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How to Make Viewmaster Reels

American children born after 1966 are likely to remember the View-Master, a toy stereoscopic viewing device. Round cardboard View-Master reels hold small 3D slides, often pictures of popular TV and cartoon characters. View-Master cameras, most of them manufactured in the1950s, use standard 35mm reel film to create the stereoscopic images. If you&'d like to try your hand at creating your own View-Master reels, look for cameras and cardboard reel mounts for sale through online auctions.

Things You'll Need

  • View-Master
  • View-Master Personal or Mark II camera
  • 35mm slide film
  • View-Master Personal or Mark II film cutter
  • View-Master film inserter
  • Finger cots
  • View-Master Personal Reels
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Instructions

    • 1

      Purchase one of the two View-Master cameras, the Personal or the Mark II, available through online auctions. Clean camera thoroughly and load with regular 35mm color film, available at drug and chain stores.

    • 2

      Shoot images as you would using a regular 35mm camera. Rewind the film and take it to a professional photo store to be processed. Ask them to process the film as unmounted slides in a continuous strip.

    • 3

      Use a View-Master Film Cutter, available through online auctions, to cut your images into small squares that can be inserted into View-Master reels. Remember that the Personal camera and the Mark II have their own specific cutters, and that one will not work for the other. Set aside your images in pairs.

    • 4

      Put on finger cots to keep from smudging your film. Use a View-Master film inserter to open the edges of your View-Master reels, which are now out of production and may have sealed with age. Slide one image into the first square on the reel and its duplicate into the square opposite. Continue inserting duplicate images across from each other until you have filled the circular reel.

    • 5

      Insert the reel into a View-Master and slowly click through the images by pulling the lever on the side. Remove the reel if it does not move smoothly or the images seem out of alignment. Adjust images or gently bend the cardboard part of the reel to straighten.


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