KALEIDOSCOPES PROVIDE AREA CRAFTSMAN WITH SPECTACULAR SYMMETRY

When Charlie Mungle realized four years ago that he would have to endure the effects of polio for the second time in his life, he began looking for alternate ways to brighten the big picture.

He didn't mind the fact that he would have to use a cane to achieve physical balance. But there was still a need to acquire emotional and spiritual symmetry.

He found what he was looking for in "The Kaleidoscope Book," a fact-filled tome that provides an historical and practical guide to a spectrum of spectacular scopes.

The 47-year-old Cape Girardeau resident has been constructing kaleidoscopes out of everything from cardboard spools to cow horns ever since.

"I always make sure it's something that can be recycled," Mungle said. "I may find it at a garage sale or just sweeping up, but there's usually something around that can be turned into ingredients for a kaleidoscope or a teleidoscope no matter where I go."

The difference between the two instruments is that images from a kaleidoscope are produced by rotating a lens inside the instrument. Images from a teleidoscope come alive when one holds the instrument up to various colors and light.

"Each one seems to have its own personality," Mungle, wreathed in a salt-and-pepper beard, said. "No picture from the same kaleidoscope looks the same to two people."

The choices of shapes and sizes of kaleidoscopes are virtually endless. Mungle has a teleidoscope that is nearly 4 feet in length. He also has one fashioned from a lipstick container.

There are other variations using four or more mirrors, tapering the mirrors, and circular systems using flexible, reflective materials.

Mungle said kaleidoscopes offered the creative outlet he was looking for in 1991, the year he discovered that polio was back in his system. "I thought I had it beat," Mungle said, who first learned he had polio when he was four. "I was working as a tow boat engineer and even spent some time working for Procter & Gamble during the time I was over polio. But when I was hit with postpolio, I had to go on disability."

Mungle decided there was only so much television and reading he could take before he would become bored. So he decided to expand his creative horizons. "I've been a leathersmith since I was 13. I've always liked working with my hands to make things," he said. "Doctors told me when I lived in Poplar Bluff that I would probably have to learn something like a craft because of the polio."

He went back to work carving out intricate scenes on various patches of leather. But there was still a void. "When I picked up this book about kaleidoscopes, I knew I was hooked," he said.

Asked if he was bitter about having to deal with postpolio, Mungle flashed a determined look and replied,"I guess I'm always too nosy about what else is out there to dwell on it."

When he is not constructing kaleidoscopes, Mungle is busy etching his art on soft leather. He sells his crafts three times a year at Black Forest. The next opportunity to show his kaleidoscopes, teleidoscopes and leather wares at Black Forest will be April 22-23.

His biggest teleidoscope, which isn't for sale, will be on display at the next show. "It's around four feet long," Mungle said. "I like to find a couple that has been married for about 50 years and have some fun with the teleidoscope," Mungle said, brandishing a mischievous grin.

"I tell them to get at opposite ends. When one looks at the other and sees several figures through the mirrors and lens, I say,`See what you've done to this person over the years.'"

Mungle produced the "secret" to the teleidoscope. "It's this clear marble," he said. "I was able to get a barrel full of these at a garage sale. It seems like there is no limit to the amount of material available to make more kaleidoscopes and teleidoscopes."

He even turned a cane his friend fashioned out of a hollowed root into a kaleidoscope. "He made it long enough that it's about eye level," Mungle said. "Perfect balance."