Customer Reviews

Spiral Draw Book with Other

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I got interested in drawing spiral images like the old-time Spirograph, and began looking for a set to do it with. It was quite a struggle! I have not tried the deluxe or any models of the Spirograph, but the reviews of the current ones made me very uncertain.

The reviews of this product contained some uncertainties, too, but I read carefully, and decided to try it. Wow! Am I glad I did get one! It is awesome!

I think the problem some people are having is that they are not using it on a completely flat surface. And you have to hold the frame down firmly, not let it slip when you are partway around. You also have to set the circle and the frame in the right order, and right sides up.

The instructions for how to do this are in the book, short, simple, and clear. The only confusion I can see is that if you did the suggested drawings in the book without removing the plastic container on the front that holds the tools, at least half of the time you would not be drawing on a flat surface.

You also need specific ink pens like the ones that come with the set, in order to do the swirling patterns through the wheels. No felt-tip pens. The gel ink pens that come with it are great! And I found some gel ink ballpoints at Hobby Lobby that work well, too.

I bought a very inexpensive spiral draw set and found out from it two more GREAT things about this set. First, you can see through the drawing wheels. The cheap set I bought has solid wheels, and you can't see a thing. That means you don't even know where you are in the pattern.

Second, this set has various shapes included in the wheels, not just dots. That vastly increases the number and quality of the results.

If you have interest in a spiral drawing set, this one is wonderful!

This is a fun little book that kept me entertained at work while waiting for phone calls. I must have used every piece of scrap paper in a five-desk radius! It could be tricky to use, sometimes, since the pressure must be just right and the angle you're drawing at correct. But that was onle 1% of the doodles, and usualyl I wasn't paying attention. Otherwise I posted them to my walls and left htem on other people's desks.

I wish normal Spirographs had different shapes like this one does. Of if this one came with different wheels and Spirograph-styled holes. Ah, well, it's an imperfect world, but it's a perfect toy!

I bought this for my children hoping to share with them the magic I had with my spirograph as a child. I am very sad that it turned out to be a huge waste of time and money. It is so poorly designed that my children (ages 6 and 7) just can't use it. I was sure they just needed to get the hang of it so I spent about an hour one night doing it by myself and I got about 5 designs out of it before I gave up. To make it work you have to put a lot of pressure on the entire frame to keep it from moving and even then the disk kept slipping out from under it and messing up the design. Not to mention the fact that the constant pressure was hard for me to keep up so I don't know how a child is supposed to do it. I guess I will just have to find a real spirograph set from the 70's.

I am almost 10. I got this for Christmas and absolutely loved it because you can make so many designs that look really cool. Also the book is nice because... 1) you can actually draw in it; 2) it gives you some helpful tips and tricks; and 3) has ideas for many different decorative designs using different kinds of pens and layering the designs, such as stationery, cards, wrapping paper, scratch designs, what to do with "mistakes," and coffee filter water color designs. The only downside is that it can be hard to hold the frame down while you are drawing. We might get a cork square and use push pins to help hold it in place more easily. It comes with 3 gel pens, but wanted to get some more colorful gel pens for prettier designs. I also made a design dictionary, making one of each design on the 4 disks that are included, so I know what each shape looks like.
My 5 1/2 year old cousin also got one of these and liked it. It was hard for her to hold the frame and draw the designs. She got better with practice and liked the designs that she made.

Like most other reviewers, I have fond memories of hours and hours of doodling fun with my spirograph. I also remember being frustrated by slipping mechanisms and ruining my work. This system really works much better. I have five girls ages 5-13 who all got good results (the younger ones not so perfect yet)pretty quickly (same day). Even my younger ones' mistakes are pretty. They've made things that look like spiral seashells.

The very best parts to me? The larger holes allow the drawer to use anything from sharp pencils up to blunt markers (unlike the tiny holes of the original which only allowed sharp pencils or ball point pens), so you can make beautiful brightly colored designs. Also great is how the frame has slightly rubbered feet to avoid slippage and little holes to mark with pencil where you placed the frame so that if you lift it to change gears you can easily place it back again and not be off center. It's nice thick plastic, so there isn't the slipping under the frame (unless you're not working on a hard flat surface) that seems to be the common complaint with other systems. If you're not able to get it to work, it may be because you're using the exact same drawing motion as with the original spirograph. This system uses a little scrubbing motion (like you're brushing your teeth). Then it works flawlessly (for us).

The one thing I was a little sad to see is that there is only one frame, so you can only make circular designs (no ovals or popsicle sticks or stars -- though I remember as a kid not being able to get those to work very successfully) and there is a pretty limited largest diameter, maybe 4". But that hasn't stopped my girls from spiradoodling away! Has great possibility for drawing designs on CDs with permanent markers!! Also, as with most Klutz products, the book only has maybe two or three relevant pages on how to use the product and plan projects. After that it's just a bunch of pages that you're supposed to draw on (they give you, say, a bottom border of grass and tell you to draw a garden of spirograph flowers). Complete filler. But the actual system is worth the money.

My biggest suggestion? If giving this as a gift (or even just getting it for home), give with a ream of blank paper and some blank cards w/envelopes. Or don't and hide all your printer paper!!!

I used to have a spirograph when I was younger, so I was so excited to get this spiral draw book for my 5 1/2 year old daughter. She loves it! Uses it all the time. The first day, it took some getting used to figuring out how to get the round shape to move around, but now she's a pro at it. The only thing I wish is that there was better storage for the parts. You can put them all back in the plastic cover, but you have to put them in so precisely (and often, I'm the one who has to clean it up rather than my daughter).
It comes with three tiny pens, but you can use any pen and it will still work.

What is a Spirograph?

A Spirograph is a curve formed by rolling a circle inside or outside of another circle. The pen is placed at any point on the rolling circle. If the radius of fixed circle is R, the radius of moving circle is r, and the offset of the pen point in the moving circle is O, then the equation of the resulting curve is defined by:

x = (R+r)*cos(t) - (r+O)*cos(((R+r)/r)*t)
y = (R+r)*sin(t) - (r+O)*sin(((R+r)/r)*t)

For examples of spirographs and how they are affected by R, r, and O check out the website: wordsmith.org/~anu/java/spirograph.html. Using the Java applet at the site, you can vary your spirographs by changing R, r, and O.

"The Spiral Draw Book" is accompanied by a fixed circle template called a 'frame,' and four moving circle templates called 'wheels' that have many offset points (holes within the wheel), so you can draw many different sizes of spirographs. The frame and the wheels are made of sturdy, translucent plastic in shades of blue, green, purple, and yellow. Three stubby gel pens are also included that supposedly change color as you draw.

The book itself is spiral-bound with heavy-duty glossy pages on which the artist is encourage to complete printed drawings with spirographs. For instance, there's a flower pot with stems and leaves that can be finished by drawing spirograph flowers.

Directions for use are clear and well-illustrated. The only tricky part (for me) was applying enough pressure to the frame so that it stayed in one place, but not so much pressure that the wheel stopped moving.

This book also contains intstructions for making stationery, jewelry, bead curtains, and soak art.

I purchased this for my 6 year-old's birthday. It comes with a frame, four discs with a huge selection of shapes, three gel pens and a terrific book filled with ideas.

It took a little practice to get the rhythm of the disc moving through the shell but the cool thing is that even the mistakes look fun. Klutz does a lot in the book to encourage kids to use their imagination to add to their drawings (mistakes and all) to come up with something else. This is a little different than the old spirograph kits because the wheels on those were smaller and moved through the outer wheel in big circles. This moves one gear tooth at a time.

There are tons of pages of ideas to draw in the book and the frame can lock into the spiral binding to hold it tight. Otherwise, you need to hold the frame fairly securely. The book has some pages preprinted with an object (ie a clown) for you to incorporate your spiral art. Other pages are blank but give idea prompts.

The spiral equipment works on other paper as well. It helps to have a softer surface (like a few pages together) or on top of a magazine. It seems that drawing on one sheet on a hard surface allows the pens to jump around a little more.

We have both had fun with this overlapping different styles and laughing at our mistakes.

There are ideas for putting the spiral designs on other things, like envelopes and cards.

A little practice and you'll enjoy this for a long time.

This toy is a winner in the hands of the right person. I wouldn't give it to a four-year-old, or one who is challenged in the manual-dexterity department. It does require patience, and the desire to experiment to find the right touch.

However, for a tween to adult, this is a great toy.

Would you expect anything less from Klutz?

I am a professional artist and I purchased this and several other types of spiral drawing mechanisms, to use in making a series of paintings, I am working on. I did a LOT of research about Spirograph, and it's history, going back to the early twentieth century. I have the original "Hoot-Nanny" as well as original "Spirograph". I also have a custom made spiral drawing set. The "Klutz" set is absolutely the best one I have used. The designs it makes are beautiful and the teeth click together better than any other set. I use pens, pencils, colored pencils, etc. My only request would be for a larger size. When I make a large piece I have to wing it with free hand spiral drawings. My work can be viewed at stephaniegreenart.com