Optical (visual) illusions come when your brain interprets something you see that you actually don’t see.
Optical Illusions come in many forms
Line (& Shape) Illusions
Lines appear bulged or squished depending on lines around it.
Op-Art Quilts book on Amazon
This looks like the op art quilts in the book but is not exactly:
Image from flickr by andy02124 (creative commons)
Image from Wikipedia
Herring Illusion
Image from wikipedia
There are squares set on point that have concentric circles that make the squares seem squished
The Bulging Checkerboard (see below)
Kaleidoscope quilt variations (this one does not show circles, but is Kaleidoscope quilt
Image from flickr by heidielliot(creative commons)
Storm at Sea
Image from flickr by The Last Cookie
Dimensional Illusions
Due to colors/ value lines, two dimensional objects appear in three dimensions
2D –> 3D
Tumbling block and varations
Shadow box quilt
Movement Illusions
Due to highly dense & colored designs, the designs appear to move on you.
Revolving Circles
Image from Wikipedia
A dizzying optical illusion quilt that you won’t be disappointed to see, but watch, made me dizzy to look at.
Rotating Snake Illusion (very moving, if you’re epileptic, be aware before clicking)
Image from wikipedia
Actually moving illusion that induces an interesting afterimage effect (don’t go if epileptic)
Illusion of Inclusion
Your brain completes the picture, it finishes things up that are not there.
Image from wikipedia
Ambiguous Objects
Image from wikipedia
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul
Image from flickr by PeggyinMaine
Paradoxical Drawings
These objects are impossible … very impossible.
Image from Wikipedia
This hilarious video of these penrose stairs. Video is called Hallucii. You’ll see why when you click.
Secondary Patterns
Patterns come up that are not expected – from very simple blocks
The Neutral Stars Block
The simple three strip block that doesn’t look like much on its own.
More about the Bulging Checkerboard
Jane’s wonderful optical illusion quilt has stuck in my mind over the last year, when I would see it on her blog, I remember thinking, wow, what a quilt.
She has graciously agreed to let me share pictures of it with you.
Jane has named her quilt False Impressions, the website of this effect is called bulging checkerboard.
The effect is simply amazing, but the execution of it looks like squares on larger squares. The hardest part would appear to be keeping everything separate and in line.
Here is a detail shot. It would be easy to do with big enough blocks, the effect is much greater when standing back.
Do you see why it’s a bulging checkerboard?
Jane has discussed this quilt in several different posts, and in the latest post has talked even more about optical illusions for quilt ideas.
Wow, this quilt, I would be really proud of Jane.
Jane calls herself a quilter geek, and this is a great example of this.
Other Optical Quilts
3D Tetris Quilt by Quilter Geek
My Tumbling Block Table Runner
My Opic by Ruthann from Mirkwood Designs (link from SeamedUp, tell me if it’s broken)
Who is known as the Optical Illusion Quilter?
Karen Combs (facebook page)
Optical Illusion Quilts on amazon
Optical Illusion quilts at the Online Quilt Museum
Further Links
Links to the Wikipedia site on Optical Illusions & Geometrical Optical Illusions.
Whole site of Illusions at Visual Phenomena & Optical Illusions
I did not discuss color constancy, which is a whole other ball of wax that tricks your brain into thinking about the colors based on the other colors around it.
Additional music
Mevios Music Alley: Get Myself Together by The Tones
