8.8.06

point of view

CRAFT OBJECT OF THE WEEK





Ok so we know that we should have put a polaroid, or even a Super 8 camera or camcorder as our Craft Object of the week, it being film themed and all. Why The Viewmaster? A mass produced item that first came to prominence in the 1950's and reached its zenith in our childhood (1970's) The View Master is not the first - or even the last thing that would spring to mind when your thinking craft - ah yes but the word we want you to focus on is object.
Why?

Because we think this red plastic wonder is one of the most aesthetically pleasing of all objects (we are thoroughly modern millies that worship plastic). We have fond memories of lying on our chenille bedspreads in our wood panelled bedrooms with the op art curtains filtering the hard suburban sun, clicking through images taken from films like The Jungle Book and The Love Bug.

Beck recently found one op shopping that has the delighful reel 'Portraits of Dogs' - nothing is better than a series of studio shots of poodles with bows in their bouffants as seen thru the Viewmaster.


History of the Viewmaster


2 comments:

Florence Forrest said...

I saw a person on Etsy had handmade some of her own view master reels, they looked quite cool. I didn't have a viewmaster and wasn't planning to invest. But since you now have one of your very own you should see if you can track them down :D

Beck said...

Now I didn't remember this when we were doing the entry, but I actually had my first viewmaster experience courtesy of my dad's old dark brown bakelite-ish model, at my nana's when I was about five... it came with very very icy north-pole eskimo images...
and it blew my tiny mind!