Safety kit in studio, what to include?

Jewelry Discussion
1

After reading one message talking about silver as a health item the
person was talking about the safety kit area of a studio.

This made me think about what should be in a studio related to
health and accidents. I do not have anything in a kit or otherwise
and feel its time to fill this need in my studio.

So my question is what do all of you metal artists out there have
ready in case of accidents? How do you store it and where in the
studio is it kept?

Many thanks,
Sharron in dry and hot Mexico

2

After reading one message talking about silver as a health item the
person was talking about the safety kit area of a studio.

This made me think about what should be in a studio related to health
and accidents. I do not have anything in a kit or otherwise and feel
its time to fill this need in my studio.

So my question is what do all of you metal artists out there have
ready in case of accidents? How do you store it and where in the
studio is it kept?

Many thanks,
Sharron in dry and hot Mexico

3

Cheap clear nailpolish. Three coats on a burn. Works great.

4

Bandaids, large and small. Rubber bands, duct tape, paper towels,
rubbing alchohol, hyrogen peroxide, triple antibiotic, gauze rolls,
blue-ice packs in the fridge. Ch-ch-ch- chia seeds for the eyes
(they gum up and attach foreign matter to themselves, and then plop
out), superglue (for cuts). Tweezers, super-sharp needle thingies
for digging out tiny metal slivers. Your basic cut/scratch/
burn/splinter. There have been times when some anesthetic, and some
needle and thread would have come in handy.

Dar

5

Keep two current fire extinguishers, one just inside and one outside
the studio door. Many people keep them near the source of ignition
(fireplace, torch, stove) but my thought is, not knowing how big the
fire or explosion will be, I might not be able to get that close. Or
want to. Ask your local fire department for a quick training on how
to use a fire extinguisher, most peoplenever have and the written
directions might not make sense in a panic.

I also keep bottled water (for eye flush), bandaids, Advil, and
honey (for burns) on the bench, tucked away. If my studio weren’t in
my basement, I would add some gauze and saline and call it good.

I wear flame retardant shirt when soldering, after burning a hole in
my favorite linen shirt (dropped hot metal) and learned the hard way
to flush out apuncture wound if it doesn’t bleed freely. Hope this
helps, good for you for thinking of it!

Blessings,

Sam Kaffine
Sterling Bliss, llc

6

Cuts need fast cleaning. You need on hand: Clean towels, mild soap,
soft scrub brush, super glue, band aids. Eye wash kit, aloe vera
forburns, and ibuprophen or other pain meds. Margie Mersky

7

I have plenty of running water, some band aids and a large aloe vera
plant (in case of burns - looks good in the studio, too, haha) I
also have white vinegar in case of alkali spills and baking soda for
acid spills. A stout - and long - denim apron to protect my clothes,
rubber gloves, a dust mask and a visor complete my “kit”. I should no
doubt have more, but haven’t yet needed anything else. Just luck, I
suppose!

Janet Barkwith
TheSmilingFoxStudio.com

8 
Cheap clear nailpolish. Three coats on a burn. Works great.

Really? I had not heard of that one.

I would add to the kit Crazy Glue for small cuts.

Elaine
CreativeTextureTools.com

9

Yep. I wrote about it in the 1/28/13 blog post on my website.

Here is the pertinent part:

Teaching at Arrowmont in TN.

At any rate, I was helping a student I’ll call Mylvia. (That’s not
her real name; I changed one letter to protect her identity.) Mylvia
had a lot of energy and some great stories sifted from her career as
a registered nurse.

I was helping her solder a tricky bit on the large-personlitied
brooch she was building, explaining how and why I was heating things,
watching the hottest part of the flame and not paying particularly
close attention to where the tail of the flame was going. After
completing the difficult soldering job, I smugly awaited the
breathless praise for my amazing soldering prowess, resting the side
of my hand on the soldering pan which had of course been thouroughly
heated by the tail of the flame. Mylvia, no doubt alerted by my
schoolgirl shriek, instinctively grabbed my singed hand.

I’ve burned myself enough times to know that this would be bad–not
emergency room bad, but giant-fetal-twin-blister bad. Bad enough
that I wouldn’t get much sleep and showers would really suck.

Now, I am a sucker for a Southern accent, especially when it pours
from the lips of a Southern woman and Mylvia had me transfixed when
she looked me in the eye, gently held my cooked hand and said:

“Professor Sugar, do you trust me?”

“I suppose so.”

“Okay then, I’m going to fix you. Now this trick was taught to me by
a glass artist.”

With that she unscrewed the top of a bottle of clear nail polish
that she had magically scooped from her purse.

“Now you can only use clear, plain nail polish”, she said as she
began to apply it to my burn. “Here’s what I’m gonna do: I’ll apply
three coats, letting each dry before I put on the next. Then you’ll
be good to go.”

I just stood there, feeling her healing breath play across the nail
polish as she dried each coat. After the third and final coat she
screwed the bottle closed and told me that was about it. I could just
go about my day, wash up, work–whatever-- and just let the nail
polish scab slowly flake off over the course of several days at which
point I would be fine. I smiled and nodded, trying to figure out how
to best explain to the attending ER doctor why my burn was covered
with cheap, clear nail polish. Because I was certain that I would be
headed to the ER in the next few hours, despite my original
assessment. Except that it wasn’t hurting really at all. Maybe a
little sting. But the gargantuan blister that I knew was coming just
wasn’t- ditto the throb of heart pain I so sure would be my
companion for a week. I was a believer!

10

I use vanilla extract to pour on burns (along with ice), & super
glue for small cuts.

I also keep a fresh bottle of injectable lidocain and tiny insulin
syringes (with needles) and a suture kit and dressings.

Plus I have a chemical shower and eyewash station.

Paf Dvorak

11 
Ch-ch-ch- chia seeds for the eyes (they gum up and attach foreign
matter to themselves, and then plop out),

Really? That’s fascinating. How do you use them? Just get a handful
and stick them on your eye?

Thanks,

Elaine
CreativeTextureTools.com

12

The most important item: telephone to call 9-1-1.

John

13

Ch-ch-ch-chia seeds for removing foreign objects from eye. I read
about this ages ago in a book about herbal remedies I used to have.
This was in the late 1980’s and I found some Chia plants in the
foothills of the Sandias where I used to hike (and live), that had
gone to seed. I saved some pods and used them every now and then for
over 20 years. Ijust plop one or two in and let them go to work.
They turn real gummy when water hits them, so they work well at
getting things that shouldn’t be in your eye stuck to them, and then
they also slide out easily. Now, there’s a bag of Chi “superfood” in
the kitchen, which makes for some very strange, gummy, gooey, goopy
concoctions. i wouldn’t venture so far as to call them “food”, but
they are nutritious.

Dar

14

Oh yes, the cellphone!

My wife and I on some days text even more than we talk to each other
verbally. My wife really doesn’t resent the time I spend in my
crafting shed (not that I stay more than 2 hours at a time anyway),
because she knows I am only a thought a way. And I can text her if I
ever get hurt.

Generally, before I do something I think is really dangerous, I’ll
set up a simple message, like “HELP!”, and keep the phone open. Then
if I get hurt, all have have to do is push SEND.

Andrew Jonathan Fine

15

Chia seeds are phenomenally nutritious!!! I use them in salads. they
don’t get goopy there because even with olive oil and balsamic
vinegar, it’s apparently not enough liquid. They’re sort of like big
poppy seeds.

Janet in Jerusalem