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?

Yes obtaining black paper or card was a Big Thing!

Sort of a craft kit, if construction counts - my Bayko set. I had it for Christmas, around 1952.

Little plastic bricks you slid down wires you had implanted into a base board and made very 30’s style villas and stations.

I loved it.

We nearly had a LTB situation very recently when I accused DH of throwing it away. I insisted I knew exactly where it should be, on a shelf at the end of the cellar.

DH denied this act of vandalism and very smugly showed it to me in a cupboard in the attic.

I just googled Bayko to check the spelling - the sets are worth ££££ now. So pleased mine didn’t go to the top.

Not a 'bought' craft set; but when I was 8-10, I attended 'girls club'; this was run by the vicar's wife in the Victorian vicarage. Afterwards, those of us in the church choir traipsed up the deep, dark track up the hill to the church to do choir practice! 😂

But I recall two things; raffia work, where she'd bought in wire formers for lampshades, which we diligently wound plastic raffia around, each week, then your mum paid for the materials, so it ended up in your bedroom; and corn dollies! We made loads, largely out of waxed paper straws.

I do wonder about the pagan fertility symbolism of corn dollies, taught by the vicar's wife! 😂

I had Shaker Maker, I remember that the models came out jelly-like and gradually dried. I also had a candle making kit, which involved several saucepans, was very messy and I soon got fed up with it.

I loved macrame, I learned it at school - in art lessons I think. As well as many plant hangers I recall making an owl wall hanging.

Not really a craft, but I loved a fashion stencil set that I had - you drew the outline of the fashion model using the stencil (different poses/hair etc to choose from). Then you could draw your fabulous fashion designs into the outline. Perfect for me as I couldn’t draw to save my life.

TrickyD, the Bayko set (I'd forgotten that was what it was called!) was my favourite thing at my grandparent's house.

Pointy wires possibly wouldnt cut it as a child's toy these days, but it's left me with an abiding love of red brick and bottle green paintwork 30s architecture.

Has a tone mentioned the Hilda wood kits you used to get? You had to press out all the pieces then they all slotted together to make 3D models. I had loads, animals, dinosaurs etc

Sorry that should say bolsa wood

I also had a candle making set but you had to mould the wax in your hands. That was a chore.

I also had sewing kits and pom pom pee wees I think they were called.

Loving this thread....

I had the ;Things to make kit, and I remember being so happy that the purse in my kit was yellow, and not green like on the box. My Mum still has the little yellow purse I made. My Dad used the comb holder i made for years.

I remember really liking plaster casters. The fund was in making them though, as the painting of them was always awful.

I also had Flowerific. I used to make all sorts of flamboyant flowers with it, and then attach them to hair slides to wear on trips to town.

I had always loved Fashion Wheel. Found it on Amazon a few years ago, and was so excited to get it for D. It hasn't aged well. I'd forgotten how low def the patterns were, and the styles of the skirts and hair dos were so old fashioned, they had DD wondering what all the fuss was about.

I loved Clear Casters, but I think I only got to use it once. I remember the 2 chemicals that were needed to make the resin were so strong, and had tons of warnings on them, that my Dad kept them on a really high up shelf in the garage, for fear I'd try making it on my own!

@LApprentiSorcier

I had a Scraperfoil kit in copper - I remember painstakingly doing a tiger, which I then gave to my grandparents - they framed it and it stayed on their living room wall for the rest of their lives.

Not a kit, but I used to love making peg dolls - I got my mum to buy a batch of old-fashioned wooden clothes pegs for the purpose. I had a book called 'The Kings and Queens of England' and I tried to make peg dolls of all the queens using whatever scraps of fabric (usually polyester or crimplene in garish colours) that I could lay my hands on. Lack of appropriate fabric meant some were more convincing than others!

I did the same copper tiger kit and I still have it somewhere!

This thread is really taking me back, it’s reminded me of things I had that I’d totally forgotten about. The ‘things to make’ kit, transfers, puffy fabric pens, the Altair geometric colouring books, candle making set, dangerous chemistry set, art straws, my grey typewriter, dryad kits - I liked the decoupage ones. Wonderful memories!

OP, I had this kit too - I LOVED it so much.....



@BerniesMittens

This thread has brought back so many memories!

I had this book. Everyone got knitted egg cosies for Christmas! I knitted my dad a tie which he refused to wear. Can't think why!

I found that knitting book in a charity shop recently and picked it up! I made the pencil case but I wanted to be the serene girl in a headband.

spiralshell Lovely to hear you still have your tiger! Mine might be around somewhere - I know my dad kept almost everything from my grandparents' house after they passed away.

Shellcraft: sticking shells on a jam jar to make a lovely vase , or setting them in clay with googly eyes to make various creatures. Always coat in lashings of what must have been a highly toxic shiny clear varnish.

Also similar with stones: paint a bright colour all over, add eyes & varnish. Voila, rock pets! A very basic predecessor of pebble painting.

I got my DSs some transfer kits from ebay. They liked them but very much one time only. No competition to screen-based entertainment unfortunately.

Looks as though I'm the only one who remembers Colormaid!

I'm quite tempted to get the DAS out today and have a go with it. Will report back if I do.....

I had this kit, which was a tiny doll jammed into a styrofoam skirt, onto which you jammed a bajillion sequins held in place by a bead skewered by a pin. I quickly became very bored stabbing tiny beads and picking up sequins, so that went all over the floor and was conveniently “lost” by my mother.
Then the biggest disappointment of all... Sea Monkeys! They had been gracing the backs of comic books for years, and we had all been imagining colonies of cartoon-like families as promised, but when they finally landed in Australia’s toy stores, and we bought the tacky, placky paraphernalia, what did we get? Bloody sea fleas??? Sheeeeeeit! We could have got them for free ourselves at the beach!
Playdough and Fimo were great though!

Sea Monkeys have been rebranded as Aqua Dragons. Slightly lower expectations raised, still not met.

Love this thread. Remember so many things! Not a craft as such, but does anyone remember the Japanese paper flowers? They were little coils of tissue paper that came in an envelope. You put them in water and over time they unfurled into lovely flowers. I had a look for some online a while ago but couldn’t find any.

I had those dolls, too, Justilou. They were one of the few 'project' toys I ever completed!

@TrickyD

Sort of a craft kit, if construction counts - my Bayko set. I had it for Christmas, around 1952.

Little plastic bricks you slid down wires you had implanted into a base board and made very 30’s style villas and stations.

I loved it.

We nearly had a LTB situation very recently when I accused DH of throwing it away. I insisted I knew exactly where it should be, on a shelf at the end of the cellar.

DH denied this act of vandalism and very smugly showed it to me in a cupboard in the attic.

I just googled Bayko to check the spelling - the sets are worth ££££ now. So pleased mine didn’t go to the top.

Yes! My grandmother had a set of this that she kept for me and my brother to play with when we visited (70s kids) - it was all packed into a wooden suitcase so I don't know if it was pre-war or perhaps they re-boxed it. I got so annoyed with it as the metal wires were sometimes (mostly) bent so I couldn't finish my buildings. Even then it seemed very old and a precious kind of toy to me, but it was definitely a love-hate relationship. I had forgotten all about it until your post!

Also remember the Uncle Remus kits thanks to this thread, and I did the whole rug making, quilling, poisonous chemical balloon making, Fimo, spirograph (though that was my brother's, I could never get it to sit still so mine were a mess) - wonderful times back then, it was always presented as "hey, here's a new craft, and anyone can do it without previous experience"!

Look what just arrived!

@Coniferhedge

Love this thread. Remember so many things! Not a craft as such, but does anyone remember the Japanese paper flowers? They were little coils of tissue paper that came in an envelope. You put them in water and over time they unfurled into lovely flowers. I had a look for some online a while ago but couldn’t find any.

Yes I used to get them with my pocket money on a Saturday sometimes.

My mum let us play with her old Bayko and Meccano. It must have dated from the late 1940s or early 1950s. It was all still in good condition back then (70s). I loved building a detached house with a bay window - it seemed so much more realistic than anything you could make with Lego in those days.

@Dilbertian

Look what just arrived!

Ooh! You must let us know if they're as good as the originals!

Not a kit, but my grandma made me a frog filled with rice! All my friends loved it so she made one for everyone. Should anyone want a rice filled frog, I still have the pattern