John Hesselberth on sun 8 sep 02
There have been several messages on this subject debating the pros and
cons of various types of air cleaners. To me these miss the point. If
dust gets into the air so it can be picked up by an air cleaner it is
already in your lungs also. Yes, it might be at a lower level than it
otherwise would be without an air cleaner, but you have missed the best
way to control dust--keep it from forming!
Work wet, damp clean, and perform dust-generating activities out of
doors!
Air cleaners should only be considered a backup--definitely not a
primary means of keeping the studio dust free. I sense from some of the
posts over the last week or two there is a feeling that if they have a
good air cleaner they can sand greenware, toss glaze materials around,
etc. with impunity because "the filter is built to handle it".
Melinda Collins published a great "rant" the other day that says it
better than I can. I've taken the liberty of duplicating what she said
below in case you missed it.
> To me to the problems, at least the major ones are:
>
> 1 walking on clay, therefore making dust, tracking it all over
> 2 tryiing to sweep up the dust, creating problems
> 3 stirring up other various chemicals, glazes, etc, just a generally
> dusty, nasty floor and shoes too
> 4 fatigue sets in, either after working all day and coming home to
> the studio, or working all day in the studio, and just walking out,
> falling into bed
> 5 some general slovenly habits.
> 6. finding a place to work, sometimes in a small area.
>
> My 2 cents:
> 1. it doesn't matter how small your work area is...closet, bathroom,
> shop or nice area, professional quality.......treat it as a business.
> If you work for someone, or even flip burgers...you don't just walk off
> at night with eveything thrown all over, with bbq sauce all spilled in
> the floor. IT IS A BUSINESS....treat it as such. From what I read
> around here, everyone really wants respect for their work...why not
> repect your own workspace and your own BUSINESS AREA.
>
> 2. I keep my concrete part slathered in acrylic wax....it has built up
> so that now, a simple sponge wipe up will get it.....
>
> 3. I am fortunate to have an open air studio with large gravel area,
> where "level" doesn't matter, for some things, but even when I
> didn't....I didn't just sit in the studio and sand away......my wheel
> was in my living room with mexican tile floor, in a kid's swimming
> pool, I painted flat black, just so it would look so pathetic, and I
> kept my feet on my wheel pedal and a brick on the other side...also
> flip/flops stayed there too...dust is controllable.....
> 4. what rule said every studio floor had to be concrete???? Isn't
> there anyone on this list who can innovate in a low tech, cheap way?
> Even renters can pull up the carpet, roll it up, and re-install
> later....why not a pump sprayer to spray down the gravel in the kiddy
> pool?
>
> 5. As many intellegent, educated people as there are who solve
> problems frequently on a molecular level, and work with extremely
> sophisticated decorative and firing techniques, can't we come up with
> at least a well sealed concrete floor with a bucket and a big sponge
> around to swipe up the worst of it at night for 90 seconds before going
> to bed? And a little gravel to spray down with a pump sprayer? Why
> does it take big expensive filter systems?
>
> 5.5 I'm not an expert in much, but I do know that if everything is
> kept off the floor, and up on any kind of legs, cleaning the floor is
> easy....
>
> 6. I think a little innovation and creativity is in order
> here....doesn't anyone have any good ideas that are outside the norm?
>
> 7. People write in and complain about their glazes not doing right,
> but the bisque sits around in a nasty studio. what do you expect?
>
> 8. there must be some good ideas about studio organization and
> utilization besides just sweeping it up with a broom and spreading it
> all over....This is a somewhat boring topic, compared to creativity,
> but where is the creativity in a studio situation, besides just
> ordering a bunch of expensive, unnecessary motorized, filtered electric
> stuff?
>
> My rant over....Melinda
Go Melinda!! I'm nominating you for "best rant of the year"!
Regards,
John
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