Sign up for the Grand Illusions newsletter, at conta.cc/3dplns1
___________________________________________________________________
Tim has a great number of toys in his collection that are edible, as well as some that just pretend to be edible. And - to be honest - a few edible ones that he has had for so long, they have probably become inedible anyway!
'Ah', Tim says, 'that a nose should smell so sweet' as he paraphrases the Bard... 'and taste sweet too...' Well, these are chocolate noses. They came in very fancy packaging, presented like a spray of roses, although the text on the box says Freshly Picked Noses!
One of Tim's earliest toys in this theme comes from the 1960s. It looks like a chocolate sweet called a Walnut Whip. This sweet consists of a base which is a whirl-shaped cone of milk chocolate with a whipped vanilla fondant filling, topped with half a walnut. But Tim's version is a fake - it is made of plastic. Another example is what appears to be a little slice of foil wrapped processed cheese. But beware the person that picks it up - it makes a loud rattling noise! It is a wind up trick toy. Tim explains that his toy collection really began with collecting little practical jokes like these.
Tim then produced four little spinning tops. They were made in Spain, and they will spin, but they are actually sweets - they are made of chewing gum; so, chewable, edible toys. Next up is a rattleback, but this rattleback is made of chocolate! Continuing the chocolate theme, we see a slice of bread with a fried egg and a slice of bacon on top, all made of chocolate. Then, a chocolate tangram. This was given out at a gathering for Gardner about 20 years ago. The pieces of the tangram are foil wrapped chocolate. It is a slightly simplified version - a normal tangram has seven pieces, whereas this one only has five. Or has Tim eaten a couple of pieces?
Next are some really novel items. Tim shows a small plastic container which opens up to dispense little paper squares which, when you put them in your mouth, have a strong mint flavour. These came out around 1992 Tim thinks, and they are called 'papermints'. Next is a little mint sweet, like a Polo mint, except that this one is also a whistle. In this case you put the sweet between your lips and blow. Of course, after a while the sweet starts to dissolve, and it loses its whistle. So, as Tim says, a short life but a sweet one. Next, a finger fidget or spin pop. Of course this is also a sweet, there is a lollipop at each end. And if you are going to lick them it is best to lick them evenly from both ends, so that it still spins evenly, and does not get lopsided. Tim then shows his favourite one from this little collection; these are some small jelly type sweets which you can eat, but the instructions explain that you have to be careful not to eat the little LED and battery inside the sweet. Tim demonstrates this by picking up the sweet in a pair of plastic tweezers and giving it a little squeeze, and lo and behold, the sweet starts glowing inside. Of course, the whole thing is a little joke - there are batteries and a bulb inside the tweezers, and when you squeeze something in the tweezers they light up. But it does really look as if the little jelly sweets are glowing inside. A nice misdirection toy.
Next, a chocolate replica padlock. There have been many workshop tools made from chocolate in recent years, spanners and screwdrivers etc. But mostly they have been brown in colour, and look like old rusty tools. This padlock is more a silver colour, so that is slightly unusual.
Tim then shows some unusual types of food. Firstly, Pork Floss. This came from Singapore, and it really is pork that has been dried and combed into a fluffy state. You can eat it as is, or use it to garnish a steak or an omelette. Then Tim shows some edible postcards he picked up in Holland about 20 years ago. The envelope is normal enough, but the card inside is made of rice paper. The greeting has been printed with vegetable dyes, so these are edible as well. In the 1990s, there were a variety of foods available in the USA on the theme of astronauts and space travel. In this case, it is Astronaut Strawberries. The strawberries have been mushed up and freeze dried, so they keep very well in the packet. And when you munch on them, they do indeed taste of strawberries. Tim then shows a special stick of seaside rock he had specially made in 1992. He has a very big Christmas card list, he sends out over 150 cards every year. And in 1992, Tim also sent out these sticks of rock. Embedded inside the rock, it says Merry Xmas from Tim! These came from Blackpool, a famous seaside town, and apparently the rock had a 'Christmas Pudding' flavour!
Finally, Tim shows a few more inedible edibles, in this case some slices of meat and cheese. Very realistic, but they are made from plastic. What can you use them for? Well, they are coasters, for putting mugs or coasters on.
19 фев 2020
