Alice Houser

Kaleidoscope Making

The craft of making kaleidoscopes is challenging in many areas and seems almost unlimited in the possibilities, inside and out. Skills in glass cutting, lens grinding, lampworking, sandblasting, working with wood, brass, hand-marbled papers, paints......these are a few of the skills that are used in each kaleidoscope. Of course, the most fun is in selecting what goes inside, resulting in a new appreciation for the notion that nothing in nature ever clashes.

It seems rather ironic to carefully construct something with the most precise measurements and control of factors in order to create an object over which one has no control! But then, that's the fun of looking through a kaleidoscope.

A resident of Mitchell County, Alice Houser is originally from farm country in Illinois. The vast expansive views of corn fields have been replaced by the panoramas of mountains and valleys.

Having completed a course in kaleidoscope making and design at Penland School of Crafts, Alice is looking at the world with a new perspective. Trying to capture the delicacy of a snowflake or the intense variety of fall leaves and "bottling" it in a kaleidoscope has given her a new appreciation for the infinite imagination and awesome resourcefulness of God.