Make A Spinning Thaumatrope with Miss Rachel

A thaumatrope is an optical toy that “tricks” your eye into combining two images into one due to the persistence of vision. The faster the toy spins, the better the optical illusion. There are many different variants on this toy—the one in this tutorial spins on a pair of twisted strings. 

For this project you’ll need some thin cardboard (a cereal box works great!), scissors, glue or glue stick, markers, paper (colored or not, your choice), a pencil, an awl or hole punch, and twine/yarn. 

First, freehand or trace a circle on your cardboard using the mouth of a jar or cup. Cut it out, then trace the cardboard onto two pieces of paper. Cut the paper circles out and glue them to the front and back of your cardboard circle. This will give you a nice, tidy drawing or collaging surface that is the same on both sides, which is important for your illusion! 

As an optional step, while you wait for the glue to dry, if you would like to use collage elements, you can draw them on separate sheets of colored paper and cut them out. (I decided on the classic bird-and-cage motif for mine.) If you would rather draw directly onto your thaumatrope, see the next step! 

Now draw or glue your images onto either side of your thaumatrope! Important: Make sure that the elements you want to combine are flipped vertically from each other. For example, when I glued down my bird, I made sure that it was “upside down” in relation to the cage on the opposite side of the disc. When the disc spins, they will both appear right side up, don’t worry. Feel free to use both collage elements and drawn elements at this point if you wish—get creative! 

Use your awl or hole punch to poke holes in the sides of your disc. Cut a length of twine (a foot ought to do it), fold it in half, and thread the folded end through one of the holes to create a loop. Thread the loose ends of the twine through the loop, then pull them tight. Repeat this on the opposite side with the other hole. 

Your thaumatrope is now complete! To make it spin, hang on to strings on either side, then twist the disc in the middle around and around until the strings become bunched, as in the above picture. Grasp the string ends firmly and pull. The disc in the middle will spin rapidly as the strings untwist. Watch the disc and see your two drawings combine into one! 

For more optical illusions, check out Trick of the Eye: Art and Illusion by Silke Vry, SuperVisions: Impossible Optical Illusions by Al Seckel,  Walter Wick’s Optical Tricks, and  A Ray of Light: A Book of Science and Wonder by Walter Wick. 

Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your web browser