we had a very brief thread on safety stuff about ten days ago.
I wanted to reply but I couldn’t find the text i use… but now i
have it and i think it is worth mentioning. “The Artist’s
Complete Health and Safety Guide”, by Monona Rossol, published by
allworth press. the author is a chemist as well as a painter, and
this text is more than a list of what’s bad for you, what’s ok,
what’s good. what’s the difference between a gas, a fume, a
vapor, a mist and why the hell should you care? what’s an
exposure standard, and what’s the threshold limit value of
anything. do you know what the side effects of exposure to, say,
denatured alcohol solvent are? I am a big believer in knowing
the info, and then ignoring what you must… informed ignorance?
this book is good for a dose of healthy paranoia. as a teacher
of mine once said, “paranoia has it’s own intelligence”. one may
well say when you’re putting together a small shop area, “If I
took care of all of this, i would be broke and I’d never get any
work done.” unfortunately there’s a grain of truth in that…
however if one has been in art/craft production for any length of
time, or intends to stay in it for the same, one should know what
the cumulative exposures are. this text is a good place to start.
she has a lot of terrific material on metals, and on metal
finishing processes, materials, etc. just for a sample:
how many people on this list in the US ask for, or ever receive
unasked, a material safety data sheet?
eve wallace evew@netone.com