First of all, Thank you so much everyone who responded to my
question about washing enamels! That was a whole slew of really
great Sifting sounds like a good plan to me.
Next question…What kind of respirator do you wear when you are
sifting enamels? I’m going to assume everyone here exercises safe
studio practices. ;o)
I started leafing through my conney safety catalog and there must be
20 pages of respirators! Yike!
Pam East
www.pinzart.com
Enamel Bead Making Made Easy!
Pam, Unless you are into production work where you are doing big
amounts of sifting dust all day long, I think the regular dust masks
will do the job. I find them to be adequate for the average enamel
projects. I bought a package of 50 dust masks at my welding supply
company. Just make sure they are pulled tightly against your face and
squeeze the metal strip to fit tightly over the bridge of your nose.
If you are sifting to remove the 325 fines, it would be wise to make
the stack containers (made from the Rubbermaid cups with lids) like I
wrote about last week. With these you have the fines going into the
empty container at the bottom and not flying all over the room.
Louise @lgillin1
I find a dust mask from the hardware store, or a surgical mask works
ok for this process. Other larger respirator masks are usually
designed for men, and are too large, often rough on the skin causing
rashes, and near impossible to wear with glasses! Fogging up isn’t
conducive to sanity.
Jenny Gore Oz.
3M has introduced a relatively new line of simple masks which when
coupled with a closed container sifting system is fairly effective
and is relatively low cost. Some of them actually have inside rubber
fittings for the nose. I have written them to ask their
recommendations for sifting nonleaded enamels.