The Burned Fingers Club

Somewhere in the early Noughties my sons joined the Burned Fingers Club, which already included my brother, myself and some of our childhood friends. The photos here show them re-enacting a scene from my childhood, when my brother and I played with our Mattel Thingmaker set.

Almost everything in that photo is vintage Thingmaker - our childhood moulds for Creepy Crawlers and a few other things, together with a replacement oven from Mattel Germany I once found at a swapmeet. That oven was actually in NOS condition, but was gladly sacrificed for my sons' enjoyment.

The only thing new were some then-recently-made bottles of Plasti-Goop by ToyMax, a company producing Thingmaker sets that worked with a closed, light-powered oven to comply with modern safety regulations. A collecting friend sent some over from the US so the boys had a nice supply in various colours.

But they also used original vintage PlastiGoop left over from my own youth, which had survived remarkably well for some 35 years.

The vintage oven worked a treat, and this is where the boys earned their Club membership of course. As anybody from my generation knows, that oven gets piping hot. And despite trying to use oven and moulds with the greatest of care, sooner or later a dash for the cold-water tap or the ice cubes in the fridge will be required. Nothing dramatic either then or now, and the boys were suitably proud.

Colouring the moulds with a crayon before pouring in the Goop adds nice touches to the finished insects. And the trick is in getting them out of the mould with a toothpick.

When my brother came round, the boys proudly showed their creations. First thing he did of course was smell one, but it was made with the new Goop which is almost odourless. So I handed him the yellow striped bug, and his eyes lit up in recognition. If you've played with the original Thingmaker you will remember that smell.  :)