Archive for the “studio safety” Category

I’m trying to keep a safe studio for my own health and wellbeing since working with certain ceramic materials can be toxic. Every so often I get a little paper cut or other small wound that doesn’t look terrible, but hurts like the dickens - especially with constant use when working with clay. When this happens, I can’t exactly wear a bandaid since it would come off due to the wet nature of working with clay. My hands are constantly in water or clay or both. My most recent wound happened 2 days ago. I was removing a stilt from the bottom of a ceramic piece and it slipped and cut my thumb. Not fun.

Finger cots to the rescue. Though I don’t like wearing them, they do the job. And yes, they look a little bit like a condom. Oh gee, I hope I don’t get a ton of spam from this post! They’re not terribly comfortable, much like I imagine the real thing would feel…. But, the cots do serve as a barrier between potential chemicals and what not finding free entry into my body via the cut.

Et Voila! What other safety precautions do I take? I use a respirator when mixing glazes, gloves when glazing, glasses and a mask when sanding greenware & bisque, and goggles when checking cones in the kiln. As an independent artist, I rely on my health to have a long career. It’s really important to take care of my body, especially if I were to find myself without health insurance some day. My husband currently has me covered, but he dreams of being self employed some day and our health coverage could change at anytime.

Meanwhile, I attended my monthly garden club meeting last night and visited 3 amazingly beautiful gardens. I’m getting the bug to really dig in the soil and plant. Sunday, I’m going to play in a different kind of mud and plant a small vegetable garden near the back door of our house. I’ll need to fence it off to keep the dogs out of it but the rewards of fresh salsa and herbs will be wonderful come July and August!

Till later,

~Cynthia