Teaching and safety

You want pictures of the GOOD behavior. >You want pictures of the
GOOD behavior. 

Elaine, If it were that simple. Stories impact to a degree and most
timesthey will be forgotten with time. Pictures as they say are
worth a 1000words. Pictures of eyes I could see kids today adorning
them with jewelry or graffiti. Pictures of a nice environment speaks
of an ideal tostrive for, and subconciously would imprint, but would
not give incentives to not do something stupid (and yes I mean
stupid). If not shown what a disaster looks like, there is no real
message imprinted in memory. I’ve seen a kid in a Chemistry lab
reach for reagent grade acids over the top of a lit bunsen burner.
Thesame lab, the young TA bringing out Nitiric acid and having
students get a whiff of it, and laughing when they collapsed on the
floor coughing. The later I reported to the department head. Next
day the pictures of lungs burned by fumes fro9m acids were shown to
us. Telling students in a metals class about a bandsaw breaking and
causing severe injury, was not as good as seeing the arm that
wasnearly severed. Hair is another thing. How long is it? I was
fortunate enough to be able once to repel off the great arch in Zion
National Park. A good friend of mine had very long hair. She tied it
back. Ya know pony tails can go where you don’t want them to go.
Dangling nearly 200 feet in the air on a skinny piece of rope while
your good friend has her hair caught up in the rigging is not an
experience I ever want to repeat. I was experienced but not enough. I
had to go over to her line and literally tieon her extra rope early
so we could get her untangled. In the end, I used a pocket knife to
give her a hair cut. It took nearly an hour to get things under
control. All this while dangling what is 20 stories inthe air. It is
a visual I will never forget. The sheer terror of it all is well
imprinted in my tiny pea brain. Not all students will ignore safety,
but there are those who will be the subject of the next disaster
photo. Photos that will communicate better than any spoken word.
Perfect is a nice ideal, but reality is remembered.

Sorry for the rant (again) If it saves one person from doing
something stupid like ignoring safety, It will make me feel better.

My first teaching job, at a college, I had another jewelry teacher
teaching along with me. She was incredibly messy and careless.
Didn’t give a shit for her tools or her environment. I had to come
in an extra half hour early just to clean the studio for there would
be soda cans all over the soldering table, tools and supplies left
here and there. I had to clean out the big closet, and there was a
glass container full of blue acid with a cover. I heard stories from
her former students, who were my students that she would etch silver
in that acid, and put her fingers into the acid to pluck the silver
pieces out. I still can’t stopshuddering, 15 years later at the
sheer gall she had. D. R, as I will call her, died not long after,
of cancer. The cancer was a direct result from her careless habits.
Soon after, her partner was disposing off D. R’s tools, and they
were a sorry mess. I had to throw out quite a bitfor it was damaged
beyond repair. Even the ring mandrels were shit. One thing I did
keep and use is a 50lb anvil from 1911. Had that refinished and I
will keep that to the day I die. Oh, that glass container the blue
acid was in, I now use it as a water dish, next to my pickle pot.
One last lovely tidbet - there was a live gas line in that room. It
took probably a good 7-8 years for the college to finally look at
the jewelry lab for safety. The maintenance guys were horrified at
the live gas line - anyone could turn it on and the natural gas
spewing into the air. I used to get sick twice a year from the
unhealthy air with no ventilation. Not so when a lovely, gleaming
stainless steel wonder of a soldering bench with built-in
ventilation was put in. The old soldering bench was all wood, and
badly charred in many places. Thanksfully, I don’t teach there
anymore. Joy

Hi Gang,

I’m of two minds about the horror stories. Yeah, I do tell them,
but pictures? No.

I watched a good friend of mine in school put her hand through a
table saw. Saw her set up wrong, out of the corner of my eye, (it
was 2 AM before a crit) wondered why it looked funny, and then just
couldn’t get my mouth moving fast enough. I still have nightmares
about that one.

I’d give a lot of not to have that memory.

I’ve seen pictures of, or been involved in the fringes of some real
horror shows. No thanks. I won’t inflict that on someone else.

(Yes, I’ve sponged blood off the ceiling courtesy of a buffer. And I
do tell them about it. But pictures? No.)

That said, I do really try to emphasize safety, but not at the cost
of trauma. It’s been my experience that the students who are most
dangerous are the ones who are afraid of the tools. I want
respect, not terror.

My folks were both chemistry professors, long ago. Mom had a really
good technique for basic “where’s the exit? Where’s the
extinguisher?” stuff. She just said to them that she’d periodically
ask random students, at random points in any given day to point out
the nearest exit, or the nearest fire extinguisher, or the nearest
shower. etc. It counted as part of their grade. I do the same thing.
Not as methodically as I should, but I do try. I’ve noticed that it
does help make them more aware of where the emergency gear is, and
what’s available.

As far as cyanide tasting goes, yeah, there are a lot of really
stupid things that may not kill you immediately. My mom tells
stories about washing her hands with benzene in the lab, back in the
day. I expect my father would have as well, except he died of cancer
when I was a kid.

Regards,
Brian

PS. >Mom also made a really amazing baked alaska. It’s a lot easier
when you have liquid nitrogen in the kitchen… No, I really didn’t
fall that far from the tree, did I?

(lots of good points deleted here...) Photos that will communicate
better than any spoken word. Perfect is a nice ideal, but reality
is remembered. Sorry for the rant (again) If it saves one person
from doing something stupid like ignoring safety, It will make me
feel better. 

Hello, Agnes, my favorite cat lady. As one cat lady to another, I
agree totally. Moreover, good safety habits, if used regularly,
amount to the rehearsal that will be automatically performed when a
disaster does strike – a well-studied phenomenon. I practice safety
simply because I’m a coward, however.

PS - I would love to see the piece that you make and donate to
shelters in memorium for your kitty.

  • Lorraine
That said, I do really try to emphasize safety, but not at the
cost of trauma. It's been my experience that the students who are
most dangerous are the ones who are *afraid* of the tools. I want
respect, not terror. 

Yes, exactly.

Elaine
CreativeTextureTools.com/news

Elaine, If it were that simple. 

Worked for me. I taught jewelry making for 20 years at 5 art centers
and never had a student injured.

Elaine

Lets put it this way - I was quite black and blue in my early years
as a jewelry teacher. now, older and wiser, I make my students do
more and I don’t let myself get hurt so much anymore. i’m also more
firm with them up. Experience really helps.

Joy

agree. I once saw a graphic picture of someone’s long blonde hair
which had caught in some shredder, been hacked off and left there,
presumably while the victim was rushed to the ER. I printed it,
taped it next to the shredder - no discussion or training needed.
1000 words, no?

Sam Kaffine
Sterling Bliss, llc

I did not say blood, but safety: do the right thing.

Best regards