Making View-Master Scenes

Posted by Miss Cellania in Arts & Crafts on November 9, 2008 at 1:37 am



Anyone who grew up during the heyday of the View-Master probably wondered how they made those 3D scenes. Florence Thomas was one of the artists responsible for the stereoscopic images. She would sculpt Disney characters from clay and set them in dioramas, then take photographs from two angles to get the stereo effect.

Thomas produced her first reels for View-Master in 1946 –a series of Fairy Tales and Mother Goose rhymes that are still in circulation. According to one source, Thomas “developed special methods of close-up stereo photography and modeling which is now in common use by major motion picture studios” (John Waldsmith, Stereo Views, 1991). She created scenes of such detail and attractiveness that you feel you could step inside and look around a corner at a complete world.

Link -Thanks, John Kankley!


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13 comments to "Making View-Master Scenes"

  1. lucky
    November 9th, 2008 at 1:47 am

    omg...thank you for this...i am a collector and lover of viewmaster reels and am planning on doing my bfa thesis project creating viewmaster reels...it is the most amazing art form to me...thanks again

  2. MoniA
    November 9th, 2008 at 10:00 am

    Thanks for posting this. I'm a huge fan of v-m and have been collecting since I was a a child. Of my many hobbies this is my favorite :)

  3. Edward
    November 9th, 2008 at 10:27 am

    @lucky, I look forward to seeing your work posted here in the spring.

  4. Rich
    November 9th, 2008 at 10:44 am

    I wonder if any of those dioramas still exist. How could they ever get tossed? Of course, maybe it's like original art from classic comic strips, and nobody realized what they had.

  5. rageagainsttherobots
    November 9th, 2008 at 12:13 pm

    I would love to see an in depth documentary about the View-Master and its creators.

  6. Heth
    November 9th, 2008 at 2:44 pm

    I still have my original Viewmaster from 1964, plus all the reels. The casing is a little split, but it's still possible to view the reels. Some are factual, like The Roman Forum, Hampton Court and the Hawiian Islands, but most are Disney. I would never get rid of it!

  7. Pudifoot
    November 9th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    The view finders never really wowed me. I guess I am sorta like that kid who could never see the sail boat in that 3-d painting in Clerks.

  8. lucky
    November 9th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    @ edward...i wish it was this coming spring...unfortunately i have until spring 2010...but am planning on learning the techniques next summer and i am super excited...fun part is i am in portland, or, which is the original headquarters of viewmaster

  9. Frau
    November 9th, 2008 at 3:33 pm

    Fantastic. I still have my VM, and discs. I always tried to image what was outside of the frames.

  10. J[Mack]
    November 9th, 2008 at 6:12 pm

    If I'm not mistaken, that is a scene from The Sword in the Stone!!

    Loved one!!

  11. Peeves
    November 10th, 2008 at 12:04 am

    'clunk clunk'
    i remember escaping into my viewmaster and the forest scene from snow white..and i remember how quiet it felt.

  12. Jaxx
    November 10th, 2008 at 11:54 am

    I recently became the proud owner of an early 1900's version of the viewmaster with a box of 3d pictures from Germany circa 1898 to 1908. It a real head-trip to see that area pre-war in 3d.

  13. MENLOHEAVYWEIGHT
    November 10th, 2008 at 12:47 pm

    thanks for killing the magic


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