A Kaleidoscope Heart
I’m not certain when I looked into my first kaleidoscope, but I know when I first got really hooked on them. There was a big presentation at the Kentucky Center for the Arts back in 1993. Somehow, I got a ticket to it, and I got to take a class and build my first kaleidoscope. Shortly thereafter, I won a contest and used the prize money to buy my first professional kaleidoscope. It was made by Shelley Knapp, and I have an album of pictures from inside that scope on my Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/gp/crystalwriter/iY6dMcF580 though I have many I’ve not yet added to the album.
After beginning that collection, I somehow ran across this very low-priced piece of software called The Silicon Mirror program. I got the free trial but paid the $12 to purchase it before the trial was over, and have kept it installed on various computers and laptops ever since. They still have it available at https://www.torpor.com/ where you can find a variety of creative and colorful programs. I wish I could play with all of them every day.
Anyway, I was on Yahoo Photos back then and had started my first blog on Yahoo 360. I was also writing my first NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer’s Month) novel, so I would update the blog with my word count and a picture made in Silicon Mirror each day. I was able to save that blog here at WordPress under “Crystal Writes in 360” but I haven’t gone back to check for writing and grammar imperfections there. It was mostly family reading it back then, so I’m not sure how many mistakes there are. But if you venture over there, you will see the beginnings of my digital kaleidoscope addiction, and many of them were made from pictures of pencils and pens to line up with writing for NaNo.
Yahoo Photos got purchased by Flickr around 2006, I think, so I started putting photos there almost from the beginning. I have tens of thousands of them in my unpublished photos there because I never want to share until I can correctly label everything. This perfectionism drive is one of my big battles that keeps me from getting things done (or makes me take way too long as is often the case with this blog). But you can look at my big collection of kaleidoscope images (some real, many digital, 1069 images & 5 videos all together) in the Flickr album at https://www.flickr.com/gp/crystalwriter/pWx7X5586x
I have so much more I could say about kaleidoscopes, but I’ll close here for now with a collection I made in my Mirror Lab app using the image above. That image, by the way, was originally an inside scope picture that I edited in Photo Studio Pro to get it into a heart shape and then uploaded that to Wombo Dream AI and asked it to create a heart-shaped image. Here is the prompt I used in case you want to use it in your favorite AI image generator:
3D Heart-shaped kaleidoscope mandala with a 3d gilded edge and filled with colorful glittery prisms, on a black background with some super tiny golden sparkle in the black, HDR, pro photo, brilliantly lit, glowing, amazing atmosphere
And here’s the collection…
Many people tell me that they haven’t looked in a kaleidoscope since childhood. I highly recommend them for adults as tools to help with anxiety and stress because they create endorphins. I will do another post in the future with links to find kaleidoscopes online along with books and software because I really think they share what the name means, “beautiful image.” And I also believe they represent people the way God looks at His creation: all have beauty that is made more beautiful when light–especially God’s Light–shines through it. Let God light up your most beautiful aspects today and in the future, so you can be a kaleidoscope.
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A Valentine’s Day Haiku
Happy St. Valentine’s Day! Oh, you didn’t know this day was named for a real guy who existed in 3rd-century Rome. Read more at the Británica website to find out about this patron saint of lovers, people with epilepsy, and beekeepers.
Our local Christian writers group meets monthly to equip and encourage our members to keep writing for The Lord. This month, our meeting fell right on Valentine’s Day, so we decided to celebrate with yummy treats and a fun writing exercise. We taped our homemade conversation hearts to the white board and challenged members to use as many of the words as possible. We had a nice variety of stories, poetry, and even a wonderful devotion. I love what people can do with the gift of creativity God has given us. Me, I chose haiku, so here’s my use of the 18 given words…
What's the greatest love?
What example does it set?
Where do we find it?
Love could be candy.
Wrapped in a chocolate hug,
With a rose on top.
I got one of those.
From my sweetheart; my husband,
But it was cookies.
Instead of a rose,
It was a red carnation.
It brought me such joy.
His love touched my heart,
Even without poetry,
He showed affection.
And I adore him.
My admiration of him,
Will last forever.
That and three more days,
Because his love is a gift,
Always mine to keep.
Our first time to speak,
Was a February call,
From a long distance.
Only recently,
Did he show his devotion,
With some jewelry.
A red garnet ring,
That I love to wear daily.
And show to others,
But I don't need it,
Or even some fancy doves,
To know he loves me.
Now it’s your turn. If you are a writer, I challenge you to create your own creative piece using the 18 given words in the above image. And, if you put them on your own blog or social media page, please leave a comment and let me know where to go read it. In the meantime, maybe I’ll work on the blog I set up years ago for the group and try to get some of their pieces shared on it. I’ll update this post with a link when I get some new content there.
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Having Fun in the Mirror Lab App
(CC BY-NC-SA)
I found one of the pretty butterflies I created in Wombo Dream and decided to use it as a source for a bunch of bright and colorful designs in my Android Mirror Lab app. I hope you enjoy this little break from a text post and just enjoy the pretty pictures.
If you want to make your own, I highly recommend either the Mirror Lab app from The Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ilixa.mirror or the same developer’s newest app called One Lab at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ilixa.onelab These are not affiliate links. I just like to share things that I think are fun and hope my readers will enjoy them as well. You can also follow the developer on Instagram to see what others make from his apps. https://www.instagram.com/mirror_lab?igsh=MTZ4Y2R5b25qZm1rMg==
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A Kaleidoscope of Words
Two Images Crossing Paths in a Kaleidoscopic Ballroom
I love words, and I love kaleidoscopic images. The word kaleidoscope means “beautiful form” and I can get lost in the visual acrobatics of these types of images. I love them as mandalas (a mirrored disk look), tessellations (repeated patterns like tiles), fractals (patterns that repeat progressively and get smaller as they do), and other creative and colorful patterns.
My love for words has inspired me to write novels during the month of November a number of times. The event, National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo), is a challenge and a joy for me even when I don’t win. The times I’ve missed have made me feel like I missed something important in those years. Therefore, I’m going to give it another try this year, and I’m going to use my blog to update my word counts as an encouragement to myself–and possibly to others.
If nothing else, I will post a new kaleidoscopic image each day, so be sure to follow me during the month of November to see how far along I get and to see my newest images. If you’re writing for NaNo, let me know in comments. If you would like to add me as a buddy on the NaNo site, find my (yet-to-be-updated-for-2018) profile on the NaNo site at https://nanowrimo.org/participants/crystal-writer and, if you’re a Christian writer and on Facebook, feel free to stop by the group “Christian Wrimos on Facebook” at https://www.facebook.com/groups/ChristianWrimos and introduce yourself. From there, you can join old conversations, start a new one, or challenge other writers to a word war. I hope to see you there soon and throughout November.
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