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?

I loved these as a child and So many of these crafts are still about certainly french knitting, shrink art, string art, scraping foil, magic pictures you wet to paint, plaster of Paris etc

TheSockMonster You mean the chemistry sets that let you make real explosions and leave scorch marks on the wallpaper? I had one of those What's the point of them if you can't do that now?

Fantastic thread that has brought back some lovely memories of my childhood that were long forgotten.

I had the paper straws, the black scrape etchings, shaker maker, spirograpgh.. and I'm sure I had lots of others as I loved making things as a kid.

Not for kids, but I remember my mum making a rug. Hooking the coloured wool into a plastic netting base. It was printed with the colour of the wool required. It was brilliant!

Latch hook kits they were called

@BamboozledandBefuddled

TheSockMonster You mean the chemistry sets that let you make real explosions and leave scorch marks on the wallpaper? I had one of those What's the point of them if you can't do that now?

Yes! The chemistry sets that undoubtedly inspired a whole generation of pyromaniacs to become high school chemistry teachers

I wasn't about in the 70s and am too young to remember the 80s. But I definitely remember most of these crafts - particularly the dipped flowers, french knitting, art straws, scratch art, sand in a bottle and sticking sequins into polystyrene models. Incidentally if you want to find random craft projects from the past I recommend looking around Tiger.

@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.

You can still buy these

Marvin's Magic MM TS 20 Plastic-4 Tube Pack, Multi https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LXRJJQK/ref=cmswwrcppapifabcc8Y6GKVMEY1ZESDS2JQ1J?encoding=UTF8&psc=1

@YesILikeItToo

On cardboard kits to make houses, we did a series of little ones, not one big one. I can’t really remember the finished houses, but the printed windows on plastic that you cut out glued behind the walls seem to have stayed with me. My dad and I made one every weekend ...

... But only after we had exhausted the entire range of a much better kit which I truly loved, where you got a small cylinder of wood with a slanted top and a selection of shaped felt, and you dressed the wooden shape up as a Viking, an owl, a minister, a Roman, a walrus, or whatever.

I loved those wooden cylinder kits too! Then they got changed so the cylinder was flat cardboard you had to roll into shape & the felt was replaced with a weird synthetic foamy fabric - completely ruined.

I had a soap-making kit, made bright blue or pink soap roses but the colour stained when you washed with it!

@LunaNorth

I had a Japanese garden set, that you just sprinkled with water. The whole thing sprouted some weird powdery substance to create a lovely cherry blossom tree, grass, flowers, etc.

Sadly the joy was short-lived as my mother accidentally sucked all the powdery stuff up the hoover.

I imagine it was for the best, it was probably asbestos or something.

This is ringing so many bells!

@DisappointedOfNorfolk - ah,but would they smell the same?

@Arobase I stand corrected! Pinterest is full of French Knitting projects!

I have a stash of mini kits from Hobbycraft for my kids -shrinkies, stained glass art, cross stitch kits and.... I give you.... Cyanotype paper! I had it when I was little and it was such a disappointment but clearly part of me has not learned.

www.bakerross.co.uk/sun-print-paper-kits?&gclid=CjwKCAiApNSABhAlEiwANuR9YMnxQBOlTdTlk7yXKNQZ-k_TiIvylZoE2QuKZLZRPeqsbt9Vs9Oo5BoCOCMQAvD_BwE

This was my absolute favourite toy in the 1970’s

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel

Anyone remember magic puzzle books where you had a special pen to reveal the answer?

I loved them so much. So exciting seeing the picture revealed! Also loved those magic pens that changed into another colour when you went over them with the white one.

@Sunnydayhere

My Dad had a diy shoes kit.

You got preshaped and punched leather bits, thread, soles and glue.

They looked a bit like those Clark’s cornish pasty shoes of the 70s/80s.

I don’t think they were a great success as I can’t remember him wearing them.

Lucky he didn't make you wear them 😂😂

I think I got this idea from Little House on the Prairie or something. It was a doll made from a large handkerchief knotted into bits. I made my own and pretended I was in the olden days. Maybe a bit niche.

I also had a Paddington annual and made a cardboard suitcase with a secret compartment for hiding marmalade sandwiches in, (instructions in the annual) I was quite proud of that. I got my mum to make marmalade sandwiches for a school event. She did, but I remember no-one ate them 😂😂.

My DF used to buy me a kit of some description each Christmas and I loved them all! I had Fuzzy felts (all the different ones), Paddington Bear plaster maker, paint by numbers (even though I can paint well), a thing with pins and sequins to make a picture, a sewing machine, decorations kits, crochet hooks. All so interesting and as an adult it demonstrates how well he knew me

Amazing that you remember those kits @Borka, what a shame about the rubbish changes - my dad must have shielded me from those by moving us on to the little houses. I mean who wants to roll their own ‘cylinder with a slanted top?’

@clairethewitch70 I adored those fashion plates! Spend hours on them. Then my friends little sister got an updated version which was round and spiny

Shrinky dinks.

@clairethewitch70

This was my absolute favourite toy in the 1970’s

Dd had Fabulous Fashions by klutz. Very similar. She absolutely loved them.

My mum was very crafty in the 1970s. She even had a stall at a couple of events (I remember a traction engine rally).

We had a full set of the Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Crafts. I think the original Golden Hands (in red binders) covered mostly fabric/textiles - so knitting, sewing, crochet etc.

The Crafts version (in white binders) covered many other crafts - leatherwork, basketweaving, pottery etc.

I have such fond memories that I bought a full set of the Crafts magazine from a charity shop a few years ago (a mere £5!) as the family ones disappeared years ago (loaned out and never returned).

Some of the crafts I remember most - nail and thread pictures (called pin art in the magazine), as mentioned already. My sister and I got a massive one each for Christmas one year - mine was a clown and hers was a ballerina. My mum and dad had to do them on Christmas Eve so we wouldn't find them, late at night after working in my grandad's pub - yet they still turned out amazingly well!

God's eyes - the 1970s version of the dream catcher. I remember making small ones of these for the christmas tree, using glittery thread and toothpicks for the cross pieces.

Tissue paper flowers - we had lots of these around the house and I remember they were very popular with customers. Having found the picture again I'm quite tempted to have a crack at them myself!

What I really wanted though, was a hilltop town floor lamp, using a spacehopper as a base - I wish they'd have a go at this on the Pottery Throwdown!

The spacehopper floor lamp - I would still love one of these!

Omg Mexican Godseyes! I remember doing those at a playscheme. It was all very hippie.