Arts features

Thaumatrope - A lit Christmas tree

Those of you who've seen the BBC's adaptation Little Dorrit can't fail to notice a popular Victorian spinning toy used in the opening sequence.

The toy, where a circular card with a picture on each side is attached to two pieces of string, goes by the rather technical name of thaumatrope.

It translates roughly as "turning marvel" or "wonder turner" in modern Greek and has often been credited to the Slough-born astronomer, mathematician and chemist Sir John Herschel.

When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers the two pictures appear to combine into a single image due to 'persistence of vision'.

A flaming Christmas pud

See an animated example here:

Examples of common thaumatrope pictures include a bare tree on one side of the disk, and its leaves on the other, or a bird on one side and a cage on the other.

They are recognised as important antecedents of cinematography and in particular of animation.

Berkshire historian Jane Walton has created some Christmas thaumatropes for you to make or be inspired by.

Download the thaumatrope outlines here:

Instructions:

1. Add a piece of A4 card to your computer printer tray and print out the thaumatrope images.

2. Cut them out and colour in the images. Though leave the background white.

3. Glue the circles together (tree and candles, pudding and fire, robin and log - make sure the circles are glued the right way round!).

3. Carefully pierce two holes on each side of the circles in the places marked A and B.

4. Insert woolen string through the holes like in the photos.

Thaumatrope - a robin on a log

5. Twist the string and then watch the card spin to create the optical illusion!