There is emotional significance in every color, and you feel them all when you look
into a kaleidoscope by Randy and Shelley Knapp, they seem to breathe life into
their scopes. The combination of Randy's woodworking and Shelley's glass-torch work
make for a real dream team. They were among the first to produce a kaleidoscope using a
black background with a side-lit object cell. This continues to be one of the most
popular of all types, used for both liquid and dry cells, and is now employed by a large
percentage of scope artists. The Knapps were also first to introduce a "roof prism" with dichroic windows,
allowing light to enter from the front and side. This ensures unsurpassed colors.
Randy's favorite aspect of scope-making is designing new models. In fact, he also
likes to work with materials that are new for him. Having achieved a reputation as
one of the leading wood scope artists, he switched to blowing glass. Then, becoming
proficient in that medium as well, he moved back to exotic woods. And although wood
is closest to Randy's heart, it may well be that the capstone of his work is the
"Marbleator." That piece, in an edition of three, was the culmination of his brief
sojourn with glass marbles.
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Shelley is thrilled to have created her very own lamp-worked glass "Lucinis." Each of these tiny,
refined, and detailed pieces is a little color sculpture in itself. Floating in a cell,
it produces a powerful image. The use of a metallic marbleizing technique renders the
exterior of Shelley's scopes as visually stimulating as the interior.
These self-taught artists admit they derive much of their inspiration from the sun-swept
splendor of their native Oregon coast. It is their earnest wish that their kaleidoscopes
"excite the mind and tingle the imagination of appreciative viewers through generations to come."
More information on the Knapps can be found here.
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