I had this and a Spirograph and A Stretch a Sketch and my art training was complete!
This was a brilliant way to help you start drawing more complex pictures, you could get a small drawing of something and make it larger (or stretch the drawing), by using the tool in the box! It was excellent, it really was. It was almost magical.
It was like tracing in some ways, but not, because you were using a mechanism on the Stretch and Sketch board to enlarge or warp all the movements you were making.
It was almost like the 1980’s version of photoshop, because you could take an image or picture, and change the way it looked, and make the image come out all elongated or fatter, make someone look like they had a huge chin etc. I remember drawing a picture of my Dad from an old photo of him and it looked hilarious!
The toy can in a similar box to a Spirograph, and had an area where you could draw. It was also great because you never ran out of materials, all you needed was paper and a pen.
Stretch a Sketch was made by Bandai Toys in 1986, and I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of them around, I thought every household had one because when I was younger we had one, as did my best friend. But no-one I have met since has even heard of Stretch and Sketch!
Do You Remember Stretch A Sketch?
Do You Remember Stretch A Sketch?