When "normal folk" (i.e. not PMN members ) see my diatom arrangements many ask how I move the diatoms around and hazard a guess that it's done with a pin or needle. Cue astonishment when I explain most diatoms are far smaller than the point of a typical pin.
After a real bad run of failures trying to make hand-pulled glass needles, I finally regained my mojo today and knocked up a goodly batch. I've never actually measured the tips of these needles before - so I had a look. A fresh needle point tapers to a micron or less. After some use selecting diatoms it wears down to a rounded point of about 2-3 microns and will stay that way for a long time (usually until I clumsily break it).
Here's a rough composite comparing a glass needle to some other "pointy things" I had kicking around. These are laid over a strew of large diatoms from Newport Beach to give a scale comparison. Images all taken with a 10x mitty on a 135mm tube lens and camera in crop sensor mode.
Glass needle vs. other pointy things
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
-
- Posts: 73
- Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2016 2:40 pm
- Location: Canada
- Contact: