Up Bioscope!
How I miss Radhika as I write this post. And the daily updates in office as her niece Aanya, her ‘onion’, grew up. This was the going-away present I made her, a bioscope. Why a bioscope? Because I wanted to her to have something she could hold up to the light at any time and see her baby’s face :)
As with most of my ideas, I have no clue how this one popped into my head, but something about an entire world dancing around on a film reel inside a container seemed magical and full of whimsy. I printed Aanya’s photos onto a transparent projector sheet (where does one find film negatives these days! sigh) and put the loop into a rather hastily fashioned circular box (couldn’t find a decent tin :)).
The little window lets the light in for each picture as the loop turns, and the viewing hole is opposite that. I couldn’t figure out a turning mechanism, hence the bead handle that manually pulls the loop around. Et voila! A bioscope!
Look, a baby! :) And Radhika loved it, thank god. Aanya’s all grown up now, but the bioscope lives on :)
Note to self: More crazy contraptions required. I love figuring out how stuff works!
