My favorite thing about this book is how it teaches you some basic principles about making Spirograph designs, then encourages you to improvise. Maybe, as it says, you can create a design that no one else has ever seen.

The writing style is relatively literary, compared to the minimalist writing found today. The booklet walks you through the different things you can do with one ring and one wheel, and takes you to the most difficult designs using two racks.

The older sets had one particular property that got lost sometime in sets made in the 1980s and later. The alignment mark was halfway up one side of the tooth. If you turned a wheel over and drew the same pattern again, it wouldn’t line up exactly. But this could be used to make a denser pattern. This feature is described in the booklet, and some designs are shown that use this technique.

This set also came with some sheets of paper that were divided in squares for drawing your nicest designs. The rings had lines that aligned with the squares, as you can see in the diagrams in the booklet. You could easily use them to make patterns with both rings, aligning them carefully with the squared paper.

Denys Fisher, by the way, was the inventor of Spirograph, and vintage UK sets carried his name. Sets made in the US and Canada did not, nor do the modern sets made by Kahootz Toys.

Thanks Ron, from all of us, for sending these photos and your observations!

Click on an image to see the slideshow of all the pages in the booklet.

The post Vintage Spirograph Booklet from 1968 appeared first on SpiroGraphicArt.

EDIT: Aug. 13: See the bottom of this post for an update!

I (re-)discovered spirograph the 25th of June this year when I bought the starter pack with one ring and six wheels. The set was exactly the price of a pack of cigarettes in the Netherlands. I gave up smoking that day, successfully, and am very much involved in spirograph.

I have meanwhile gathered a collection of spirograph sets with the money I would have otherwise spend on smoking. Amongst them one from 1972 with a swing arm. Regretfully without the instructions, and I am very curious on how to use that piece. I have to admit I can not figure it out myself.

My question would be if you can help me out, or otherwise ask the visitors of spirographicart to clarify the “mystery”.

The mystery piece, labelled “SWING MARKER”

Note that the mystery piece has no teeth!

The only clue I see is on the cover of the box. It says ‘New “swinging action” designs!’ next to an unusual pattern:

Obviously this is a piece that didn’t make it to the next edition of Spirograph. If anyone has a booklet for this set, or can imagine how to use the toothless mystery “swing marker” piece to produce the design above, please let us know in the comments!

Here are the box cover and the rest of the set.

Apparently Spirograph can help you give up smoking! Congratulations, Ron!

EDIT August 13:

After looking at a photo referenced from a comment below, I had a “Eureka” moment about how it works.  You don’t need a swing marker, folks, unless you want reproducible results and recipes to follow.  I’m more of a slap-dash experimenter, myself.

It’s all about drawing a pattern while the ring is attached with only one pin (can’t do this with putty) and swinging between stops you’ve set with other pins. Bizarre, yes.

I’ll make a video when I get a chance (not for a couple of days at least). Meanwhile, I’ll share a picture of my initial experiments:

First try swinging spirograph.

Some totally different designs can be obtained.

Note that I’m using a corkboard here as a working surface to stick the pins in, as I described in one of my very first posts on this blog, before the new Spirograph or Wild Gears came out. I can imagine the pivot pin will wiggle itself out in time, probably more quickly if you’re using a corrugated cardboard backing.

Video coming in a few days. Meanwhile, give it a try!

The post Vintage Spirograph Swing Marker Mystery appeared first on SpiroGraphicArt.