Anyway, I said I was going to make my own teleidoscope, and I did... but being the noob I am about these things, I thought I'd improvise (don't do this, people). First let me blabber on about what went wrong:

1. You'd think a city of 800k people would have glass balls, marbles, boulders (whatever you want to call them) but no, at least not by what I know them as. My search in the local craft stores sent me home empty handed. I was shocked. I took a gamble and ordered a few glass balls on eBay. They were either too small in diameter, or too large. I opted for larger (1 5/16"). This was my first mistake. Bored of reading yet? It doesn't end here.

2. Mirrors and tubes. The real way to do this is by using longer mirrors in the tube (this works better with smaller "CLEAR" glass balls, by the way). The idea is to make the mirrors about 2/3 the length of your tube. I read in the Instructable comments something about different mirror types, but it didn't register to me what they were talking about. I just used a store bought glass mirror at the hardware store, thinking it didn't really matter. But when I cut my mirrors for the tube, I screwed up by cutting only half the length (I marked all my dimensions on the tube, forgetting I was putting two tubes together, so my mirrors are only half the length they should be). This is an easy fix, though. Just buy more mirror and cut them longer. By the way, while I was at the hardware store today, the sales clerk said, "we cut glass here".

If you try this at home, ask your hardware store if they cut glass. Most Ace Hardware stores do.

For tubes, I used an industrial paper towel roll (real tough/thick cardboard tube) that has plastic grips on the end. The glass ball fit perfectly between two plastic grips and held snuggly in the tube itself, a plus. The plastic grips fit perfectly over my camera lens, for which I devised a mount for it to attach it to the camera for sturdiness.

Unfortunately, because I got too large a glass ball and too short of mirrors, the view in the camera is more like looking at a slew of tv screens (not what I was looking for). But if I run my images through G'MIC's array, they turn out nice.

The original image before G'MIC:



After G'MIC:



Addendum:

Cut new "longer" mirrors today and fixed the teleidoscope. It's rather long, but fits the camera well. New pictures below:

The "dead" yellow easter lillies:


The puffy cloud sky:


I took several pictures walking through the flower garden, and the wife decided to take control of both the teleidoscope and camera. She was like a little kid in awe of the new toy.

Well, that was interesting and educational. The end result would have worked well in "The Fly"

I don't know why it is, but I told myself when reading the Instructable (in case anyone is interested) to do exactly what the tutorial says...

Found here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to- ... -lense-ka/

I'm not really digging the whole abstract feel anymore, but I'm digging this, looks pretty dope. Nice work!

I was thinking to convert an old broken Canon 35mm lens, which is why I originally improvised the concept (thought a smaller scale scope would work - wrong!) It will make for a really weird looking lens attachment in public, since it needs to be longer. No doubt people are going to ask me what it is. Not sure I really want all the attention, so I might just keep it low profile in use.

The images look fantastic in the flower garden.

I wish i could make my spotter scope fit my digital, but i don't think it's possible, it's 16x and would be fun.

(See the first post for the edit)

I want one sooo Bad that is amazing! I want use those for eyes

This does look cool Mahvin. I do remember seeing marbles sold at Dollar Tree (yup; cheap I am and go there often enough. Lots of stuff there to stir creative juices imo). Might give the ol' DT a try next time.

Willy:

Ace Hardware provided the mirror free of charge. For the tube, I just used industrial paper towel tubes that have rubber (plastic) grips that fit on the ends. Everything was free, except for the glass marble, which cost me $5.00 for a package of 6. So, on the expense side, its relatively cheap to make. You'll also need a glass cutter, unless your Ace Hardware cuts it for you (which is also free depending on whether they have scrap mirror in stock). Putting it together is fairly easy.

Lyle:

They are cheap to make, no doubt. I shop at DT myself, usually for crafting items for my wifes quilling projects (picture frames, etc). When the wife took the teleidoscope, I felt like I was revisiting my youth. Ahhh the memories!

Uncle Installs Windows for a Living, and Dad works in Construction, I'll have to talk to him about this next time I see my Uncle, Scrap Mirror, and about cutting it.
And Dad can find some sort of Tube, maybe even like a PVC pipe

PVC pipe would work just as well. You could even buy some cap fittings to help hold your glass marble in.

I took the mount off, so its kind of shaky, but I love the results. Too bad it wasn't SUNNY outside when I made it.

That is soo Trippy
You should look at a rainbow and use that thing

So now do you rotate it? or do you have a dial on it you turn?
Maybe make a Vid of what yours looks like

I just turn the tube and it works great. I made a C-clamp to act as a mounting device so that it just clips to the camera, but the tube isn't permanently fastened to it.

That sounds like a Downfall of PVC, can't exactly C-Clamp it

Sure you can. I drilled a hole in a strip of plastic the size of my tube, slipped the tube through it. The plastic then wraps around the sides and fastens in the back with an elastic band. This teleidoscope is for a handheld digital (smaller pocket variety) not a large 35mm or high end DSR. My broken 35mm lens is too short for this sort of project but I am thinking of a good way to expand it without making the lens look "weird".

mahvin,

I am glad you did the video. When I first saw the photograph, I was going to ask if you would do a little video like that.

Glad you did. It was fun to watch. Thanks.

Wednesday is suppose to be nice and sunny, so it should make for a more colorful and vibrant show. I'll probably make a new video then and upload it.

Still having problems with the mount. In theory, it works great. Unfortunately, not the case in application. I did want to share the materials list (pictures) so you can at least see how it was constructed.

The items needed (or something similar):


The glass ball insert (ha, it's sideways):


Anyway, the top plastic piece has the band removed so it will fit snugly in the cardboard tube. Which is why you need the needlenose pliers, in this case.

Slip in the 3 mirrors, taped together as an equilateral triangle:


The mount backing with plastic ring drilled out to fit the camera lens (the mount doesn't work as expected):


It's going to require some new thinking. My idea is to create a small box the camera fits into perfectly, with the opening for the camera lens. Then glue a threaded plastic tube through the lens opening on the box, glue a female threaded cap onto the teleidoscope. Screw teleidoscope to box. That should make it permanent. Then I will mount it on a tripod this 4th of July and film the city fireworks display.