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?

@MsAwesomeDragon

There was a 70s craft publication called "Golden Hands" where I think she got all of her ideas. We had these books. All gazillion copies proudly displayed in large plastic binders. They may still be in my parents attic. (I am coming to realise that my parents may be eccentric craft hoarders)

I volunteer in a charity shop and we get them donated from time to time. I always flick through them for a wallow in nostalgia.

@Throughhistory

There was also a box containing three hollow glass swans, and you made differently coloured water by soaking dyed tissue paper in water and then filling the swans up with the coloured water. (who needs an X-Box, eh?)

Oh my god, I remember them now. Can't remember if I had one or my best friend did.

Just found another kit 'things to make', needless to say it made a raft of completely pointless items

OMG I HAD THAT EXACT KIT! Haven’t thought about it for 40 years than BANG! Instant memories.

Also loved the plastic bubble stuff. I remember it being quite niche, no one I knew had it. Can’t believe how many people on this thread were fans.

I know random It seemed perfectly normal at the time 🤷

People often didn't have carpets, did they, until they saved up? New builds didn't come with them; people sold their houses on and took their carpets with them. They weren't leaving behind lovely sanded down floorboards a la 1990s Home Front, it was just rubbish builders' rubber tiles or even concrete underneath.

I don't know anyone who basically crocheted their own carpet though .

Remember many of these but will add paper flowers and a bead loom.
However, also had a loom of my mum's from the 50's where we made little strips of "cloth" that had no use at all.

I hate to tell you dear children but many of those I had in the early 60's & a little bit earlier (plaster of paris french knitting bobbin felt craft & those weaving frames)

Have typed this 3 times now but the app kept crashing so have gone to web version, such is my desire to share this with you.

Did anyone else get an Uncle Remus mosaic coaster kit for their 7th birthday?

I also had the Things To Make kit and still have the photo frame somewhere, with a pic of my cat in it. Cat's been dead 36 years! Had the purse for years until it finally degraded, cracked and splintered apart, and the raffia twine rotted.

I had some kind of plaster moulding kit too, but it wasn't a great success and came out in 2 pieces. My mum glued it together so I painted it with the poster paints in the kit, but it looked crap. Didn't realise you had to varnish it to make it glossy like the one on the box.

Nice work.
Wish my mum hadn't chucked my pot now.

I remember making crepe paper flowers at girls brigade () and carefully winding thin strips of green crepe paper round the wire stems. It all went swimmingly until the glue on your fingers used to dissolve the dye out of the crepe paper.

@NeedToKnow101

I remember loads of these. Also DoodleArt poster that came with felt tip pens. I had psychedelic disco one.

I've scrolled all the way back to find Doodle Art. Never finished it though (the big posters). I think I was born addicted to crafts, endless progression of art, sewing, knitting, modelling kits every birthday and Christmas.

I do miss the Spirograph. And the Dryad weaving loom. Its true you had to find things to fill the time!

[quote Starbonnet123]@Dilbertian you can still buy the bubble stuff , hobbycraft sells it on those stands near the tills that have video screens on them telling you how amazing their products are . [/quote]
I remember buying some in Harrods in about 1990. Highlight of a trip to London!

@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’d completely forgotten about that stuff - loved it!

Here's a few pics
vintageunscripted.com/2017/06/04/do-you-remember-these-craft-kits-for-kids-from-the-1970s/

Also raffia kits - I was never too sure what to do with it though and it would always end up in a tangled mess.

And quilling. Also tangled mess.

I think I did pretty much everything on this thread except the plasticraft. I loved those balloon things so much!

My biggest craft craze was Fimo in the 80s though. I spent all my pocket money and birthday money on it and had an insane number of colours. My parents have still got little models I made sitting in odd corners of their house...

Does anyone remember having something where there was a large picture marked out and you peeled back bits of paper to reveal a sticky surface underneath. You then wound wool over the sticky bit, then moved on to the next section with another colour and so on, till voilà, you had a lovely picture made up of wool.

@HarrietSchulenberg

Have typed this 3 times now but the app kept crashing so have gone to web version, such is my desire to share this with you.

Did anyone else get an Uncle Remus mosaic coaster kit for their 7th birthday?

I don't know about the make, but my mum still uses some that I made as plant pot coasters!

Yes! French knitting. Has there ever been a reason to do that? Anyone French care to explain?

I actually did some quite recently. I had to make a cord handle for a bag that I crocheted and found the instructions for doing it by crochet incredibly fiddly. So I bought a french knitting bobbin off Amazon and it did the job brilliantly. Quite brought back my childhood, that did.

OMG Altair books! I've searched for ages for something like them - all the modern ones are either far too restricting or the lines are far too heavy and black.

Ordered two! Might even distract me from MN

I think I still have a four leaf clover in plasticraft in a drawer...

@Shangrilalala

Bobbin - I tried to find Binca years ago when DD had a (fleeting) interest in needle craft. I failed. In retrospect, I am totally useless at sewing and might not have searched too hard... Maybe it could be my lockdown craft. It’s about as creative as I could get!

Binca is called Aida now- JL have it!

I had the Things to Make set too...but I think it may have been in the early 80s rather than 70s. (1981?)

The scraperfoil things are called Etch Art now- my DD loves them!

:31doodlejump1980

We used to get stained glass kits with tiny glass beads that you melted in the oven (very smelly) in wee metal frames.
There’s a company in America now called “makit and bakit” who do similar, but I’d love to find similar kits that are more grown-up in their designs. Maybe there’s a market there?

Oh my god, we had this. I haven't thought of it in 30 years. I remember completing my suncatcher and think how sophisticated I was!

@RaspberryCoulis

I can't believe no-one's mentioned the seed, bean and pasta pictures. We had one in our house which my mum made, so did both grannies... she must have made them for gifts. And we had one of the string pictures too.

And macrame plant holders to hang from the window, containing spider plants of course.

There was a 70s craft publication called "Golden Hands" where I think she got all of her ideas.

I had a knitting nancy, no idea what you're supposed to do with long tubes. Easy, and utterly pointless. Also remember spirograph, and we used art straws at school. And YES to the Altair colouring in, I loved those.

Macrame plant holders are back in now! My DD wants to make some!

It really was a labour of love, as it took approximately 2 years of their free time to make the whole carpet

^

This is absolute gold!