mold-a-rama

found this little guy at a sale this morning.



at the bottom, it says "st. louis zoo." the family was so nice they gave it to me.

these little wax sculptures were souvenirs that one could buy at zoos, museums, and other attractions. i don't remember how much they used to cost, but all you'd have to do is put some coins into a machine and watch the thing get made inside its glass box. in fact, i know i have one from my childhood somewhere - an astronaut from the kennedy space center in florida, but it's either A) broken in a million pieces or more likely B) melted into a pool in a my parents' attic. come to think of it, i might have had an elephant at one point, too. it probably reached a similar demise long ago.

i've long-admired one our homeowners large collection of mold-a-ramas. check out anna & luby's house tour for pics.

turns out there is even a flickr pool of mold-a-ramas. of course, i adore the JFK mold-a-rama. he would look so great amongst my jfks.

do zoos and other attractions still have mold-a-rama machines? i wonder.