1:12 Scale Victorian Working Kaleidoscopes

[CollieFeathers]

My latest project. Already I have plans on how to make these better. WISH I could let you see the patterns inside them. SO pretty. You can turn the wheel and the patterns change. They have real stained glass chips in them and are sturdy, too.

[WeekendMiniaturist]

Did you take a hammer to the stained glass?  and how do you cut glass that small for the eye piece of the scope?  Amazing!  I have added kaleidescope to the turning list too.

I still haven't tried to cut my tiny broken cell phone glass cover... I don't think the glass is tempered, as it cracked, and if it were tempered I think it would have totally shattered... it is laying on my table next to my lathe, so I don't loose it.

 As I was assembling a life size ink pen for my mother in law this evening, I was wondering if anyone ever made a 1/12th scale working ink pen... perhaps a fountain pen would be easier to make to work...

 

 

 

[CollieFeathers]

Hi WeekendMiniaturist,

My professional hobby used to be stained glass - as in the European style painted stained glass windows for churches. I apprenticed under a Swiss master who lived in New Orleans, LA.

I have lots of stained glass around the workshop and break small pieces of it to very small chips with glass breaking pliers. If you don't want to buy stained glass for this super small amount, you can easily get beer, wine, olive oil, cheap thrift store vases, wine glasses, etc... - any glass bottle or container with color. I find dark brown/amber color glass from beer bottles just taking a walk and it's already in really small pieces I can then break it up still further. The glass gets lighter in color the thinner the piece.

The "glass" for the kaleidoscope lens is acrylic sheet from packaging. A brass ring cut from a tube is sandwiched between two round pieces of acrylic sheet with the glass chips in the middle of the sandwich. The sandwich is held together with 5 min. two part clear epoxy. Have to be very careful NOT to catch the glass in the epoxy.

Realized after milling the oak branch from the back woods that collecting interesting wood is JUST as addicting as collecting beautiful sheets of stained glass - with NO project in mind the collection builds and builds.

The ink pen project sounds very interesting. Since I like 18th century, I'd probably start with a working quill feather/ink jar/blotter set.

Question: I've had requests on Facebook to purchase the kaleidoscopes. I'll be making more of them with better/proper front surface optical mirrors. This will produce a much clearer/better image in the scope. Also will be turning the flat part of the bases. The current scopes are not bad but have a dreamy quality to the image. I don't mind selling the already made scopes at a lower price but have no way to show buyers what the image looks like. How would you do this? - talk a Dr. with an endoscope into taking a couple of pics? Should I just not sell these and wait to sell the new and improved models? Do you sell on Facebook, Etsy, Ebay, or your own website on line?

[WeekendMiniaturist]

Collie Feathers, I am sorry, but I actually missed your post and did not answer your question.   ( I don't know how I missed this!) 

It is my recommendation to always represent your best pieces on line - no matter what market segment you are selling too.  I recommend improving to your satisfaction and then posting. 

I would never sell work that was not my best.   

I do have a personal creative need to create miniatures to my best ability... it is a fault to the core of my mini self; therefore I think it would be very difficult for me to sell my work, and then the time factor may result in getting paid about $2 per hour, so I think this miniaturist needs to continue working full-time to support her mini adventures.