#1 Dragon Kaleidoscope
Using the template of the Lost Planet kaleidoscope kit, I cut Spectrum black glass for the tower. Next, I took twenty-one black textured CBS Dichroic pieces and 'pinned' them in place around the base of the tower with the decorative soldering.
I love the textured black Dichroic glasses... I used wonderful textures like Ripple, Fipple, Herringbone Ripple and Fibroid that were in fantastic colors of emeralds, violets, copper, gold, silver, aqua, blue and more!
Lost Planet Kaleidoscope Kit
Lost Planet Kaleidoscope Kit Refill
The lens for the kaleidoscope was a thin clear piece of Dichroic.
Serpent Dragon on top:
The final touch was using Swarovski Madeira Topaz and Hyacinth AB beads.
10/08 Switched marble on top of scope to "Bengal Tiger".
Handmade marble by artist Keith Baker.
Bengal tiger: holleytreasure
Technically this is the third kaleidoscope I have ever made. I had a woman order one a few years ago. One of the habits I've gotten into thru the years is to always make two of whatever is ordered. The customer loves the extra effort and half the time buys both. And, if not, no big deal. It just gives me stock to put on the floor or take to a show.
So, I made two of the scopes...I had never made one before and it was pretty intimidating. Four pages of instructions...
Oooh...I'm not really good with instructions.
That's why in two decades I had never done any. And, I wasn't very comfortable doing these...I did both of them differently as I experimented. One with decorative soldering and one without.
She bought both of them.
My students happened to see the scopes and immediately wanted to take a class for
Kaleidoscopes and Decorative Soldering. It seemed like the perfect vehicle to teach two different aspects of stained glass in one class.
I felt that I should be completely at ease with what I was going to teach the students, so I put them off for awhile while I practiced on the scopes. I figured if I did enough of them that I could just 'do' them...without any thought.
This dragon kaleidoscope was my first attempt at getting comfortable...
Dragons totally rock...
it seemed like the perfect starting point...
'dragonslost'
'oscar765'
