With Larry we visited the old The Toycrafter manufacturing facility, now home to the business he has with his wife (Louise's Daughter). It is in an old large industrial building by the railroad tracks. A secondary building with a smokestack is the remnant of the old power plant from when it was a food factory. At its peak, The Toycrafter occupied almost all the very large 4th floor. It still occupies a considerable amount of space, although much is used for storage. You climb the stairs (there are industrial elevators but not for personal use) and arrive exhausted to a door that opens to a very long corridor. Most doors along the corridor, and also around the corner, belong to Don. Pick your door and enter Don's land of tops.
No matter which room you go, they are full of boxes, with unknown contents. Larry expend a considerable amount of time treasure hunting through them. The rooms are also full of whimsical art pieces and clever wooden mechanisms:
And of course, spinning tops and images with tops everywhere.
We had to remove boxes and stuff but we finally could uncover the rotary molding machine that made the large plastic tops, like the one Mark uses in his show:
There are also production areas, like where the wood sheets are laser cut or where the products are spray painted.
Don doesn't like the Santa Claus image, but it is difficult no to think about him when you see all the toys ("gifts" he calls them) and fun stuff that come out of his creativity (plus the whitish beard and the fact that he rides a tricycle, help)
I picked up a bunch of tops for my collection (some from The Toycrafter, others vintage or antique from Don's collection) that Don will later ship to me. Included is a big top in this photo:
Thanks Don for showing us your lair!!!
