Kaleidoscopes

kaleidocomo
Originally uploaded by crafty mathea

I have always been fascinated by those kaleidoscope thingys we had when I was a kid. A cardboard tube some mirrors and a few beads and paper scraps, a quick turn of the tube and the most wonderous stars would emerge.
In the Quilting Arts' series of DVDs there are some segments showing how you can create kaleidoscopes from photos, print them on fabric and use them in quilts or just embellish them with beads and embroidery and create one off fabric tiles or pictures.
When a while later, I found the Kaleidoscope Kreator on sale at Keepsake, I was tempted... and the last couple of days I have been having fun creating all sorts of amazing pictures. This one started out as a photo of a few buildings on an island, and look at the fairytale planet I ended up with! A click on the picture will take you to Flickr for more. I have played with a photo of an Amaryllis and it's amazing to see how many different kaleidos you can get from one photo!
Obviously I will have to play some more to discover which kind of pictures work and which don't, but I have some ideas. Now I'll just have to order some fabric to print them on. This internet shopping thing never stops, does it? ;-)