wouldthen appearrelative size to the character that held it."
It's a long way from when she went to Nelson, B.C., to study silversmithing for two years beginning in 2008. After taking an 18-month excursion in the land of the Kiwis, Mainwaring said it was a "dream" to get work experience on the set of the The Hobbit.
But since moving back to Canada and opening her own jewelry studio at her dad's home on Bowen Island, she now looks to the local community for a creative trigger.
"It's really the peacefulness, and raw beauty of this place that allows time for the imagination to ignite.Finding that gnarled root or walking between those spindled spider leg-like cedars definitely enhances inspiration," she said.
"The mountains, the ocean, the forests this place is a hidden gem. I hope it stays that way. At the end of the day in the city, there is nothing more relieving than getting on the ferry. It's like entering a completely different realm."
