Saturday, January 29, 2011

Vintage Space Toy Display in a Gumball Machine

I've accumulated a lot of vintage space toys lately, and was looking for a new way to display them that wouldn't take up so much room. I also had an old gumball machine that I'd been trying to find a use for, and one day, as I looked at it, I thought it might actually make an interesting sort of display case.

It had a prominent metal mechanism in the center, which originally turned to push the toy capsules out when a quarter was inserted, and it also had a wire arch that spanned the front window, used to hold the machine's original advertising card in place. They had a machiney, space-agey, electrical look to them, like props from the set of Metropolis, I thought...so I installed some 1950s children's space print fabric as a backdrop, then arranged a scene using vintage Archer Space Men and robots, along with some 1950s space-themed dexterity puzzles.


A closer-up view:


It hasn't really helped alleviate the crowded display area, 
(which is supposed to be my kitchen table)
but it came out pretty cool:

3 comments:

  1. Tracy, I am doing a painting right now that features that same ray gun. I sure wish I lived in your neck of the woods so that I might meet you. I love your collection and your manner of writing about it all. Such obvious love for these things....

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  2. Thanks, Tracy! I will. The painting also features Mr. and Mrs. Potato head, troll dolls, a cootie, gumby, and possibly Mr. Bunny Rabbit from Captain Kangaroo.

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  3. Oooh: it sounds better and better! Can't wait to see it!

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