Thursday, October 13, 2016

Dexterity needed to recreate 1951 Wheaties boxes


Many regular readers will have noted that my blog output has been diminished the past several months.  Realistically, I don't look for it to pick up any time soon.


My good friend, mentor and office mate Chet Krause died at the end of June. The office building where he let me maintain a retirement office is in the process of being sold, so I'll be vacating by mid-November, when I return to my Pennsylvania home for the winter.

Much of the past couple of months I was laid low by a nasty bacterial infection of the chest that has been plaguing our little town. Osteoarthritis in both hands, wrists and elbows continues to take a toll on my mobility in those joints. 

To try to test the limits of what seems to have become the new normal in my dexterity, I've spent the past couple of days cutting, folding and pasting replicas of 1951 Wheaties single-serving boxes which featured on their backs one of six star athletes: Ballplayers Stan Musial, Ted Williams and Bob Feller, golfer Sam Snead and John Lujack (football) and George Mikan (basketball).

It takes lots of exacting cuts and folds to recreate
the original format of 1951 Wheaties
single-serving boxes.
For some time I've had images of complete, unfolded boxes of Musial and Williams in my card-creation file. Even today, 65 years after they were made, the 1951 Wheaties singles are not all that scarce, even in complete-box form.

I'm only partially satisfied with my efforts to replicate the boxes. The intricate cuts that would allow the boxes to present a more original appearance are more of a challenge than I had hoped. But even at that, they don't look too bad sitting on a shelf across the room.


3 comments:

  1. Hi Bob,

    Sorry to hear of Chet Krause's passing and your recent health struggles.

    I have been a fan of your blog posts for many years and have greatly enjoyed your custom creations.

    I look forward to reading more even if it is in limited amounts.

    All the best.
    Brett

    ReplyDelete
  2. Are you putting any of these up for sale

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  3. Sorry, the work involved is too taxing for me, so I can't offer these Wheaties boxes.

    ReplyDelete

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