Extreme Ironing - Your questions answered

[Morag]

Chris (Uwila) and I went to Wraysbury to check out a few things for the ironing. Cameras, lighting, difficulty, logistics etc.

This is what we learned.

1. Attached the iron to the ironing board. I tied a bolt snap to my iron, and clipped it off to a thin piece of metal on the board. It makes it unbalanced, but it is then just one thing to manage, rather than two.

2. My ironing board is metal, with hollow legs. It is very negatively buoyant. This has implications for the descent, and the ascent, but is really helpful for actually ironing.

3. A stable bottom is easier than a silty bottom. Two people manoeuvring a board is easier than one.

4. The photography has to be pretty good to get the diver and ironing board in the same pic.

5. We had a fair amount of ambient light, and the pics without strobe were OK. Not great, but they should do. External strobes worked better. Well lit video was OK.

6. It is impossible to look fabulous and iron at the same time

7. I will be sending my board up after the dive on a lift bag, or something. We were at 8m for about 20mins, even so, with the negatively buoyant board, I was a bit worried about the ascent – I used the line to help me control it. If I had dropped the board, I would have been going up – too quickly. Holding the board with one hand, and the rope with the other made dumping gas out the wing a little tricky.

8. I think a set up dive for all the ironers is essential. How we get them all in the right places may mean that we have a team of ‘predivers’ who can set them up. This is where the possibility of kicking up the viz will occur. I managed to do the set-up, iron, relocate, iron without touching the bottom, but it was a struggle. If you aren’t fairly flat, it will not be easy. The board was not easy to maneouvre around when it was opened. Shut wasn't too bad though. Make sure you knowhow to set it up and collapse it.

9. If you can, I would thoroughly recommend a practice run before 10th Jan. If possible, to the depth you are planning to go to. I know this will be difficult for the 70m rufty tufty ironers, but 10-20m is a good plan. Devise a way to get you, your buddy, and both boards & irons in and out of the water. There will (I hope) be volunteers to help out those who think they may struggle

Thanks, Chris, for your time today. I won't mention the couple of good screws and the adjustment of your nuts in public though

[Beeblebum]

Hi Morag,

Thanks for the heads up.

But from a photographer's perspective, the chorus from The Hippopotamus Song comes to mind.

"Mud, mud, glorious mud
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood
So follow me follow, down to the hollow
And there let me wallow in glorious mud..."

I'll check whether there's an infra-red setting on my Canon

Tim.

[uwila]

As Scubee said, we visited Wraysbury to have a practice run.

Getting the ironing board and iron down safely is much harder than you might imagine, so I suggest everyone has a pracice run if at all possible. We also learned that my little ID number tags were too small, so we will have bigger ones on the day. Also the best angle seems to be with the board at a 45 degree angle to the camera. If you try to get the board running at a constant distance from left to right, you have to go farther back => more back scatter and less even lighting.

Scubee managed a few good ones with ambient light, but those with the strobe were very much better. I learned that 1/60 at F14 is a bit optimistic even with a 17mm lens

Anyhow, if you can be bothered, have a look here for how it went:
Wraysbury Extreme Ironing Practice

Morag - how much will you donate to the RNLI to keep 'that shot' suppressed, and more importantly, how much will anyone else donate to make it see the light of day???
(only kidding - I'm not brave enough to publish that one)

Thanks for being patient whilst I adjusted my nuts, Morag

Chris

[GLOC]

Good effort guys. I was thinking the numbers would be around 6-8" tall!

[Morag]

I totted up how much i had already donated to the RNLI this year, and the amount is astonishing. Having said that, Chris - if 'that pic' ever sees the light of day, you'll never be able to adjust your nuts again

We really do need bigger numbers, and black on white seems to show up better.

The first pic gives a good visualisation of my description of how i attached the iron to the board.

Thanks, Chris.

[Air Guzzler]

Thanks for taking the trouble to practise Morag it just shows how women need the practice........................ run............................................... still running.............................. Away before i get a thump



Just onec serious question what is the YD128 on your board is this our ID for the record.

[Morag]

Thanks for taking the trouble to practise Morag it just shows how women need the practice........................ run............................................... still running.............................. Away before i get a thump



Just onec serious question what is the YD128 on your board is this our ID for the record.

One of the things we were testing was how to identify 150divers. Everyone will be given an ID number to tape onto their board. Whe decided today that they need to be bigger than the ones we had. Probably A5 or A4 size tomake sure they will come out in the pics.

Airguzzler... once or twice, your name was mud this afternoon for suggesting this in the first place

[uwila]

The evidence speaks for itself - just because she is a diver, the lady wife has no excuse to leave to ironing unfinished...

Look closely - Scubee has the little 'iron wiggle' off to a tee and she even uses the steam button!!!
http://www.sterritt.co.uk/Diving/Ironing/Wraysbury.wmv

I shall try A5 numbers next...The problem with A4 numbers is the time it takes to laminate the buggers!!!

Chris

PS This is Scubee and not my lady wife. The Beautiful Hungarian Dwarf does not dive and therefore always does the ironing on time

[Morag]

Adam has just watched that - he shook his head and has declared it 'pointless'

Rather better than Monty who had to stand to iron

[GLOC]

I shall try A5 numbers next...The problem with A4 numbers is the time it takes to laminate the buggers!!!

Or just get waterproof laser printable paper (like some O2 cleaning stickers are made of )