When you dive for antique bottles you often end up collecting a lot of other things as well — the tops of 17th century bottles, attractive shards of pottery, worn handles from teacups.

Bermudian diver Steven McPhee decided that rather than let his collection of pieces gather dust, he would turn them into art.

Mr. McPhee's first art show 'Scenes from the Seafloor' will be opening today (Friday) at the Masterworks Gallery at the Botanical Gardens and will run until July 7. It is part of the Masterworks Artists in the Garden series.

"I have been looking at the shards for years and wondering what to do with them," said Mr. McPhee. "They show a lot of history.

"I decided I would try and recreate what I see on the bottom of the ocean. When I go diving I will see all these broken bottle tops and things on the bottom."

He makes his sea floor scenes using white cement to make the sea bottom, beach sand and various objects such as parts of tea cups, pottery, bottle tops, and shells.

"I started putting the scenes in frames and thought they looked pretty cool," said Mr. McPhee. "Then they were fun to make so I kept going."

Mr. McPhee is new to the art world. He is a commercial diver by profession. He is also the author of 'A Guide to Collecting Old Bermuda Bottles', which he published in 2008.

He started bottle diving not long after qualifying as a commercial diver several years ago.

"Rather than go out on shipwrecks all the time, I started diving in the harbour," he said. "I didn't have a boat or anything. Almost immediately I started finding bottles. The more you look, the more you find."

He said most of the bottles he has found are in just 15 feet of water. There are no restrictions on taking bottles, although you cannot take them off shipwreck sites.

"They are just bottles that have been thrown overboard or found over time," he said.

Mr. McPhee has found bottles that date back to Bermuda's discovery.

"You can find bottles from that period on up to the beginning of the 1900s. Those are the type of bottles you are looking for. After that they are machine made."

His earliest bottles are from the 1690s.

"I have two and they are called onion bottles," he said. "There is one version of the bottle which is an earlier predecessor which is the shaft & globe bottle."

Mr. McPhee said it wasn't difficult finding material for his art, because it is all just there scattered across the sea bottom.

The show opens today at Masterworks, from 5.30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and runs until July 7.

For more information, contact Masterworks at 236 2950 or e-mail mworks@logic.bm.