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Paris' Eiifet Tower cost $1,300,000. F. C, Phil Harris built a replica with toothpicks lor $4.50.‘M nth nr nF PnaToothpick ToworBy Mary CoxIT REQUIRED 2500 pagesat working drawings and500 engineers’ designs,plus $1,300,000 to construct the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but F, c. (Phil) Harris of Fullerton built a duplicate for $4.50, using only a pair of 6-inch tweezers, cutting pliers, and some Duco cement. He did It with toothpicks, 30,000 of them painstakingly glued togetherand accurately fitted Into place, according to scale. The result Is Indeed a thing of lacy beauty. Harris builds bridges, lookout towers, power line standards, ferrls wheels, and anything else that strikes his fancy. I-Ie finds his toothpick-construction hobby not only completely absorbing but profitable. His handiwork has beenexhibited at many stale and county fairs.When his models are not on exhibition, certains ones areused in store window displays. During his 15 years of toothpick-building, Harris has enjoyed an ever increasing demand for his story-book castles’* and miniature sets of dining room and patio furniture which delight children and adults alike as fair souvenirs.Currently, Harris is working on replicas of Long Beach’s double fcrris wheel and roller coaster. Being a cabinet makerby trade, his deft fingers can fashion out of toothpicks practically anything he can build in wood. Given the dimensions, he can make desired reproductions in miniature, on . order. The longest straight length used by him in any toothpick model is eight feet, which means a series of about 50 toothpicks glued end to end.To make (he 20-foot circumference circles npeessary in the construction 61 the ferris wheel, the picks must be snaked nr steamed in hot water and carefully shaped. Undaunted by any structural difficulties, Harris has never attempted a model yet which he has not been able to complete. He admits, however, that, on
Newspaper Details
Independent Press Telegram Southland Magazine
Long Beach, California, US
Sun, Oct 15, 1950
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Los A.
CA, USA 27 Dec 2019
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