Kaleidoscopes! Who doesn’t love the endless colorful fun of them? Did you know you can use a photo and create your own kaleidoscope images from it? The kaleidoscope above was generated from a picture of vegetables from my Partly Potato Salad post!
So here’s a bit of lighthearted fun today for you to play with. If you have kids, they would also love this!
I ran across the first site on the list, krazydad.com/kaleido, having been given the link in a design class I am taking. Using photos with some larger areas of contrasting colors and values gives you the most striking results, but they’re all cool, and figuring it out is part of the fun.
The others have come to my attention in the time since then and they all have their pros and cons. Also, most photo editing software will have some sort of feature for this, or one you can add.
Hope you enjoy a little more color in your day! I’ll provide the URLS at the end of the post to a couple of my photos here at 2create that I think you could have some kaleidoscope fun with.
1. krazydad.com has a lot going on — I haven’t explored anything but the kaleidoscope feature, though. All the images here today were generated at krazydad and saved.
Load a URL for a .jpeg image to get started (like most of these sites.) Circular images are generated. Odd numbers of “mirrors” to create the images make this site especially fun; the odd numbers help keep your brain from being able to make sense of them as much so they stay fascinating! 5, 11, 7 mirrors are the options: choose using the icons below the word “Image.” Two images to play with available at the site — toggle between them with icons under the word “Load.” At the bottom of the kaleidoscope, the “JPEG” button generates a 24-hour link to your image, giving you a chance to save it or share it during that time.
No options for further play at this site, but comes up 6-sided so it would be good for snowflakes (Import images via URL, Upload, or from Facebook)
Choose from either a square and circle for your kaleidoscope result. Choose either 8 or 12 segments to look like 4 or 6 repeats.
4. www.tuxpi.com/photo-effects/kaleidoscope
At the bottom center is the place to enter a URL for a .jpeg image. Lots of options: # wedges, “offset” for where on the photo the kaleidoscope image is made from, zoom for even different looks, add text, change brightness/contrast, even MORE fun: hue and saturation. This looks to be the site that will surpass my current fixation with krazydad.com ;)
5. www170.lunapic.com/editor/?action=kaleidoscope
Something different: the paint bucket lets you fill certain colors with patterns or other colors! That could be fun. Lots of photo editing tools along the left edge to play with.
Does it look like the Monopoly guy on those green eggs to you? Sometimes you get special surprises when you are making kaleidoscope images! This was done using the photo of eggs below, from my Tie-Die Easter Egg post. The other images in the middle of the post were done using photos from my collage canvases projects here and here.
Then, if you are feeling artistic, try drawing your own image on a kaleidoscope canvas. I did a few at the drawerings site to use as coloring pages and possible embroidery patterns.
permadi.com/java/spaint/spaint.html
I hope you (and your friends, family including kids) have some fun with these! Here are some 2createincolor photo URLS that might be fun to use — be sure to drag the image around the kaleidoscope frame to find the great parts!
http://www.2createincolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Watercolor-with-Stencils-and-Markers_0006.jpg
http://www.2createincolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/My-Ocean-Shores-Textures_0011.jpg
http://www.2createincolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Tie-dyeing-Easter-Eggs-2createincolor_0019.jpg
http://www.2createincolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Pink-and-gray-bracelets-for-Spring-1.jpg
http://www.2createincolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/IMG_2659-_st.jpg
Happy Kaleidoscoping!
Gail
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