Ben Ansley was the first artist ot combine the translucent qualities of alabaster with the kaleidoscopes. Light transmits through the alabaster, illuminating the contents within, This allows great sculptural flexibility for Ansley's kaleidoscopes.

Ben has created many kaleidoscopes during his stint as a kaleidoscope artist. However, he retired permanently from the craft in 2004.

Through the years, Ansley's work has ranged from small hand-held to large sculptural pieces. He created a small body of one-of-a-kind and limited edition works. The Magna sphere is a limited edition of 50 pieces. Although it was not documented, the edition was never completed. It is unknown how many were made.

To make this scope, Ansley sculpted the alabaster into the ball shape. it was then sliced iin half so that the kaleidoscope mirror system and the object chamber could be inserted inside. After carefully placed, the two halves were then laminated back together in a nearly undetectable seam. His expertise is felt by gliding your hand over the surface, the seam can not be felt.

Three mirror systems are found within the MagnaSphere. 4-mirror at 90 degrees, yielding a linear pattern of repeating square-shaped images; a three-mirror Isosceles system that creats one large central images surrounded by an infinite filed of smaller images and a three-mirror equilateral system.

By gently gliding the magnet across the rear of the sphere, the wonderful dichroic and fluorescent colored glass is set into motion. The liquid-filled chamber is filled with milifiore glass, dichroic glass and beads.

The Magna Sphere measure 14 inches tall by 5 inches diameter. The base measures 5 1/2 inches square. The MagnaSphere is a limited edition of 50. US$950.