Digital Underwater Photography

On Sunday The Boy and I had an assignment at Loch Creran (near Oban) to do the open water part of our PADI Digital Underwater Photography course with Aquatron.  We already completed the classroom and swimming pool sessions a few weeks ago but our first attempt at the open water part (at A-frames on Loch Long) was scuppered by visibility so bad that we could hardly see each other under the surface, never mind anything we were supposed to be photographing.

We had two dives.  During the first dive the objective was to photograph our dive buddy.  We had to take a head/torso shot then a full body shot.  This turned out to be a bit tricky as, when I looked at the screen on the back of the camera to line up my shot, all I could see was my own pink mask reflected in the camera housing.  I had to cheat a bit and look over the top of the camera as well to make sure I was pointing the camera the right way. Sh! Don't tell.

Here is my head shot of The Boy:

Full body shot:

During dive #2 the objective was to take photos of the aquatic life using the PADI SEA method (Shoot, Examine, Adjust) to get the best photos.  It went like this:

Shoot (a common starfish):

Examine: with my eyesight I could not see at all that this was blurry, :o).  However, I was able to see enough to decide that the composition and angle could be better so I adjusted:

Better!  If nothing else, at least this one is in focus.  I really need to get prescription lenses for my mask.


Here are another couple of adjusted photos.  I won't make you suffer the pre-SEA ones.

Some sea squirts (don't know what kind - I might even be wrong about them being sea squirts):

And here we have a Sea Toad aka Spider Crab that kept running away from me:

I also took a photo of a Sea Lemon but I won't inflict that one on you.  I took it by the light of the instructor's torch.  If he hadn't spotted it I definitely wouldn't have seen it.  It looked like a big white slug in the silt to me.  I really should get those prescription lenses for my mask shouldn't I?  When The Boy tells me about all the things he's seen when we go diving I'm convinced we were in different lochs as I never see half of the things he does.

The Boy and I were sharing a camera so while he was shooting, Ally, our instructor, was giving me tips and trying to improve my buoyancy.  Good buoyancy is crucial when doing underwater photography as you need to be able to hover above the bottom so that you don't damage any of the aquatic life.  I'm getting there I think. My buoyancy during the second dive was definitely better than the first.

And, to round the day off, after two dives my drysuit had lived up to it's name and had actually kept me dry.  That is a record.  It's the first time diving in Scotland that my suit hasn't flooded. So I'd like to thank the amazing Eric at Aquatron for taking my neck seal in enough to keep me dry without choking me. :D :D :D  Even the came out and gave us a bit of heat while we were on the surface.

Can brooches be left or right handed?

I have never been a brooch kind of person.  Even as a child I never wore badges.  A friend asked me if I ever made brooches so I thought I'd have a go.  I did actually buy some commercially made brooch backs months ago with the intention of investigating brooches but when I looked at them I decided that using them would be cheating in some way.  So I decided to have a go at making the whole thing from scratch.

I have loads of copper wire in different thicknesses and, as I would be hammering and filing it, plated wire wouldn't do.  I opted for 1mm copper wire in the end as I wanted something that would be firm enough not to bend once it was finished but not so thick that it would make noticeable hole in the fabric that it would be attached to.

The first and most important step was to hone the end of the wire to a point.  This is done in stages.  First of all, hammer the last few centimetres of the wire on a steel block or anvil to taper it:

To be honest, I'm not sure a ball pein hammer is entirely right for this job but it's the only hammer I have at the moment so it had to do.  A flat hammer would be more suitable I think.

Next job is to file the tip to a neat point.  I started off with a mini file for this and then used different grades of sand paper to smooth it off.

I have to confess to needing a magnifying light for doing all of this as my eyesight is just not good enough on its own to see if I've polished it up to silky, smooth loveliness.  And here we have the finished product, a brooch pin that is sharp enough to pierce fabric but not puncture skin.  Though I suspect with enough pressure the skin wouldn't stand a chance either.  Yes I know it doesn't look a whole lot different from the last 2 photos but I can assure you we have progressed from the blunt, cut end of a piece of copper wire to a honed brooch pin.  :o)

Next step, which I forgot to photograph, silly me, was to decide how wide to make the brooch and use the widest part of a pair of round nose pliers to turn a spring at the bottom of the pin.  Now the world is my oyster.  I have a piece of copper wire just asking to be decorated in an awsomely creative way.  But it's my first attempt so I have decided to keep it simple as this is still a learning experience.  I have some cloisonne beads that go really well with copper so I added a few Preciosa beads and made this:

I decided to keep the clasp simple as well.  I tried it on but not being a habitual brooch wearer I wasn't entirely sure what way to put it on.  You are probably wondering what on earth I'm on about but when I showed it to The Boy he told me off for having it on the wrong way round.  I was wearing it with the catch showing at the front but he insisted the catch should be hidden at the back.  I think that is a matter of personal taste and depends on how aesthetically pleasing the clasp is - or is it?  Anyway, when I turned it round to keep The Boy happy I realised I was now having to put it on left handed.  This made me wonder - do brooches come in right or left handed variations?  Is this something you have to bear in mind when creating your work of art?

I kept the brooch on for a while to make sure it was sturdy enough and soon had it pointed out to me by my daughter and her friend that I was totally ignorant of brooch wearing ettiquette.  I was wearing it attached my my top, which apparently is not the done thing.  It is apparently supposed to be attached to a coat or jacket.  I know I'm not an expert of brooches but can someone tell me when the rules changed?  In my day you could attach brooches to all sorts of things, blouses, jumpers, scarves, waistcoats, jackets, coats.....

Anyway, no-one criticised the actual brooch, only the way I was wearing it, so off I went to make more.  I got a bit more adventurous with the next one and made some loops on it so that I could attach dangly things from it.  Here is brooch number 2 with coloured chain hung from the loops and wrapped with tiny metallic beads:

And I didn't stop there.  I carried on playing with the chain and made another brooch without loops.  I still haven't made one with the standard, kilt pin type clasp, the shepherd's crook fastener.  That's on my list to do, as is getting more creative (fancy) with the decorated part of the brooch.  Here is what I've made so far:

I think I'm getting the hang of brooches.  Does anyone have any requests for my next creation?

First outing in my kiln

At long last, what you've all been waiting for, the story of the first outing in my kiln.  First I gathered together all my tools and materials.  My desk is really only big enough for it all when it's squished together.  We have silver clay, the star of the show, cutters in all shapes and sizes, texture mats, rollers, spacers, olive oil, water, the all important cling film, paint brush, pointy things....

I decided I'd finish the job I started in my Art Clay class all those months ago. On the right in the photo below you can see 3 of the pieces I made.  An end cap (top) and two little textured hearts that I had intended to turn into earrings until I realised I should have punched the holes in opposite sides for that. Doh!

So, I rolled out a pack of PMC3 Silver clay over a texture mat and used cutters to cut out the shapes.  The bead cap had to be carefully rolled into a tube and joined.

On the left you can see the new end cap and two hearts with the holes punched on the opposite side from the first two.  They are waiting to be dried and fired.  You will notice they are bigger than the first set because metal clay shrinks when it is fired.  This is where I have to hope I used the correct size cutters so that the fired versions are the same size as the first set.

In the photo below you can see my attempt at making Yin & Yang symbols using the silver disc at the top as a texture mat then using a needle tool to carefully cut out the individual shapes.

The next day I checked that the pieces were dry then put them on a rubber block to protect them while I carefully sanded the edges to smooth them.  Here they are sitting on the kiln shelf ready to be fired.  I had 3 options for the firing process varying from 10 minutes at 700 degrees to 30 minutes at 600 degrees.  I decided to play it safe as it was my first time and fire them for longer at a lower temperature.

When they came out of the kiln half an hour later they didn't look a whole lot different from when they went in.  The clay doesn't magically turn silver in the kiln, it burns off the binding agent (which is a bit whiffy) but the metal stays creamy white in colour until it is polished.  You can see the difference below.  The heart on the right has had a quick polish with a wire brush:

And now we have the proof of the pudding.  On the left, my newly fired end cap and hearts.  On the right the ones I made in my Art Clay class.  Miraculously, they turned out pretty much the same size.  That wasn't guaranteed as the first batch was made from Art Clay Silver and the second batch was made from PMC3 silver clay. The two types of clay have different shrinkage rates but thankfully not too different.

Does that mean I know what I'm doing with this stuff? 

Now I need to take all of my little pieces to the Edinburgh Assay Office and have them hallmarked so I have another adventure to look forward to.  Once they're hallmarked I can turn them into jewellery.  I think I may make a necklace with the end caps and earrings with the hearts.  Or I might surprise you all and make bracelets instead.

At last I can share

Two blog updates in one week.  Incredible, isn't it?  I'll make this one short.

I've been dying to share this with people for a couple of weeks but I couldn't as it's something I made as a gift for a friend.  I have no idea whether she is even aware that I have a blog but I couldn't take the chance that she might read it and spoil the surprise.

I went to visit her last night and handed over her gift and birthday card so now I can show you what I made for her.

I went to visit Bedazzled Beads shop in Blackridge a while ago and saw a lovely set of graduated onyx beads.  As soon as I saw them I thought of my friend's birthday as I know she likes onyx.  When I got home I teamed them up with some 8mm black Swarovski pearls, black and clear Swarovski crystals in different sizes and some silver plated chain.  My friend seemed pleased with it when she opened the box last night so I'm relieved.  I should make something in a similar style for myself as I really liked this once it was made.

I have a new toy

At last my long awaited mini-kiln has arrived.  Much to my frustration it arrived just in time for me to unpack it and sit it on the dining room table until I got back from a weekend in Oban.  The original kiln that was sent out on 31st December is still missing in action so I'd to wait for a new one to be sent out.  How do you lose a kiln?  I know it's only an ickle kiln, but the box still weighed 10 kilos.

The kiln is manufactured abroad but has been re-engineered for UK & European electrical currents.  Unfortunately it still had a foreign plug on it so first stop on return from Oban was the local Focus DIY shop to buy a UK plug which The Boy fitted for me.  I managed to resist the urge to go & play with it straight away and concentrated on getting unpacked, putting a washing on, etc.  Am I disciplined or what? (What? is the answer I suspect.)

Then Monday arrived.  Again, I had 'stuff' to do so I busied myself with that first, had lunch, then..... dug out the spare granite table mats and arranged them on top of the cooker.  It was the only surefire heat resistant place I could think of for a test run. And here it is, my shiny, new Kitiki mini-kiln:

It's teeny. Less than 25cm (or 9" in old money) square and not much higher than that.  I read the instructions and made sure it was at least 30cms (1 foot) from anything else, including walls and cupboards.  I checked that the room was well ventilated - the draughts coming in under the sink would fix that - and that the temperature in the room stayed below 40 degrees - in my kitchen at this time of year that's a given, in fact it's a blessing if it's above freezing point.

I carefully set the temperature to a random 691 degrees C then switched it on and stepped back so that I was in easy reach of this:

 

Yes, they recommend you have a fire extinguisher within easy reach as well.  I was surprised to learn that the little round thing in the middle of the door is not in fact a window with heatproof glass but a vent.  This did worry me slightly and made standing next to the fire extinguisher seem like the sensible thing to do.  I noticed as the kiln temperature went above 6oo degrees that I could see the interior glowing red though the little vent.

The actual firing chamber is minute but I'm not planning on firing anything very big so it should be fine.When I phoned the supplier to order it I asked about tongs and heatproof gloves.  I was told that I'd never get a hand in a thick glove inside the chamber and never a truer word was spoken.  Look how little it is:

Notice it was safely switched off and had cooled down before I attempted to open the door. :o)  I left it at temperature for 5 minutes or so before I switched it off and let it cool down and kept checking to see how hot the exterior panels got.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that only the top panel seemed to generate much heat.  Once I've read the instructions for firing silver clay I'll play about test it some more before I decide on where to put it permanently.

I also have some accessories for it:

From left to right we have:

• A kiln shelf to rest things on as they fire as it's not a good idea to place anything directly on the surface of the firing chamber.
• A firing blanket.  This can be torn up and used to support things that might end up mishapen if they are fired on a solid kiln shelf, such as rings that aren't a simple, smooth cylinder shape.  It feels quite strange to the touch.  The Boy is freaked out by the feel of cotton wool.  If he misbehaves I can torment him with the blanket. :o)
• Vermiculite.  This is a kind of granular equivalent of the firing blanket. I'm not sure when you would use a blanket rather than vermiculite and vice versa but I'm sure I'll soon learn.

Now I just need to find the time to read up on silver clay and decide what my first project will be.  I have a few books demonstrating different techniques with suggested projects.  My personal punch is now available at the Edinburgh Assay Office  so I'm ready to rock & roll.  One of The Boy's friends has asked met make him a ring but I think I need a bit of practice before I tackle that.  I also want to experiment with copper and bronze clay.

Are you still awake after all that?  I hope so.  I can't wait to get started actually making things.  I suspect my first projects will be components for pieces of jewellery so I will be making things to make things with. :o)

Watch this space, creativity is about to commence.

At last I'm a PADI Advanced Open Water diver.

I would like to thank everyone at Aquatron in Glasgow for their help and patience while I was learning all of my skills.  I know I haven't been the easiest student as I'm afraid of water and have had the odd setback.


Sunday 30th January was a big day for me as I had the last two specialities to complete in order to become a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, namely Underwater Navigator and Peak Performance Buoyancy.

We set off for Tearooms on Loch Fyne at some ungodly hour in the morning to get there for 9am.  I realised when it was too late to turn back that I'd left my jacket at home. Doh! Thankfully The Boy offered me his as he knows how feeble I can be in the cold.

I was looking forward to Tearooms as it's one of the more civilised dive sites having an actual, honest to goodness toilet on site instead of bushes.  I have no idea what the paying customers of the tea room and garden centre think of all the odd looking folk wandering around in diving gear looking cold. It wasn't too busy on Sunday so I wasn't on the receiving end of any funny looks.

Here we are getting ready to go into the water.  That's me in the middle at the back.

And here we go into the water for dive 1, walking down the smooth, gentle, grassy slope into the water.  No, I don't see a smooth, grassy slope either.  Someone lied to me.  Shame I don't remember who it was.   Tearooms was sold to me on the basis of an easy entry into the water.  Needless to say I'm at the back of the group again picking my carefully way through the rocks.

Dive 1 was underwater navigation.  My big worry here was my eyesight or lack of it when reading and I was going to have to be able to read a compass.  I had a practice on dry land with Allan then we went down to 15 metres for the real thing.

1) navigate a set distance and return to the start using only landmarks and underwater features.  Remarklably I managed this one just fine.  Luck? Probably.

2) Use the compass to navigate to a set point and then use a reciprocal heading (ie, do an about face) to go back to the start.  I've done it on a previous dive and I did it again.  2 down, one to go.

3) Use the compass to navigate in a square and land back at the start position.  This is when I realised that my compass didn't seem to have the same markings as the one Allan showed me with on the surface.  Oops.  Got there though, much to my surprise.

Here's The Boy, in between dives, looking far too cocky:

This is me in between dives looking slightly less than cocky.  The silver thing around my neck is the bottom of my hood which I turn up so it doesn't choke me.  The Boy calls it my bib.

Dive 2 was peak performance buoyancy.  I have to say my buoyancy wearing a dry suit has been a tad unpredictable so far so I could see potential for disaster with this as the whole point is to demonstrate that you are in control throughout the duration of the dive and complete some skills.

1)  Hover a reasonable distance above the bottom and maintain that distance using breathing.  I've done that before, badly, but this time, while it wasn't perfect, it was pretty damned good, for me. :o)

2) Swim through an obstacle without touching the sides.  As I was the only student for this skill there were no hoops set up underwater so I'd to swim through Allan's legs.  Poor man was probably afraid of what my tank might inadvertently collide with.  I don't know who was more surprised that I did actually manage to swim under him without getting close to any delicate parts.

3) Similar to skill 1), hover but while hovering knock a little rock off the top of a big rock using my regulator and without touching the bottom or the rocks with any part of my body.  I expected this to be my downfall but I did it at the second attempt.  Go me!



What was even more impressive in my opinion was that I didn't start panicking because my mask wasn't sealed properly and kept filling up with water.  However, as I emerged from the water at the end of the dive, it became apparent that I have probably been a bit tense at times while I've been diving.  I realised that I had almost bitten right through the mouth piece after only 9 dives. Look:

The rubber grips were hanging on by a tack at both sides.  Ok, so I haven't been as cool as I thought I was.  A stop off at Aquatron was required on the way home to purchase a replacement. :o(



This is me in the car park, sorry changing facitilies at the end of the dives trying to get a heat despite the biting cold wind:

My dive computer claims it was 6 degrees on the surface but the wind certainly made it feel much colder. At least the water was a slightly warmer 8 degrees.  Thanks to Sean for providing the majority of the photos. It's amazing that I didn't recognise myself in a single one the first time I looked through them.  I was probably hoping I looked slightly more attractive in my dry suit. :o)

I wasn't the only one with a new qualification by the end of the day.  While I was sedately doing my skills, The Boy was doing his PADI Rescue Diver skills.  This involves a lot of role play and messing about pretending to either drown / get lost or save a diver from drowning / find a lost diver.  He had a fun day even if he did complain that he needed his jacket back once he was dressed.

What's next?

Next Saturday we have a chamber dive.  That means a trip on a ferry to Millport to use a decompression chamber and simulate a dive to 50 metres.  As an advanced diver I am only allowed to dive to 30 metres.  Even after passing the Deep Diver speciality 40 meters is the limit.  The deeper you dive, the more likely it is you will suffer from nitrogen narcosis (aka the rapture of the deep) so this is an opportunity to simulate a deep dive in a controlled environment and find out how it affects people.  It will be funny to see whose behaviour is the most outrageous.  Let's hope it's not mine.

We also started our under water photography course on Saturday and we have a couple of dives in Loch Long next Sunday to prove we can take decent photos.  The session last night in the swimming pool was fun so hopefully the dives will be fun as well.

Take only photos, leave only bubbles.  That's the theory anyway.  :o)

A grand day out

Ok, it's taken me a week to write this.  I don't know where the last week has gone.

On 2nd January The Boy and I were sitting having a nice, relaxed New Year drink with our best man, Stevo. As everyone was on holiday on Monday 3rd Jan and public transport looked like it would be running we decided to have a day out in Edinburgh.  The plan was that Stevo would arrive at our house around 11 so that we could catch the 11:30 train.

3rd Jan 2011
11:00 - my bath was run and I was just about to get into it when the door bell rang.  Stevo, who we expected to be late due to a hangover, was on the door step.  The Boy was still in bed.  Oops.  Total misjudgement there.

12:00 - we were on our way to the station where we caught the 12:17 train.  The train wasn't too busy so we had a pleasant journey to Edinburgh Waverley.

Stevo had already googled what's on in Edinburgh while he waited for The Boy to get ready so when we got off the train we walked along Princes Street to the National Galleries of Scotland on The Mound which was featuring an exhibition called The Young Vermeer.  Sadly, there were only 6 pictures in the exhibition but he didn't actually paint very many in his life time.  On the plus side, entry was free and there were plenty of other things to look at.  It was also indoors and warm :o)


Next, we took a stroll through the Christmas fair taking place in Princes Street gardens:

We sampled some mulled wine with brandy which was disappointingly luke warm and wasn't the best I've tasted.  We were going to go on the ferris wheel but in the end we climbed the Scott Monument which was cheaper and afforded much better views than the ferris wheel as it is higher.  The tall, pointed structure behind the ferris wheel in the photo is the Scott Monument.  Unfortunately the 287 steps almost killed Stevo, who has been a stranger to exercise for a while, so he stopped on the 3rd level and waited for us.  The Boy and I went all the way to the top where it was cool, crisp and we could see for miles.  The Boy had never climbed the monument before so that's another piece of Scottish heritage ticked off his list.

There was a bit of discussion about what to do next but in the end we walked out of the gardens and down past Waverley Station to the Edinburgh Dungeon, another tick off The Boy's list.  It was a bit on the expensive side to get in but we enjoyed the experience.  It's all very dark and spooky inside and there are some scary scenarios that you have to walk through after watching actors play out the history behind them. There are also a couple of rides.  I won't spoilt it by giving any more detail than that in case anyone is planning to go there.

By now it was getting on for tea time so we headed off to George Street to our favourite haunt, the Hard Rock Cafe.  We had a lovely meal there and naturally couldn't resist the cocktails.  The boys had New York Strip Steaks and I had Shrimp Linguine.  Stevo had the hugest chocolate dessert while The Boy and I stuck to more modest sweets.  The fact that they'd moved the toilets caused a fair bit of confusion and was a souce of amusement to us as we had an excellent view of confused regulars trying to find them in their new location.  Of course we had to stop by the shop on the way out and I bought myself a t-shirt with my Hard Rock points:

That's not me wearing it by the way, it's a photo from their web site. :o)  The photo doesn't show up the spangly bits.  There are no baggy bits when I wear my one.

We moved from Hard Rock to the Guildford Arms for a last drink as it's near Waverley station.  I think we had 3 or 4 last drinks before we finally went to catch the train.  The Boy likes the real ales they serve and I like the decor and the old fashioned feel of the place.

And finally, we managed to catch the train home just before 9pm.  That's become a challenge now that the line has been extended all the way to Glasgow, the challenge being to stay awake and alert so that you get off at the right station.  Until December 2010 our station was at the end of the line.  Now you could end up  in Helensburgh if you fall asleep.

Of course we were starting to get hungry again by the time we got off the train so we stopped at a new Chinese takeaway that had just opened and took our spoils home to eat them.  It wasn't a great meal.  Must try harder I think.  I don't think it's ever a good idea to stop for food on the way home after being out on the drink.  Nonetheless we all agreed we had a grand day out and we shouldn't wait so long to do it again.