This year as I was unpacking my Christmas decorations, I ran across some Makit & Bakit “Stained Glass” suncatchers I’d made when I was in elementary or middle school.
I was a child of the 80’s, my friends. And I was lucky to have a grandmother and mom who indulged my crafty inclinations with Makit & Bakit stained glass ornaments. Remember these?
You’d place the metal frame on a piece of aluminum foil on a cookie sheet. (If you wanted to be snazzing, you crinkled the foil first to make it look crackled.) Then you sprinkled these little plastic crystals into the different areas.
And you probably learned a few swear words during this part, too. Invariably, I would be just about done and then I’d knock the cookie sheet with my elbow or something, and it would all get mixed up. Then you had to sit with the tweezers and carefully sort it all out again. Oh, how I remember that.
Then you’d place it in the oven- or if you were SUPER swell you had the Makit & Bakit OVEN!!!! YES, THIS EXISTED!!
Sadly, not for me. We used the boring old oven we already had.
But anyway, then they would cool and you could hang them up as sun catchers or ornaments. I remember doing this craft with my maternal grandmother and my mom- and I think at different times both of them had Makit & Bakit suncatchers in the their kitchens.
So…. I got out some fishing line and dutifully put these up in my kitchen for the holiday season. Just for the memories.
Do you have any crafty memories from when you were a child? Feel free to leave a comment below and reminisce with me.
PS-The original company who produced these items, Quincrafts, was purchased in 2004 by Colorbok and they still are making children’s craft kits. Who knew? You can also find vintage sets on Ebay and Etsy.
If you’d like to purchase Makit & Bakit supplies, support CTD and use our affiliate links below.
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condo blues says
My mom STILL has the Makeit Bakeit suncatchers we made when I was little hanging in her kitchen.
Mary Lee Chivetta says
Wow, I still hang the ones I’ve got. Will admit though, I was married when I made the ornaments. It was fun then and would be fun now. I have a lot of hand made ornaments from both myself and my mother all hung every year with fond memories.
Desiree says
Oh my gosh I didn’t know they still made these. I loved making them…those and shrinky Dinks. I’ll definitely getting these when my children are old enough to enjoy them as much as I did.
debb says
I remember these well! So much fun!
Beth says
We may still have some of the crystals in our basement.
Dave says
Question: are the metal frames made out of lead?
Jenny says
Lead is illegal to use in the US.
Jenny says
I can’t imagine so- lead is illegal to use here in the US.
Tom says
Boy you nailed the description of these perfectly. I too did this in the ’80’s with my mother, and have vividly remembered them ever since. I was completely entranced by the crystal clear color as they hung in a window or sometimes in the tree. I had been thinking about them so much recently that I went hunting for, and subsequently found, them on e-bay.
New kits are around but they don’t look nearly as good as what we had as kids. Used frames are still around but generally don’t have the plastic crystals. Fortunately people are selling the crystals separately. I’ve bought a set of 30 so that I can pass this along to my kids this year.