The coolest job I ever had! || Stop-Motion Movies Studio

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Do you swim upstream or you go with the stream?

Do you choose your paths or does life choose them for you?

To what extent do you feel you are the author of what happens to you?

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I often ask myself these questions and I have a great problem with clear, decisive answers to them.

What I know about myself is - I like changes. Stagnation sickens me. I have to rearrange the furniture in the rooms from time to time, I have to often drastically change my hairstyle, I have to change jobs. Yes, I have to. The longest I stayed in one place was 3 years, and in retrospect I can say that it was at least a year too long.

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I like to learn new stuff, and when I get to the point where I have to repeat some activitys every day, or worse, recreate someone else's work (because, for instance, that's what the customer wants), I slowly become... furious.

I'm usually pretty good at pretending to be a relatively normal, well-balanced person, but when my days at work begin to morph into a shapeless amalgam of pointless meetings, similar phone calls, projects so uninteresting that I forget about them the next day - then it's time for me to run!
This trait of my character caused that my resume not only does not fit on one page of A4, but it looks like a biography of a person with a split personality disorder.

But it is what it is!

After graduation I worked in a few uninteresting places, you know, I needed to pay my bills. And art education guarantees only contempt or worse - pity in the eyes of 'regular' employers or an uncertain future as an artist. Either way, the result is - an empty pockets.

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However, this one time fate was kind to me, because in a neighbouring city opened a Stop-Motion Movie Studio It was a new side project for a large Polish company known primarily for its jigsaws . The Trefl company, like many of its kind, buys copyrights to characters, images, etc. from giants like Disney in order to be able to use the characters on their toys, jigsaws. 'Trefl', in order to become independent, decided to create its own lore - series with characters for children, which will then serve as material to use in the form of jigsaws, mascots, so on, so on.

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As soon as I heard that the studio was opened - I immediately went with my resume to knock on their door. The lady at the secretary's office redirected me to the head puppeteer(apparently they were looking for help in making dolls).

I knew about stop-motion puppet making as much as I managed to google. I graduated art academy with degree in sculpture, so I knew how to, draw, sculpt, cast, make molds, duplicate them and so on - but I knew it wasn't quite the same thing. So with one's heart in one's mouth, I knocked on the door which were pointed out to me as a 'Puppet Department'.

From behind the door I heard:

-What is it again? Are you crazy? What the hell are you knocking for!
-Good morning, I've come for a job.

The door was opened by a fiercely red-haired, very short figure with big round eyes the color of steel.

-Came for what?

-I'm looking for a job. I am a sculptor. I heard you were looking for people here.
I held out my hand with my resume and portfolio toward her,

-What do you give me here?
-My resume and portfolio.
-And what do I need it for? Do you have capable hands?
-I think so. I've finished my major – in medal making and that requires high level of precision.
-All right, we'll see. C'mon, sit here.

I got a few cubes of silicone(molds in negative), two glossy resin cans, a jewellers scale, isoprpanol alcohol, plastic mini - cups, wooden sticks and vinyl thin gloves.

-It's a non-toxic resin, it doesn't evaporate, but you'd better not touch it with your bare hands, because it's impossible to get rid of it. The resin need to be weighed 1:1, it sets up to 30 seconds, so you have to work very fast. Pour me 20 eyes and come show me in a moment, I will be in the next room over there.

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There were three people in the room apart for me. A smiling middle-aged blonde working at the sewing machine next to the window. A very young girl with a dark, moody look who had several boxes of false eyelashes in front of her(yeah, seriously!), round - faced boy in a red sweater - sat with his back to me most of the time, so I couldn't see what he was working on. Except for the sound of the sewing machine - there was complete silence, no one talked to each other.

I started to work. I put on gloves, washed the silicone molds with alcohol very carefully. I measured resin ingredients in separate containers, stirred and very carefully poured into the molds.

-WROOOOOONG!

The boy sitting next to me was suddenly next to my ear.
-What on earth you are doing here?! You need to tap the cup few times to get rid of the air from the resin and pour in a thin stream, and necessarily at an angle. Use a stick to better distribute the resin.

Sadly he was right. When the resin solidified, I pulled the resin 'eyes' out of the molds - and they were full of holes and uneven.

-Throw this away and do it again, I won't say anything!

The Smiling Blonde turned to me directly:

-Listen to Maciek, he is the very best!

I thanked the Red Sweater (Maciek) in a sulky voice and started work from the beginning. I worked a little slower and no longer as nervously as at the beginning. Out of 10 molds, I managed to spit out 7 nice curly balls. 'Dark Gaze' almost without opening its mouth said:

-This is normal, they never all come out well.

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Suddenly I felt that I belong here somehow - I really wanted to work there!

I worked now slower and very carefully. After a while I had twenty nice, round eyes. Maciek gave me a plastic box into which I could put them. When I was already grabbing the door handle Maciek shouted:

-Just don't admit that we helped you!

The rooms were only a few steps apart, doors were open, so I knocked on the door frame.
-Why are you knocking again??? - she shouted.
-I finished casting, will take a you look?
-Well, show me what you did there.

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'Steel Eyes' took the box from me, went to the window, looked under the light at each ball in turn. Then she sat down at the desk - even though the chair wasn't high at all, her legs dangled in the air. She had pointy red glittery high hills, fastened at the ankle with big three-dimensional butterflies. On the countertop was, in addition to a massive lamp and and huge, lighted magnifying glass - a multitude of jars, peddles, instruments that looked like dental tools. There were also rows of eyes - the same balls I was casting, large and small - but already made - with beautiful irises in every shade. They looked as if they were alive!

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The red-headed little figure looked at my creations under the magnifying glass for a long time and after a moment that seemed like an eternity to me, she spoke up:

-Go to the secretary's office, say that we take you on puppets, they will give you a contract.

-Thank you very much! When can I start?
-Do you have time now? You can stay, and keep casting those eyes, I need way, way more...

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I will post more about how to make stop-motion dolls very soon:)

How about your 'new job story'?? Would you care to share with me?

I wish you all lovely week!
Yours,
Strega Azure

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