This is what I've been working on... a kaleidoscope and teleidoscope.

Chuck Ellis

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Tellico Plains, Tennessee
I have an art show coming up with my local art guild in May and needed to get some pieces ready to show... thought I might show some different things this year... I watch a YouTube video by Gord Rock on making a kaleidoscope and this is what I came up with... It's about 8 1/2 inches overall length, with the barrel being 2" diameter and the revolving chamber just under 3" diameter... I did pretty good with all the turning, except I think my wood has swell slightly or else I got a drop of glue in the wrong place. The chamber turns, but will bind at one point, and I think I got too many crystals in the chamber... not as happy with the patterns... but it does work. The wood is Red Canary - a South American wood and the stand base is Lourdes Canales with Ceylon Satinwood for the up rights. This is a dry chamber... haven't tried one with oil in it yet.
This is actually the second one I've made... the first was just a practice piece and is from Elm wood and I haven't finished it.

I did learn one thing, I suck at cutting glass. I got three strips that works, but future I will buy mirror already cut and ready to use.
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This is my version of the Teleidoscope. This one also started out to be a Kaleidoscope, but saw that the marble lens would fit in the barrel perfectly with just a little tweaking... then I cut the keeper ring from a block of walnut and fitted it over the end...
I had to cut three new strips of my front face mirror for this, managed to drop one and naturally it broke -- guess you know what that means?? -- I had read about using just two mirrors and a strip of black glass -- no black glass, so I painted a thin strip of wood and used that... worked well, except I'm slightly off center at the eye piece and you can see the strip of wood... oh well, first try and it does work. This one is 8 inches overall and 2 inches diameter... the walnut keeper is just about 3" diameter. The barrel is Sassafrass wood and the stand is the same as the one above.
Both are finished with a coat of Sanding Sealer then 3 or 4 coats of wipe on poly.

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Yes, those are very cool. I started two of them early last year, got some of the easy stuff done, put the pieces in a box and walked away. Makes me feel real guilty, especially since my wife wants one real bad. Just haven't been in the mood.

Maybe yours will inspire me to get at it again.
 
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That marble Teleidoscope is a cool idea! I've never seen that before either. Personally I think the slightly flawed marble adds to the charm and gives the image a neat feel.

Interesting stuff Chuck!
 
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