Making things from plastic is not a new job at all because for the last hundred years people have been working on the thing. Charlie N. Holmberg introduces the use of magic in things made of plastic. The author has used the word Polymaker here for those that are learning the art to use plastic in their magical techniques. The art is new and so is Alvie who has recently joined the institute. Being new the expectations from the girl are not sky-high because she is just an apprentice now.
However, being an apprentice does not mean that she cannot experiment in the field. The girl likes to invent and create new things and the field which she has selected possesses a lot of scope for her. Her tutor i.e Marion is also not an ordinary magician, he is the most renowned one in the field and he does not like to stop his students from experimenting.
Sarah Zimmerman narrates how quickly Alvie starts new things in the field and she works in collaboration with her mentor to develop the most advanced technology in the field. Conspiracies twisted the story in Spellmaker and Spellbreaker, things are not much different hereafter the mid. A device which the mentor and apprentice develop gets stolen because their rivals want to have its credit.
Alvie at this point learns something more than just hard work, to beat the rival one has to cheat sometimes. The world of magicians in this way does not prove to be very innocent, the magicians are also like humans in their corrupt ways. Alvie does not like such things but she is left with no other choice in life.