The Joys of Inspiration

I'm trying to be more creative. That is a challenge for me, so I need tools to help. When I was out shopping the other day, I found a small kaleidoscope. I can understand why children have such fun looking through the eye of this toy. The distortions caused by the lense of this toy gave me a new vision of things I see everyday.

This is Spike's blanket. It has been a great source of inspiration to me. Look at the flower. Wouldn't those colors make a great murrini?

I love the way the artist blended the colors. I was amazed to see colors together that I don't normally use together. All right, I am digressing, but these are interesting ways to
combine different colors.

I thought it might be interesting to take pictures of what I would see through the eye of the lense. Look at this one. I used a flash with the photograph.

















You won't see the aura in the next photos. I didn't use a flash. What kind of a pattern could you make on a bead? Look at the trail of flowers and leaves. This could be a flower with a bumble bee in the center.


















This is the same section of Spike's blanket with no flash. I can see a murrini in the center with dots around it. Use a twistie of similar colors, and you have a new bead!
















Do you know what this is? You're right. It's Spike sleeping--again! Now, look at Spike through the kaleidoscope. What do you see now?















I see a twistie made from red purple and white that is spreading out on a base of black. I see shards in purple red mixed with blue and white. I see a lentil shape. I'd sure like to know what you see and how you'd make a bead from these photos.

There's one last thing. Sometimes, you can see something new by looking a different way.
















Here we are looking into the kaleidoscope from the bottom instead of the top. Here's what I see. I see a base of transparent clear with a twistie made from clear and white encased in opaque cobalr blue. What do you see? I'd sure like to know. Even if you don't melt glass, I'd love to hear how you interpret these images in the medium in which you work.