I love kaleidoscopes

It is one of my favorite "toys"  - and has been since I was a kid. Even now I can spend an embarrassing amount of time just turning one of these tubes and watching all the new patterns emerge. It still seems almost magical and the patterns that form are somehow made more special because of of their fleeting existence. Even if you reverse the turn of the kaleidoscope you don't get the exact same design.



 These are two of my favorite kaleidoscopes at the moment.

The one on the left was acquired at a Tiffany exhibit gift shop several years ago. I especially like the richness of the colors within the beads and other items enclosed in the black end of the tube.







 These are just a few samples of some of the designs I got with a few turns of the black end of the tube.


It really makes me understand the recent fascination with trying to re-create these type of designs in fabric via Kaleidoscope Quilts.







The smaller object on the table above is not actually a true kaleidoscope but is called a Bug Eye and is a toy usually seen for sale at Science or Nature Museums. It is just a small wooden holder for a faceted dome of glass that acts like individual prisms. The difference is that it is completely optical. 

By looking at an object through the Bug Eye you get a multiple fractured image. I have used it in the past to see how a single quilt block would appear if multiples were made and set side by side. Or you can just get a cool look at a petunia on your back deck.