POCAHONTAS, Iowa – “It’s really hard not to smile when you’re looking through a kaleidoscope,” says Leonard Olson, 65, owner of The Kaleidoscope Factory. And Olson should know. He’s been building kaleidoscopes since 2000 in his one-man factory.
He said building kaleidoscopes began as therapy following a heart attack. “I had a heart attack in ’97 at the age of 44,” said Olson. A friend brought him a kaleidoscope while he was in the hospital recovering, and it was then he decided to make his own.
In 2000 Olson began building his own kaleidoscopes in Palmer, Iowa, in an old school building while continuing to work in the health insurance industry. He called his new business the Palmer Kaleidoscope and Gavel Mfg. Co. Then in 2006 he made kaleidoscopes his full-time occupation. It was in 2014 that Olson moved to his current location in downtown Pocahontas.
People are also reading…
The Kaleidoscope Factory in Pocahontas, Iowa, features hand-made kaleidoscopes by Leonard Olson.
Olson uses exotic woods for his kaleidoscopes, including Padauk, which comes from India, Indochina, the South Pacific, West Africa and even southern Florida. Most varieties of the tree look like elms and can reach a height of 120 feet. Padauk is bright orange when freshly cut but changes to a darker, rich purple-brown over time. It’s a stable wood and easy to work with, said Olson. And it makes a beautiful kaleidoscope.
Leonard Olson smooths the surface of a kaleidoscope body by pressing sandpaper against the turning wood.
A kaleidoscope made by Olson starts as a simple block of wood. A hole is drilled through the block to hollow it out. He then uses a lathe to shape the wood and then smooths the surface by pressing sandpaper against the turning wood. A light coat of tongue oil is applied while the wood block is turning in the lathe. Olson then installs three small mirrors inside the block that are arranged in a triangle shape. That’s followed by inserting a lens at one end and glass beads in a holder at the other.
Olson’s shop has all the tools needed to make kaleidoscopes.
Many times while making a kaleidoscope Olson has an audience of tourists. “I had a bus load of 56 people here the other day,” Olson said. “And selling kaleidoscopes is all about theater.” As part of that he sometimes lets visitors, especially kids, help him make a kaleidoscope.
Olson has recently expanded his operation to include other wooden objects such as wine bottle stoppers, cooking utensils, puzzles, toy trains and other children’s toys. He also has a collection of gnomes, including a large one above the entrance to his store. “People say I look like a gnome so I started collecting them,” said Olson.
Olson sums up his philosophy for living by saying, “The object is not to make money but to make a life.”
