Shaker Maker

1970s logo

Shaker Maker is a toy for making figures. For this purpose, a powder is mixed with water in a shaker and poured into a mold inserted in the shaker. Rapid polymerization makes the mixture custard-like and dries out in a few days.

Shaker Maker was developed by the Ideal Toy Company in the early 1970s . It was particularly popular in the United States and some countries in Europe until the 1980s. It was produced twice by a different manufacturer in the 1990s and 2000s, but no longer had the same success as the original line of products.

Gameplay

Unpainted and painted figures

Magic mix in blue, red and ivory

It is a toy from four years of age. It was designed for easy making of figures. The basic element is very fast, a powder which is stirred into water polymerized and therefore passes within a few seconds in a consistent mass. When dried, the mass becomes hard but very light. This powder is sold as a Magic Mix and you can combine it with water in a specially equipped shaker and then pour the mass into predetermined molds. The whole procedure takes no more than five to ten minutes. The figures must then be dried for several days while they shrink by about 50%. Then they can be painted or additionally decorated.

history

The toy likely evolved from an older toy from the 1950s called the Witch Dr. Head Shrinkers Kit (translated: Witches Doctor's Shrink Head Kit ) was called and was produced by the Pressman Toy Corporation founded in 1922 . The gameplay was identical. A powder was mixed with water and poured into a mold (for heads). The heads could then be painted and decorated with hair and then shrank over the next 48 hours.

The first shaker maker was brought out by the Ideal Toy Company . Before 1932 the company was called Ideal Novelty and Toy Company and was founded by Morris Michtom in New York in 1907. He was the inventor of the teddy bear . In 1982 the company was sold to the CBS Toy Company .

In the early 1990s, the toy was briefly produced again by the Toymax company .

Shaker Maker was brought back to the Canadian and American markets in 2003 in a new form by the Canadian company Spin Master.

Game material

The equipment includes several molds. It also includes a mug for mixing the Magic Mix and a shaking mug that is placed over the molds. The package also contains drip trays for the figures while they are drying, as well as various accessories (e.g. synthetic hair, feathers or plastic parts) for the characters, which can still be inserted into the fresh figure or glued on after drying. A brush and paint are included for painting. It also includes up to nine packages with Magic Mix, which previously could be purchased in three colors (ivory, red and blue). Today the Magic Mix at Spin Master is mainly available in white and blue. The Magic Mix has a limited shelf life. As the powder is not vacuum packed, it reacts with moisture in the air and becomes inactive after a while.

How to play

Cold water must be filled to the specified limit.
Pour the “Magic Mix” into the water.
Assemble the shapes above the water tank.
Place the mug on top and shake vigorously eighteen times.
Turn the mug over and let it stand for five to ten minutes.
Remove the cup.
Carefully loosen the top mold. Then carefully loosen the lower mold and detach the figure from the rest of the material.
Place on the drip tray for several days. The figure shrinks about 50% in this time.

expenditure

v. l. right: Ideal, Toymax, Spin Master

Various molds from Ideal

A selection of the shaker maker sets published by the companies. The sets (molds, litter cups, shaking cups) from Ideal and Toymax are compatible. Spin Master changed the design and therefore the molds, litter cups and the shaker cup from Spin Master are no longer interchangeable with the sets from the previous companies.