Friday, January 27, 2012

Spirograph

Remember Spirographs?  Man those were fun....but frustrating as hell when you were just learning how to use one.  Just when you'd have the most beautiful creation forming in front of you, your outer wheel would slip just a fraction of an inch and the whole design would be off-kilter.  But they were fun.  I remember getting mine Christmas evening at my Grandma Henderson's house.  I spent the rest of the night on her kitchen floor trying to make the pretty designs they showed on the package.  Relatives just stepped over me for leftover turkey sandwiches, I was too busy to move.  Spirographs came with 4 colored pens, which was a pretty big deal to a kid like me who had, up until then, thought pens only came in black or blue.
According to Wikipedia, Kenner Inc. introduced Spirograph to the American toy market in 1966.  But, drawing toys made with gears have been around since 1908.
These are kinda fuzzy but you get the idea. 
Oh, how I wish I still had my Spirograph.  Such good times, especially when you'd be on your 5th or 6th design and the smell of the ink from the pens would start to make you see things like purple flamingos flying outside your window. (Just kidding Mom and Dad).  Here's a nice, calm and dreamy commercial from the 1970's for Super Spirograph.


I like this one from the 1960's even better!

What a great toy!

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