Each Christmas I like to hand craft gifts for family and friends. This year I have made kaleidoscopes for the kids. Not that these wouldn't make great gifts for adults as well. If only I had the time to make that many. Overall these are quite simple to make.
I'm posting some pictures of the process. The pictures should give you a pretty good idea of how to tackle such a project.
Materials I used:
- Cardboard Tube 6" x 1.25"(check office supply store/or shipping store for a strong one of these, paper towel rolls would work but they're not nearly as strong)
- mod podge
- puffy paint
- 1inch mirror pieces (you'll have to do some measures and math to determine the amount needed)
- scrap book paper (anything decorative or you could paint the outside)
- poster board (cut the length of the tub and in strips as wide as
mirror pieces)
- glass circles (you'll have to get creative here unless you're used to
cutting glass as I am and have the tools)
- wooden circles (cut about 1/4" thick, with a small hole drilled into
center, and small enough to slide into tube)
Cover the outside of the cardboard tubes with scrapbook paper and seal with mod podge. You could skip sealing the outside but I think they will last a lot longer if you do.
Seal the wooden circles with mod podge as well.
Adhere wood pieces into one end of the tube with mod podge.
Next get the mirrors ready.
I was not lucky enough to come by long skinny sheets of mirror.
The following is my improvisation in creating this.
First tape the individual pieces with duct tape. Then hot glue them to poster board strips.
Three strips of mirror are slid into a tube to create a triangle shape.
To keep it from rotating put a little glue along the end edges before sliding into place.
Once you have three stips of mirror in place top with a glass circle. I glued a little of scrapbook paper to the backs of the glass to hide the empty space around the mirrors. The clear glass is held in place with a little glue on the triangle plus a few skinny strips of paper just above the glass.
Seal the edges with the puffy paint.
The best views are those using natural light. Let nature wow you through the viewer of your handmade kaleidoscope.
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As a separate project I've created these cute little boxes to store the Kaleidoscopes in.
These could be gifts on their own.
Materials you'll need:
- Wood
- Glue
- Two nails
- Wood burner
- Wood conditioner (I use a beeswax/olive oil mixture)
- Clamps to hold things together while the glue dries
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Hope this brings you inspiration.
"Happy Holidays!"
A-Rae
