Strange craft kits from the 70s

[Throughhistory]

Anyone else remember them?

Plasticraft - I mean who doesn't want to make a penny embedded in a plastic blob?

Enamelcraft - at least that resulted in a few hardly wearable items of jewellery

A board covered in black velvet. You banged small nails in, then wound gold thread from one nail to another to create the illusion of curves in a picture, often a boat. Yes really.

Did I miss out on any gems?

Fuzzy felts

Walkie Talkies that had wires attached so you could connect. Made it very hard to play an undercover spy seriously

I vaguely remember one from the 80s where you made wire loops and dipped them into coloured liquid then left them to harden to make a sort of stained glass inside the wire loop. The liquid had really strong fumes, like marker pens and glue. Can't for the life of me remember the name of it but I remember my mum standing all the loops of wire with their red "stained glass" in a vase as a decoration.

And fabrics pens that dispensed a coloured goo onto your t-shirt then you heated it with a hairdryer to make the goo 'puff up'. Stylish!

@FoxyTheFox I definitely remember doing that one at youth club 🙂

Quilling
Glass engraving kit with a little scratchy pen. Lucky my family with their whiskey tumblers and paperweights with my increds designs.

Rotadraw - template disc with random cut-out lines that if you turned to line it up and drew each slot in order produced a picture.
Spirograph which I think had a recent revival
French knitting kits

Loved plasticraft (dbro put lost teeth in his! ) and fuzzy felt.

@FoxyTheFox

I vaguely remember one from the 80s where you made wire loops and dipped them into coloured liquid then left them to harden to make a sort of stained glass inside the wire loop. The liquid had really strong fumes, like marker pens and glue. Can't for the life of me remember the name of it but I remember my mum standing all the loops of wire with their red "stained glass" in a vase as a decoration.

I loved that! You could make flowers with it. It was madly expensive, so we only had 2 colours.

If I concentrate, I can still smell it!

@FoxyTheFox

I vaguely remember one from the 80s where you made wire loops and dipped them into coloured liquid then left them to harden to make a sort of stained glass inside the wire loop. The liquid had really strong fumes, like marker pens and glue. Can't for the life of me remember the name of it but I remember my mum standing all the loops of wire with their red "stained glass" in a vase as a decoration.

www.clayalley.com/dipit.htm

Oh my god, I might need to order some and relive my childhood

French knitting - using a wooden cotton reel with 4 nails bashed into it. Probably used twice as much wool as regular knitting and you only got a narrow tube of finished product.

@LIZS

Rotadraw - template disc with random cut-out lines that if you turned to line it up and drew each slot in order produced a picture. Spirograph which I think had a recent revival French knitting kits

Loved plasticraft (dbro put lost teeth in his! ) and fuzzy felt.

Teeth in plasticraft, that's brilliant

French knitting. How could I have forgotten that? Then sewing it into coils to make...um.... I'm not sure what really.

Was there a plastic square loom thing that you looped wool round to make flowers? Or did I imagine it?

Oh and whilst we are on the 70s, who had a buttoneer? I dreamt of owning one, but the nearest we ever got to a fancy gadget was a K-tel brush

@LIZS

Rotadraw - template disc with random cut-out lines that if you turned to line it up and drew each slot in order produced a picture. Spirograph which I think had a recent revival French knitting kits

Loved plasticraft (dbro put lost teeth in his! ) and fuzzy felt.

French knitting! What was the point of that... I made a really long multi coloured tube of wool and then had literally no idea what to do with it!

There was a putty that you squeezed out of a tube and put over the end of a short, hard straw, and then you blew to inflate it. You would pinch the putty off the tube to seal the bubble, and pinch it into different shapes or stick bubbles together.

We loved it. Probably were stoned on the fumes.

@Dilbertian

There was a putty that you squeezed out of a tube and put over the end of a short, hard straw, and then you blew to inflate it. You would pinch the putty off the tube to seal the bubble, and pinch it into different shapes or stick bubbles together.

We loved it. Probably were stoned on the fumes.

Absolutely loved this stuff.

The plaster of Paris kit where you could make ashtrays with cameos on them.

And Chipaway!

Here's an example of the black velvet and gold thread pictures...

I remember Rotadraw (though not the name). You stuck a drawing pin in the middle. I never had Spirograph, so I bought one for my dc

@Dilbertian

There was a putty that you squeezed out of a tube and put over the end of a short, hard straw, and then you blew to inflate it. You would pinch the putty off the tube to seal the bubble, and pinch it into different shapes or stick bubbles together.

We loved it. Probably were stoned on the fumes.

I had absolutely no memory if this until you described it and now i can remember blowing the stuff. No memory ofnwhatvwe made with it mind.

We did those thread things in school.

It was mathematics 70s style.

God, I loved fuzzy felt.

ShakerMakers! Plaster of Paris and rubber moulds of Disney characters . You painted them afterwards.

I remember Rotadraw. I had the Disney one. Also Spirograph.

I had a Shaker Maker too, but my mum would never buy me more plaster once the original 6 (?) sachets had run out.

I remember some of those.

And there was a thing a bit like macrame but with paper straws - does anyone know the name?

Plastercast - rubber moulds filled with plaster in shape of animals or characters (still have a Paddington model)

Shaker Makers. The promise was greater than the reality!

@Dilbertian

There was a putty that you squeezed out of a tube and put over the end of a short, hard straw, and then you blew to inflate it. You would pinch the putty off the tube to seal the bubble, and pinch it into different shapes or stick bubbles together.

We loved it. Probably were stoned on the fumes.

Yes yes yes! Balloon liquid we imaginatively called it. God, the amount of solvent in it. Only one shop in the whole city sold it, and it was often out of stock. So exciting if you managed to actually get your hands on some.