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TOY-MAKING AT HOME
HOW TO MAKE A HUNDREDTOYS FROM ODDS AND ENDS
BY
MORLEY ADAMS
NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Printed in Great Britain.
PREFACE
This work has been compiled with the assistance of Mr.Walter Higgins, the well-known instructor in woodwork.
The volume fulfils a long-felt want in that it suppliesfascinating amusement for evenings at home. The makingof toys is an engrossing pastime, and the home-made toyis invariably more novel than the shop-bought article and ofsuperior quality, besides which there is always a satisfactionin "I made it myself."
The purpose of the book is to give simple and easily understoodinstructions and plain diagrams and sketches for makingtoys from the odds and ends that are usually discarded as useless.Matches, Match Boxes, Cotton Reels, Cocoa Tins, CigarBoxes, and even Egg Shells comprise the materials from whichare evolved Shops, Working Models, Dolls' Furniture, Boats,Steam Engines, Windmills, and scores of other toys dear tothe hearts of boys and girls.
Perhaps the chief charm of the occupation is that literallydozens of toys can be made at a cost of less than a penny.Every toy described in this book is practicable, and can beeasily made by anyone possessing the smallest amount ofhandicraft skill. At the same time the instructions are suchas will prove of the utmost value to instructors of handicraftclasses.
MORLEY ADAMS.
TOY-MAKING AT HOME
TOYS FROM ODDS AND ENDS
In every household there are countless things which are thrownaway immediately they have served one purpose. Cotton-reelsmay be taken as an instance. It does not occur to themajority of people that these little wooden articles, stronglymade and well finished, may be put to some use, even when thecotton has been wound from them. Yet from them quite usefulfurniture can be made and playthings innumerable. Andso it is with many other things—match boxes, broken clothespegs, cocoa tins, mustard tins, egg shells, cigar boxes, nut shells,corks, incandescent-mantle cases, old broom handles: thereis no end to the list.
In the following pages we have set out to explain, largelyto boys and girls, just how these odds and ends may be usedfor the construction of toys, games, and interesting models.The list is not by any means complete: such examples as aregiven are merely suggestive examples. The boy or girl whohas patiently and thoughtfully made some of them will bein a position to devise and construct many more on similarlin