You wouldn’t be able to see any gemstones through them. When it arrived, I was dismayed that its two triangular faces were matte. I wanted to make a full-size kaleidoscope, so the prism had to be a monster size. The main optical component is the glass prism (or three narrow mirrors arranged in the same way). Have you ever heard of a kaleidoscope that had not mere stained glass, but actual gemstones? Neither have I, so I was going to make one.Ĭlockwise from the top, I got the following stones for the kaleidoscope: Well, I’m Russian, so I decided to make a proper kaleidoscope for my sister’s birthday. On the internet I’ve found out that indeed, Russian and Italian kaleidoscopes are among the best. Instead of the silvered glass mirrors (yes, as a kid, I took my toy `scope apart – obviously) there was a folded sheet of sort-of-polished metal, and the pieces of colored glass were painted on one side (with the paint flaking off) instead of being real stained glass. To my surprise and dismay, it turned out to be far inferior to the Soviet toy kaleidoscopes. It is made by Corning, a high end glass manufacturer. Its shape and size are similar to the Russian ones. That thing is really tiny and the stained glass beads are fused to two wheels – meaning the patterns repeat themselves it’s not an infinite set of combinations which could never be repeated that was part of the charm of the `scopes Polina and I had grown up with: To our surprise, they were never as popular in the U.S., although there is now a growing interest among the aficionados.Īfter much searching, Polina was able to get herself this artisan kaleidoscope. Like many kids born in the USSR, my sister Polina and I loved our toy kaleidoscopes we had growing up.
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