Next Saturday (March 11) is my birthday. That’s why I want to give
you something to thank you for visiting my site. At least some of you
have wondered how I make my kaleidoscopes. Therefore, I will reveal it
to you one way. First, there must be a drawing, the raw print I always
make manually. After that, edit the drawing in Gimp, a free image editing program. Still, it is possible to create good kaleidoscopes even from a picture drawn with a pen.
Below is a drawing of the starting point this time. I have added different layers to the bottom part in Gimp.
Then I started running ornaments from the drawing using the G’Mic add-on available for Gimp. On the GIF presentation, you can browse some of the examples.
Here is a YouTube video on G’Mic to Gimp
This is the path how you’ll find the Kaleidoscope tool:
Filter-menu (or whatever menu where you G’Mic is)/G’Mic-QT/Deformations/Kaleidoscope
Note that the add-on doesn’t work before you open the picture file.
Help Yourself Is the Best Policy to Learn
I am sure you will understand that I cannot give everyone a piece of
personal advice. If you are interested in manipulating pictures, you
must be very patient and learn things at your own pace.
Please let me know which of the examples most pleases you. When I
know your favorite one, I will upload it here so you can download it
yourself. You are free to use my drawing and test what kind of ornaments
you get with the help of the G’Mic add-on.
If You Want to Give Me a Present
Please watch the video below if you want to give me a present. I am
singing my first recorded song with accompanying myself with the guitar.
Too much, I have experienced in these years, Too many are those who owe me tears. I remember that gray platform Where the rain carried a friend.
Refrain:
Then do not bloom My dear apple trees, Neither anyone whispered in my ear: Darling, do not forget me.
Never I have been afraid Yet on this trip until tomorrow. Little boy has avoided the dangers side by side the kind woman reflection.
The refrain
I know mothers weeping eyelids Do not explain the words out loud, They just give their love for guidance and prayers for protection.
The final two times:
Now bloom my dear Sacred apple trees. They have the heavenly scent, The fragrance that never go away.
Music and Lyrics by Ilkka Pakarinen 1982, record out in 1983.
You can make my day by sending the URL of this song to your friends or
listening to my music on YouTube because Youtube doesn’t count when
someone watches the linked video.
For years I have been designing a free Christmas cards for the
pleasure of my readers. The card comes up well before Christmas, so you
have time to add your own Christmas greeting to the textless card. Below
you can see this year’s 2022 card in English and its two versions.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2023.
PS Don’t hesitate to use this card to send your
relatives and friends Christmas greetings. I have added the text to the
card using the free version of PhotoScape. The name of the font is Julietta.
Some people may be shocked by fossils. I think they are lovely. Some
lizards lived before the dinosaurs and knew how to write. In addition to
the animal, the rock contains its message for posterity; see the
picture below.
Wow, this creature even knew to predict the arrival of Christmas in the world.
The madman got on the bus. He tried so hard to hide his madness, That it already looked crazy. He got off the bus Many stops before the hospital, But didn’t make anyone think That he is not a resident of the sanatorium.
The following day a mental hospital nurse Came to my cabin and asked if I had seen a person Whose characteristics match the man I saw on the bus. The nurse gave me a pack of cigarettes And urged me to offer smoke to him. Then he will sit down And tells his dark story As long as there are Cigarettes. Meanwhile phone us And we got plenty Of time to come And catch him.
This is a true story from the sixties of a runaway hero who wasn’t dangerous but a pain in the butt of the mental institution. Our hero searched for cigarettes, and the nurse thought he would come to my summer cottage first because it was next to a hospital.
All coincidences with real people
and events are unintentional. These verses are just poetry, not
documentaries. Please don’t take anything literally but metaphorical. I
am not the same person as the narrator of the poems like the guitarist
is not the tune that comes out from his guitar with the help of his
fingers.
Christmas
Tree song (Joulupuu on rakennettu) is old Finnish folklore. It became a
Christmas Carol in 1876 when Vicar Gustav Oskar Schöneman (1839-1894) wrote
words for it. Children have always liked the song. They want to sing it while
dancing around the Christmas tree.
I have
translated the Finnish words of the Christmas tree into English. If you like
the song, tell your friends too. There is a charge for the commercial use of
the translation. Copyright matters are taken care of by Teosto Finland.
Instrumentation
Yelling Rosa
Vocalization Lucy Emvoice One