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Thaumatrope Secret Valentine Message DIY

A thaumatrope is a toy that was popular in Victorian times. Simply it is a disk or card with a picture on each side and attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers the two pictures appear to combine into a single image due to persistence of vision. 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 often also included riddles or short poems, with one line on each side. Thaumatropes were one of a number of simple, mechanical optical toys that used persistence of vision and are recognised as important antecedents of cinematography and in particular of animation. Example.

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