Kaleidoscopes you can turn

The new kaleidoscope maker puts a picture between mirrors and lets you turn it. Drag the dial, or the slider beside it, and the source spins inside its mirror cell while every reflection follows at once. When you let go, the angle goes into the link, so a shared link, the SVG and PNG, and the printable PDF all show the picture you stopped on. A spin button turns it on its own, and stays off when your device asks for reduced motion.

There are five mirror systems. Two mirrors at an angle make a round picture of 3 to 12 segments, like the kaleidoscope David Brewster patented in 1817. Three mirrors in a 60-60-60, 45-45-90 or 30-60-90 triangle, or four in a square, are the classic cells whose reflections fit together without end, so those come with a seamless repeat to tile across any area.

In the cell you can scatter beads, glass shards or ribbons from a seed, in your palette, or drop in one of this site's own patterns, such as Truchet tiles or sashiko, which keep their own colors. Zoom and move the source to change which part of it the mirrors catch. The sources behind the mirror angles are on the acknowledgements page.

Samples to start from

• Generating…Beads in the classic 60-60-60 cellOpen with these settings
• Generating…Glass shards between two mirrors, in eight segmentsOpen with these settings
• Generating…Truchet tiles in a 30-60-90 cell, turned 45°Open with these settings
• Generating…Sashiko at twice the size, in a 45-45-90 cellOpen with these settings
• Generating…Ribbons in a square of four mirrorsOpen with these settings
• Generating…A log cabin block, turned 15°Open with these settings

What's included

• Two mirrors with 3 to 12 segments, and 60-60-60, 45-45-90, 30-60-90 and square cells that tile
• A dial and slider that turn the picture live, and a spin button that respects reduced motion
• Beads, glass shards and ribbons from a seed, or eight of this site's patterns as the source
• Zoom and position for the source, and colors from the palette library
• A seamless SVG or PNG repeat, the whole picture, and a printable PDF at the angle on screen