I was always fascinated by kaleidoscopes as a child, those cardboard tubes containing three reflective surfaces, a peep hole on one end, and a rotating segment on the other end, which encases bits of multi-coloured glass. Friends of mine have a fancy metal one that I usually play with when I visit. I’m entranced by the different designs that are made by a slight movement of the glass bits. I could sit there for hours, always wishing I could save my favourite abstract “scenes”. Wikipedia tells me that kaleidoscope means “observation of beautiful forms”. That explains it all–I’m a sucker for anything colourful and beautiful!
A few years ago, I came across a program called Dazzling Reflections which allows a photographer to use her own photos as the colour bits, AND you can save every little change you make forever! By the way, this company has excellent, personal customer service.
I don’t know for sure what appealed to me so much about the base image I used–the colours certainly aren’t as bright as in a traditional kaleidoscope! But I loved almost every “kallie” I made with it, focusing on the snowflake templates because I thought I’d make Christmas tree ornaments with them. I saved more than 50 kaleidoscopes made with the first image below. Here are some of my favourite snowflakes.
One Comment
That is so cool! I think these would make beautiful ornaments!