Wire Wool Spinning…

Despite being really interested in Long Exposure photography (and having all the gear to do it) – until recently, I’d never got round to spinning some steel wool and capturing it. I didn’t need go anywhere special for this first experimental foray, (just my local recreational park) and simply bought some cheap items from a local charity shop in order to make the apparatus…

The apparatus consists of a small metal balloon whisk, some strong cord, a mini rolling pin that I’ve turned into a handle and a lighter – oh and of course some medium-fine grade steel wool…

Once I’d got everything I needed I simply waited until it was dark and wandered down to the park and set up – which consisted of setting the camera up to run from a wireless remote control whilst on a tripod and then adjusting the exposure values to what I needed.

Then it was simply a question of standing in front of the camera (a good distance of around 20 metres) lighting a small bundle of steel wool that I’ve placed within the whisk (it is highly combustible btw) and then spinning it (like one end of a skipping rope). Trying different angles and orientations each time and triggering the camera just after the start of the spin got some great results…

The Image at the top of the page was the very first attempt (very happy with that!), below are a few further spins that I am really happy with too.

 

Wire Wool Spinning Orb

‘Orb’

 

Wire Wool Spinning - Orb Shearing

‘Orb Shearing’

 

Wire Wool Spinning - Umbrella

‘Umbrella’

 

I then did a little additional editing to create a couple of ‘Mirror Effect’ Wall Art pieces – These are titled: ‘Mask’ and ‘Fish’.

Wire Wool Spinning - Wall Art

Wall Art: ‘Mask’ & ‘Fish’

 

I plan to do some more ‘spinning’ – with some different shapes and locations – and hopefully get a friend involved so we can video it to see how it looks in ‘the making of’ – so watch this space…