Action Transfers — Sarah Kay, Holly Hobbie, Kate Greenaway

In the late 70s, Letraset Consumer Products produced some wacky stuff. Here are several of those ranges:

Sarah Kay Pastimes Rub-Down Transfers →
Sarah Kay Oval Domes →
Sarah Kay Playhouse →
Art Miniatures: Sarah Kay, Holly Hobbie, Horses, Birds →
Holly Hobbie Decor-Craft →
Sarah Kay Decor-Craft →
Discover Decoupage / Kate Greenaway Decor-Craft →

Sarah Kay Pastimes Rub-Down Transfers

Thomas Salter 1981 trade catalogue

As you can see, these sets are the "Edizioni Flash" Italian versions, but of course apart from the choice of language, they're identical to the originals.

Fishing

Skiing

The Beach

The Farm

The Garden

The Picnic

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Sarah Kay Oval Domes

Thomas Salter 1981 trade catalogue

Yet another plaster moulding kit, for which the transfers are the top half of Decor-Craft Design Reference Number 27.01.153 — which you can see in detail below in the Sarah Kay Decor-Craft section.

Original photo courtesy of polojules1983

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Sarah Kay Playhouse

Two cardboard cut-out model kits from the 1981 catalogue:

Thomas Salter 1981 trade catalogue

As you can see, the Galactic Star Base is the spitting image of the Sarah Kay Playhouse — & that goes right down to the consecutive serial numbers.

And as it happens, these are the only two cardboard cut-out model kits that we know of from Letraset/Thomas Salter.

L71 & L72 were portmanteau numbers, each covering more than one product. These portmanteau serials became the norm rather than the exception in the last couple of years of Letraset, while Thomas Salter had their own independent serial number system:

L71

L71/1: Walt Disney TV Casting (plaster casting with transfer sheet, as with the Thelwell Pony Plaques)
L71/2: 3-D Double Doodles Intergalactic Action
L71/3: 3-D Double Doodles Intergalactic Action

L72

L72/1: Sarah Kay Playhouse
L72/2: Sarah Kay Playhouse
L72/3: Sarah Kay Playhouse
L72/4: Sarah Kay Playhouse
L72/5: Letraset
L72/6: Letraset Galactic Star Base
L72/7: Letraset Galactic Star Base
L72/8: Letraset Galactic Star Base

You can view the 3-D Double Doodles Intergalactic Action & the Galactic Star Base on their own page.

Original photos courtesy of gingeminxgnasher

The Sarah Kay Playhouse was reprinted with sheets from L90/7 to L90/10.

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Art Miniatures: Sarah Kay, Holly Hobbie, Horses, & Birds

As with the Plaques, TV Casting, Oval Domes & so on, the Art Miniatures are simple plaster casting kits to which you can apply transfers when ready.

The Holly Hobbie Art Miniatures appear in the 1978 catalogue, but not the 1981 — whereas conversely, all the others appear in the 1981, but not the 1978.

Sarah Kay Art Miniatures

Sarah Kay Art Miniature Wall Plaques: L128 Plaster Moulding Kit

Thomas Salter 1981 trade catalogue

Original photos courtesy of dave64reading

Thanks to eBay member dave64reading for sharing his Art Miniature photos.

There was one transfer sheet each for two different sets, with two transfer figures on each sheet; I don't know if your arithmetic is up to this tricky job (at least, I've done my best to make it seem tricky), but that makes four transfer figures in all.

The transfers are re-purposed from artwork printed in the Decor-Craft range, with Design Reference Numbers 27.01.150 & 27.01.151.

The Decor-Craft above (27.01.150) wasn't re-used exactly as it stood; you can see from the photo above it that the version used for the Art Miniatures included the additional serial L128.

Since Decor-Craft were litho printed, changes to the text were as easy as anything, & it seems very likely that reprints rather than re-use were the order of the day for all these sets which used Decor-Craft.

Sarah Kay

However, I'm sure you'll forgive me if we just show you the original Decor-Craft sheets instead of the reprints!

Holly Hobbie Art Miniatures

Letraset 1978 trade catalogue

The Decor-Craft sheets reprinted for these Art Miniatures had the Design Reference Numbers 27.01.133 & 27.01.135; you can find them below in the Hollie Hobby Decor-Craft section.

Art Miniatures: Horses, Birds — & Cameo Casting

The Horses Art Miniatures & the Birds Art Miniatures sets look exactly like the other Art Miniatures sets, & I would be willing to bet that they also employ Decor-Craft transfers; the only thing is that, despite our having most of the Decor-Craft series in the scan archives, we don't seem to have been able to find the ones for this particular job — for now.

Cameo Casting is the same idea as the Art Miniatures, but without transfers: just plaster! — Sacrilege.

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Decor-Craft

The Decor-Craft Girl's Assortment from the 1981 catalogue includes Holly Hobbie, Sarah Kay, Kate Greenaway — & Paddington. They all appear below, apart from Paddington; you'll have to visit the Decor-Craft page to see his!

Thomas Salter 1981 trade catalogue

Holly Hobbie Decor-Craft

Letraset 1978 trade catalogue

Did you know that waste paper bins can be made out of party sized beer cans? — You learn something new every day!

Holly Hobbie

With & without the backing tissue paper:

Holly Hobbie

Someone started to have a go at this Holly Hobbie transfer, but then wisely changed their mind. There's also a typo on it; the Design Reference is given as "27.01.38", when it should be "27.01.138". Easily done!

Holly Hobbie

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Sarah Kay Decor-Craft

Sarah Kay

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Discover Decoupage / Kate Greenaway Decor-Craft

Exactly the same as the plaques, oval domes, art miniatures, etc. You can see that these two sets each employed Decor-Craft transfers; Birds by Robert Gillmor for one set, & Kate Greenaway for the other.