Wizard of Oz Candy Box

In the film "The Wizard of Oz", Dorothy starts out in the drab sepia-toned world of Kansas and then gets swept up in a tornado and taken to the techno-colored world of Oz. This candy box mimics that contrast of colors and recreates this scene from "The Wizard of Oz". On the outside it looks like a tornado descending upon a dusty farm house. But open the top of the tornado and inside is a golden box filled with brightly colored candy.

Several years ago I helped a friend make puppets for a production of Wizard of Oz and to congratulate him when it was done I made him a candy box like this one. Now I'm going to show you how to make one.

To start with you will need to cut several rings. Each ring should be 1/2" wide and 1/2" larger than the ring below it. This will allow for a 1/4" of over lap when they are stacked on top of each other. For example, a 3" ring on top of a 2.5" ring. You will need 12 to 14 rings to make the tornado. For the last 2 or 3 segments make them solid circles not rings. They will be the base of the tornado and need to be solid circles, not rings, to give the base more structure.

You will also need a large circle for the base that the tornado and farm house sit on. You will also need 2 circles to make the lid for the tornado. One the same outside dimension (O.D. or outer diameter) as the top ring and a smaller circle that fits with in the inside of the top ring (I.D. - inner diameter).

I used the CNC (Computer Numeric Control) router at the Maker Space I belong to, to cut out my rings. If you don't have access to one, use a jig saw or other method to cut out your rings and circles. I don't have any great suggestions for how to do this, but there are several good instructables on cutting circles with various tools.

After you have cut the parts out, sand them and round down the edges to make them smoother.

To put the tornado together you just need some wood glue and a nail or screw.

Put some glue around the edges of a ring and stack the next ring on top. Stack up all the rings like this but don't attach the very bottom circles. Glue the 2 or 3 small circles that make up the base separately and glue them to the base circle where you want the tornado to touch down. Since these will be supporting everything above them they need a little more reinforcement. Once the glue has dried, put a nail or screw into them to anchor them to the base. Then glue the rest of the tornado to them.

Make the lid by gluing the smaller circle in the center of the top circle. Make sure it fits inside the top ring.

If you want you can add a farm house to the base near the tornado. I made mine out of some scarp 2x4 and a few small pieces of wood for the roof.

Once all the glue is dry you just need to paint it. I used browns and greys for the farm and tornado. And then I painted the inside gold. You could also paint the inside rainbow colored.

Then all you need to do is fill it with candy and sing: "We represent the Lolly Pop Guild, The lolly pop guild.... etc etc etc."