Jumping into a new project is exciting! I’ll be descending into the deep abysmal sea guided William Beebe and Otis Barton. Together Beebe and Barton descended a half-mile deep into the ocean, breaking all previous human descent records. They did so in a craft build by Barton and dubbed by Beebe, the “Bathysphere” (bathos), “depth” (sphaira), “sphere”. I discovered their amazing exploits through the book “Descent: The Heroic Discovery of the Abyss” by Brad Matson.

I am approaching the project from the bottom up. Starting in the deep-end, attempting to recreate the gelatinous, transparent denizens of the deep with inflatables. Plastic sheeting, a half-baked idea and a crimping iron are my current deep sea exhibition equipment. As I haven’t built an inflatable before, there’s obviously going to be a learning curve.
Here’s the first attempt …