In the beginning.....

[ctom]

....before Do-It molds was born; before the California bar lowered its standards so Denny could practice law; before BareKnuckleJigs discovered that cast iron pot and long before Party Crasher mastered the Dremel tool and jigs saw, there was this handy little piece of fascination that started this crazy plastic world.

Presenting.....

 

Yup. None other than the long forgotten "Thing Maker" by Mattel toys. Not only did this make enough smoke to gas an entire school room or offer up enough burns to keep any worthy trauma unit hopping but it allowed sinister lads [think Mo or Justin here] to cook up funky looking, sticky, bad smelling look-alikes of spiders, centipedes and a host of other unworldly creatures used primarily to scare the bejeebers out of young ladies. Who'd'a thunk something so simple could have so many uses and still be the fore-runner to something we love doing today?

[pjmcla]

Now that brings back memories, burned finger tips and all.

[Fatman]

That just made me feel really old!!!!!!!LOL 

[ctom]

Mo's probably wondering now where his thing was made.

[andrewlamberson]

I loved that thing! There is zero chance they could ever introduce that "toy" again. I can't tell you how many times I got burned!

California would have a fit if someone tried to sell that!

[ctom]

I found this in a "free" box on a curb at a garage sale in Two Harbors. I just had to take it. This is history, of sorts.

[WALLEYE WACKER]

That brings back memories.

[Bucko]

I'm not old enough as some people here are to remember that contraption,  but there was another that was in the early 90s.  I don't recall the name but it made little rubber bugs and we actually used some of them for fishing.   The plastic wasn't as soft as we are accustomed to today,  but it was pretty fun nonetheless.   Wasn't much after that when I started making my own spinners and pouring my own jigs.   My mom wasn't a huge fan of me at the ripe age of 12 sitting over a pot of lead!   21 years later I'm still at it.   

Not sure if that toy got me into tackle crafting but thinking back on it now, I'm sure it got my gears turning.

[ctom]

This was likely the fore-runner to your gizmo Buck.

Andy mentions the "hazard" that came with this contraption and the likelihood that nobody would allow such a device today, but Mattel had a bunch of fun stuff that would have the bleeding hearts going to coronaries if they were still around. Mattel mad a lver action repeating rifle that fired caps adhered to the back of bullets loaded in to the magazine. The action worked remarkably well. The "bullets" were actually a casing and a bullets that was pressed into the casing under spring pressure, the fed into the magazine. When the hammer hit the cap it had enough force to allow the bullet to snap free of the case and fly out the barrel with some force. I remember many a bloody eye after a good old gun fight. I wonder what the government would say of those toys today?

Growing up in the 50's and 60's was tough business and the whimps had a real hard time with it.  lol I had a fracture in a leg that I wasn't even aware of until later in life I had a scan of the same leg and they asked me when the break occurred. I remember hobbling for a few days but then it was back to screwing around.

[Slow Burn]

I'm not old enough as some people here are to remember that contraption,  but there was another that was in the early 90s.  I don't recall the name but it made little rubber bugs and we actually used some of them for fishing.   The plastic wasn't as soft as we are accustomed to today,  but it was pretty fun nonetheless.   Wasn't much after that when I started making my own spinners and pouring my own jigs.   My mom wasn't a huge fan of me at the ripe age of 12 sitting over a pot of lead!   21 years later I'm still at it.   

Not sure if that toy got me into tackle crafting but thinking back on it now, I'm sure it got my gears turning.

The Creepy Crawler oven.   

[Bucko]

The Creepy Crawler oven.

Bingo!   I see they still sell them today.   Who knew I was an open pour kinda kid?  Maybe DF trained at an early age on one of these things? Lol

[DF]

Maybe DF trained at an early age on one of these things? Lol

 Yup, Loved the Creepy Crawler oven Bucko

[ctom]

Yup, Loved the Creepy Crawler oven Bucko

AH HA!!!!! I knew you weren't a novice DF. The truth FINALLY!

[DF]

My younger brother was home from the Air Force this spring and I showed him my bait making setup, the first words out of his mouth were ''Oh its like Creepy Crawlers''.  We used to make baits out of all kinds of stuff, our favorite was to cut tails on a drinking straw and flare them out kind of like a tube bait.