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Magweno — PPE Explained - Working Safely In A Studio
Published: 2013-06-10 19:00:36 +0000 UTC; Views: 9758; Favourites: 148; Downloads: 33
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Have you suddenly discovered the INCREDIBLE world of arts and crafts? Love getting your fingers dirty with some HANDS ON CRAFTING? Don't forget your PPE!PPE stands for Personal Protective Equipment and is an essential tool in your studio. It is an important investment for your future health and will ensure many years of enjoyable pain free crafting!
It may seem like a hassle putting on rubber gloves every time you want to clean your airbrush, or finding your mask and goggles when you just want to sand something quickly, but you and your body will thank you for it! When you sand something like resin the particles go into the atmosphere and you inevitably inhale them. Those particles can't be processed by your lungs, and will stay there. Imagine if you inhaled loads - it gets really dangerous.
Did you know that acetone can cause central nervous system complications and put you in a COMA if you absorb too much into your skin? Short term it causes redness, irritation and dryness of the skin. It's horrible stuff - but oh so fantastic for cleaning brushes! If you want to use acetone you need to wear a VAPOUR MASK and GLOVES!
Maybe you don't use acetone but use some other chemical - how can you find out information about it quickly? Well, usually dangerous materials have warning signs on the side that let you know if they are irritant, flammable, corrosive and lots of other things. You can see all of the warning signs and what they mean here!
Looking to buy a chemical but want to know how dangerous it is first? Look for the MSDS sheet! MSDS stands for Material Safety Data Sheet, it lets you know what PPE you should wear and what all the risks are. A quick google search of "[material name] msds" should throw up a few .pdfs or webpages. Spend a bit of time reading them and learning HOW to read them - they are important! Some websites that sell chemicals have extra handy links right to the MSDS on the product page! See here , the item, how to buy and the MSDS sheet. Fantastic!
Links to places that sell PPE in the UK
Screwfix.com
MBFiberglass - Also sell a vast range of casting and moulding equipment
3M Direct - 3M are an enormous company and are available in over 200 countries.
Mouldlife.net - I buy all casting and moulding supplies from these guys and although they don't have 3M PPE just yet they are becoming official distributors soon.
Tomps - Also casting & moulding equipment and materials.
Your shopping list:
Nitrile gloves
Barrier cream (Kleenall , Swarfega ,Gramos/Kleenall )
Respiratory mask (Heavy duty for fumes and lightweight for dust and paint mist .
Apron
Goggles
High performance heavy duty hand cleaner (Swarfega , CTS , Kleenall , E-POX-EE (US only) .)
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PLEASE READ ALL OF THIS if you are planning to make and cast art dolls! It is boring but it is IMPORTANT! Take care of yourself and your body, needle pricks and scalpel slices are bad but cancer and nervous system failure are A LOT WORSE and that's an understatement.
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Comments: 33
For those doing serious sanding, you can buy particle filters for the half-face respirators that are way cheaper than the chemical filters but also more effective than the masks
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I've been thinking of doing some resin casts, so this is awesome! Thanks. I'm glad I have most of the stuff listed here. I need to buy an apron, or wear my totally thrashed clothes.
Right now, the only thing two things I use are the thumb guard and one kevlar glove. (The hand holding the piece I'm carving) Unfortunately it doesn't stop a stab.
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I tend to wear trashed clothes but the waterproof apron is great for when I'm airbrushing, I tip out the paint when I'm cleaning it and swill it with water then tip onto a towel I keep on my lap, sometimes it leaks through and I come out with bizarre damp patches all over my jeans. Not very attractive.
Ah the glove will at least help a bit!
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Awesome safety tutorial
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For sure! Make sure you have some gloves too! ^_^
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Yes, very important! I always use nitrile gloves when working with epoxy, and mix it in my garage.
I wear glasses, and dusk masks (not the stormtrooper kind) cause them to fog up which is really annoying, and makes it hard to see. I am making a BJD from paperclay now, and it requires a lot of sanding, and I don't really want to do to much without a mask, even though the sandings tend not to float in the air to much and I am doing it outdoors. Does anyone know of a solution to this problem? (no I can't take off my glasses or I can't see much at all)
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I wear glasses too, if you have a disposable mask with a filter in it the air exhales from that rather than around the sides. If you look at this page: [link] The ones with filters, 8812 and ffp2, if worn right, won't cause a problem.
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I wear glasses also. I have a container of "Cat Crap" which I purchased when I went skiing. It is an antifog compound and it works really good when I'm wearing goggles. Not sure if it available in the UK, but it is on the 'net.
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I don't have a fogging problem for some reason, guess I'm just lucky! I've seen products like that around though, North central Scotland is a bit of a skiing hot spot so there are quite a few places to go in and have a look if needs be. Thanks for the recommendation
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I think it is a wonderful tutorial you gave there.
I kind of new, that I should have something for working with resin (when I ever get around it) but I never knew what would be the most important
Thanks for sharing this.
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Disposable nitrile or latex gloves and, depending on the resin, a vapour mask! Definitely the most important if you're just starting out.
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This is so useful. I did my first resin cast today and silicone mold the day before. ...there was a bit of a finger burning sensation and horrid aftersmells. Not enough to badly damage, but enough to tell me that more needs to be done for my health. So this is much appreciated.
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There are LOADS of different types of resin. I used to use a clear-casting resin that had horrific fumes, but the fast-cast system I use now has no smell at all (sometimes I'm even more wary of that though, carbon monoxide has no smell either). I'd recommend getting some nitrile or latex gloves and a vapour mask. You'll find it clears your head once you get used to breathing through it. It might seem like overkill but it isn't!
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Sure thing! Also I have a question, if you don't mind;
I'm making a resin pin badge for a friend who's currently over from America. It's been curing for 24 hours. It's a disastrously thick, slow resin and I added what I believed to be a reasonable amount of catalyst(?). I say "24 hours", it's now 32.5 hours and it's still very tacky. Either I've done the equation wrong or resin takes longer to cure than I've been let on. It's not got any instructions with it, which is a pain. Maybe you could shed some light onto my predicament?
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Sounds like it could have reacted with your mould material. What's the mould made out of (if silicone is it rtv or addition cure)? If it hasn't reacted with something it will cure eventually, but you need to make absolutely sure you get your ratios right and don't add too much or too little of either part. It will have had the mix ratio written on it. It sounds like horrid stuff to work with, did you get it online? (Can I see a link if so?)
The resin I use is a fast cast system [link] (I actually use rencast 52 but it's OOS in small quantities atm and 53 will work fine for you) it cures white in about 15 minutes, faster if it's warm. It's very low viscosity, sort of like milk when just mixed. Great stuff, very hard to get bubbles trapped in it and it's cheap. No fumes either!
I just had a thought, is it clear resin you're using? Clear casting is an entirely different ball-game.
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Yeah it's clear resin D: and I used a silicone mold I made.
Silicone: [link]
mold release: [link]
black pigment: [link]
resin: -not sure. I've just looked at the bottle and it hasn't got a name anywhere. Someone bought it off Amazon for me and I can't find it again. It's basically a "water clear resin", it's incredibly thick and it smells very strong.
in mixing the resin I put in iron powder and the catalyst at relatively equal volumes and a little black pigment, which was probably too much anyway. It doesn't have a ratio on the packet for the resin either..I'd watched various videos and estimated the quantities.
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That is tin silicone and reacts with clear casting resin 
You don't need mould release for silicone moulds unless they have massive undercuts or you're casting silicone.
I'm familiar with the Polylite 32032 clear casting system, it's a polyurethane resin [link] Sounds like yours is too. Very, very bad practice for it not to have a brand or info on it, I'd be super wary. Did it come with a little bottle of MEKP catalyst? Polylite 32032 needs 1% addition by weight so 50g of resin would need 0.5g of catalyst. (Notice it's weight not volume, it may be liquid but it's still measured by weight. The two part system I use is 1:1 but polyol weighs less than isocyanite so the volumes are different.)
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awwhh noo..., I was thinking of getting Easyflow resin instead. What products do you recommend? It seems like a waste to have to dump what I have.. especially seeing as it was a birthday present that I've only just used for the first time :/
Is there a resin you know of that will work with my silicone?
it came with a small bottle. Doesn't really say MEKP catalyst on it though...and the labels are rather dodged up from liquid damage... sounds dodgier the more I talk about it.
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Don't dump it, just make your mould out of something else! The general rule of thumb is casting hard mould soft, casting soft mould hard, so if you want to cast something hard like resin, use a soft mould material. Soft is anything flexible really, it doesn't have to be silicone and there are lots of alternatives. Here is a tutorial for casting clear resin in a latex mould: [link] Latex is very cheap and very safe to use. You need plaster of paris for that tutorial too. You will need mould release if casting resin in a latex mould and the mould will only last for about 10-15 casts.
I use tin silicone! It's great, it's cheap, it's perfectly fine to use with most resins, just not clear ones. In fact all my dragon fox moulds are made of exactly the same silicone, from the same site
Hehe it does sound really dodge! No matter, I'd say stick to a 0.5-1.5% ratio by weight.
If you watch this walkthrough: [link] you'll see he warms his mould up. Warming the mould will speed up the cure if you're in a rush! Also DO NOT let any water come into contact with the resin or even have it near the resin. Resin is really sensitive to water, it will go foamy.
If you have problems with bubbles in the resin you can pass a heat gun over the top of it a couple of times to get them to raise to the surface, or use a match, but be VERY VERY careful, resin is VERY easy to ignite. I've set fire to moulds before. It's scary.
I got my first kg of silicone as a birthday present too, but I had made a wishlist online so I got exactly what I asked for heh
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you have been so extraordinarily helpful. I can't thank you enough.
I've discovered my silicone mold is soft... It's flexible at least. I'm not sure that's just down to it being 0.5 cm thick though :l my resin thing appears to be floppy too mind; but as you say it must have reacted badly.
and yeah I made a list too xD evidently I didn't know enough at the time. I didn't see anywhere any information about issues between silicones and resin. My only concern was cost and bubble trouble.
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Silicone is classed as soft, that pink sil is a pretty low shore hardness as well so it will be pretty floppy. You may have distortion issues but if it is an open mould as long as its on a flat surface it should be fine. Resin should cure hard so it is classed as such, IE you could not cast resin in a plaster mould because you wouldn't be able to get it out!
*SovaeArt told me about the tinsil/clear resin issue a long time ago when I was picking her brains about casting eyes. Then I did it anyway and found out for myself! I've had never ending problems with clear resin but since I bought my stuff there's actually been loads more introduced on the mbfg website and obvs I've changed suppliers so I might give Mouldlife a ring and pick their brains too!
If you need any more help with which materials to use just drop me a note
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Hi again! I'm about to buy some resin, the one you recommended with my tin Silicone ( www.mouldlife.net/rencast-fc-5... ). Might sound like a stupid question, but will I need to buy both the Polyol and isocynate? I'm assuming one is the resin, the other is the catalyst. I just want to make sure :E
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that makes sense! And yeah it's an open cast on a flat surface.
Thankyou again! I will be back if I find myself in need of your expertise once more:D
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Thanks so much for posting this! A lot of people don't seem to realize that these chemicals are dangerous, so I hope every beginner sees this post before they hurt themselves...
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Sometimes we all need refreshers in good habits to have, I see a lot of pros being gung-ho about safety because they've been doing it for so long and think they know best. No matter how experienced you are it is still relevant and important information.
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This is really great! I will make good use of it when I finally set up a real work shop.
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