Tag Archive: classic toys

“Coloring meets funhouse mirror magic” – A Review

Morph-O-Scopes by OOZ & OZ - coloring page morph and mirror decoder

The following review of Morph-O-Scopes Kits appeared  in the September 2010 CoolMomPicks. We learned of it only weeks ago! The review is reprinted here with permission of Liz Gumbinner, Publisher, Editor-in-Chief of CoolMomPicks.com. “I’m not going to lie to you: When I opened the Morph-O-Scopes Kit box my daughter received for her birthday one year,…

Thinking Outside the Rubik’s Cube – Art Phenom Pixel Pete

Dr. King by Pixel Pete

“Dream Big” was a year-long project in which “Pixel Pete” Fecteau created a brilliant mosaic of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. using 4,242 manipulated Rubik’s Cubes!  Fecteau created the installation for ArtPrize2010 – Grand Rapids, Michigan’s fabulous annual art competition. Exhibit attendees’ votes determined the winner. “Dream Big” made it to the top 50 of…

…there are tops, and then there are TOPS !

Antique Spinning Top

Spinning tops are one of the oldest recognizable toys found on archaeological sites.  They originated independently in cultures all over the world – doubtless due to a basic human fascination with things that spin and teeter and balance. (Good old physics!) Japanese spinning tops (“koma” or “goma”) are considered some of the very best in…

How Cracker Jack Changed My Life

Funny Papers charms

August 1950. A magical month for 8 year-olds at the Jersey Shore. We got 25₵ each day to spend anyway we wished, on comic books (10₵) or candy or games at the arcade! Our best fun adventure, though, was crawling under the boardwalk to find fallen treasure – coins or small gumball machine prizes  –…

Decorated Eggs Redux

Crushed easter egg restored

The dictionary defines “redux” as “restored” or “brought back”.  Here are two little stories about Easter eggs redux. Easter Egg Restored “It” happened the last time my daughter and I decorated eggs.  “It” was completely my fault. I accidentally crushed one of our creations.  Oh my goodness!  Such tears from one little girl!  I felt…

Toy Inventor’s Blog Serves First Course: Stove-top Illusions

Brilliant photo arrangement by Jack Bonds 1956

As Chief Morphology Officer at OOZ & OZ, I have decided to create this blog to share with you my passion for mirror art and toys and other optical illusions. Optical illusions, inventive images, mind-challenging toys thrill and fascinate me. They tickle my gray matter, spark my imagination, tug at my curiosity and flat-out make…