World's Tiniest Camera!

Ok not really... I DID make a little old-fashioned camera like this:



We went to the neighboring town with a friend to check out the Night of the Arts because I saw that there was a chance to make your own little camera! I jumped at the chance to do that and I'm so happy I did! It was one of the awesomest (yes, that's a word now) things I've made in a long while!

Here's the process in photos. It was really simple, to be honest. You don't need much:
a matchbox
a roll of some sort (2 cm "long")
black marker
a piece of metal slate
Plus all the stuff to develop the picture, including the paper.

As a plus, this whole thing takes under an hour to make and anyone can make one!

Cut out a circle exactly the size of your tube
(which is about 2 cm long)

Blacken the inside of the matchbox and cover the outside of the
box on the inside with black (electrical) tape.

Tape it up all the sides, add a cardboard

"back" to make it light tight and you're

set!

Draw and cut a circle on the metal slate and
in the middle make a small hole, barely
enough to let light through. Tape the metal
on top of the tube.  Make sure it's all the way taped
us so no light gets through!

To take the pictures you need a dark room where you "load" the camera with picture paper (cut it snugly) and cover the hole with some more (electrical) tape. Depending on the light keep the paper exposed for 30 seconds to a minute. I think testing this is the best, since in sunlight 30 seconds should be enough but the darker/cloudier it gets, the longer it will need to "imprint" the paper. Remember, it's surprisingly dark outside (at least it is here!) and keep it on too long rather than not long enough. 

Then you gotta develop the picture. What you actually get is a negative of the picture you just took and after developing it you need to take a picture and convert the picture into a positive (e.g. phone app). I honestly don't know too much about that, so here's a video I found, which explains the developing bit. Or you could just use red wine! 

I think I'll order up some paper and the solutions and have a go again because it was a lot of fun! Or maybe use up some of our red wine :D The picture I took is below along with a picture I took with my phone, which actually turned out blurry for some reason... Oh well. But the picture came out pretty cool in my opinion! What you you think?

Love Rosie <3

P.S. Check out my new(ish) Etsy shop! It's not too stocked yet but it will be! ;)