By Laura Hand
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 7:21 p.m.
Stan Munro says it's a weird living, but he's putting together Temples and Towers --scale replicas of New York City's St. Patrick's Cathedral, Notre Dame in Paris, Rome's Vatican, Istanbul's Blue Mosque, and landmarks like Las Vegas' Stratosphere.
His Toothpick City 1 was the talk of the 2005 New York State Fair. He was going for a world's record then, with 1.2 million picks in his mini buildings. He's now sold that project to a museum in Majorca, Spain---with the profits allowing him to build his second city, for another run at the Guinness record, at 4 million toothpicks.
Munro says people who saw the first edition wondered why he didn't have any churches or temples included, and when he asked which one, they said all of them.
Munro's been working for three years, prefabricating sheets of toothpicks (held together with just glue) and cutting them with scissors, dremel or exacto knife to patterns he works out by checking the internet or tv. Everything is in 1:164 scale, so the Dubai tower, the world's tallest building, which will be the centerpiece, will be 18 feet tall.
Toothpick City 2 will go on display at Syracuse's MOST in December, and Stan will have a work area there, so visitors can see him complete the final buildings. He's also accepting suggestions for more landmarks at www.toothpickcity.com
