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January 27, 2006
safer - but still not safe enough
by sven at 8:03 am
Epoxy putty is an amazing sculpting material... But it gives me the willies.
So far, I've discovered several types of putty: plumber's epoxy putty, Magic Sculpt, Apoxie Sculpt, milliput, and Green Stuff. All of these brands come in two parts -- a resin, and a hardening agent -- which you knead together to activate. Working time varies from about 5 minutes to 3 hours, depending on which product you use. When the putty dries, it's extremely sturdy -- but can easily be sawed, drilled, or sanded.
However, epoxy resins are extremely toxic. This fact seems to frequently be downplayed or ignored by manufacturers and hobbyists. This fellow, for instance, in demonstrating how to mix resin and hardener, doesn't wear any gloves. Elsewhere on his site, he talks about using his saliva (!!) to smooth the putty. ...That's a great way to ingest toxins -- don't do it!
I've been trying to research how to approach toxins in the art studio intelligently. My best plan at present is to wear vinyl safety gloves, a respirator rated for organic solvents, and set up a desktop airbrush spray paint booth to vent fumes to the outside. At present, I have the respirator, and am using latex gloves. I still need to get a spray booth, and the gloves should be upgraded.
To check if my plan makes sense, I consulted Kim Graham -- a truly amazing sculptor whom I met at the art marketing workshop in November. Kim recently left working in the special effects / fantasy sculpting industry -- largely because she was beginning to develop sensitivities to some of the sculpting media. (She's moving into fine art ceramic figures and Art Nouveau fireplace facades -- please, look at her stunning website!) ...She's known people who've died from misuse of art materials -- so I asked about that, too. Here's what she wrote me:
"You have taken all the necessary safety precautions. The vinyl gloves are your best protection. Magic Sculpt, Apoxie and Plumbers putty are all Epoxy that has been loaded with some powders like talc. The resins can seep into your skin, and over time cause nerve death in your fingertips. If you are only using this stuff once or twice a week you will be fine with just gloves, but if you are using it constantly, all the precautions are a good idea. A good rule of thumb is if you can smell it, you are sucking it into your lungs.It is the liquid form of Epoxy that will give you some real trouble. That and the volatiles used to thin it, like paint thinner, Lacquer thinner and Acetone. These are the most deadly and the ones that lead directly to the deaths of those people. These substances shred cells and do it quickly. All of the precautions should be in place every time you use them! Lacquer Thinner and Acetone are the most dangerous. Their purpose is to breakdown molecular bonds aggressively. The two people that I knew, and I hesitate to call them friends, did some downright stupid things. I watched in horror when one of them used acetone to wash his face and hands like it was water! The other was a professional fiberglasser and refused to wear a respirator, even when I bought him one, because it was uncomfortable. His job was to spray epoxy gel coats onto furniture. In order for epoxy to be put through an air gun it has to be cut 30 to 50% with acetone. Essentially he was atomizing this toxic brew and breathing it wholesale into his lungs. True, you will not be handling epoxy in quantities that will hurt you immediately, just be warned that this stuff resides in fat cells and can stay in the body for years. It is the accumulated damage that can get you."
Sobering words of caution. Stopmo folk using epoxy putty for puppet construction, heed the warning... "nerve death in your fingertips!"
Last night I tried working with plumber's epoxy putty outside while wearing the respirator and latex gloves. It's better than what most people would do -- but I'm still uncomfortable. I have the sense that resin fumes are probably passing through the latex. My hands feel dry, and I'm just really hoping that it's due to the plastiline and other materials I handled during the evening, not the epoxy.
Also, I could occasionally smell the epoxy through the respirator. That's not too surprising -- a respirator cuts down on how much vapor gets through, but it's not 100% effective. Even so, I'm getting increasingly antsy to get that spray booth. It'll make me feel better when I have the means to forcably suck the fumes away from myself and vent them outside.
posted by sven | January 27, 2006 8:03 AM | comments (7) | categories: sculpture, stopmo
Comments
Hey! Yeah, after using Epoxy my hands are somewhat dry, so I always hurry and wash my hands like 5 times... I got the 'hobby' epoxy putty, which comes with a liquid that when you apply it to your hands, it becomes 'invisible gloves', you know, like chemical gloves or something. Anyway, I'd recommend using thick gloves and doing it outside or in a room with a LOT of ventilation.
Posted by: Ale at January 27, 2006 8:59 AM
Please get something other than latex as soon as possible. I suggest nitrile gloves. I get them from a friend who sells 3M safety products and use them primarily for cooking since I'm a huge wuss when handling raw meat. ;-)
Nitrile will block the solvents better than latex, and yes, latex is slightly porous and will break down with some organics. Vinyl is a good option too but I like the nitrile better because it's easier for me to feel things with it.
The fume hood is the best thing you can do, along with the respirator.
Posted by: Dan at January 28, 2006 1:34 AM
Hey Svenster! Great postage! You're making me really nervous about epoxy putties. I generally use latex gloves for mixing it, but then I take them off for sculpting. Guess that's gotta stop! Don't know if you saw it or if it would work well for you, but I did a blog a while back on papier mache "composition" used for making puppet heads. probably a lot like Creative Paperclay, but it sounds fun to mix up: http://www.darkstrider.net/may28_2005.html. Scroll down to "Of Puppetry and Papier Mache". Hey, it might just take the right kind of sculpting approach to work this stuff... it's what Scott Radke uses, and he gets awesome results.
Posted by: Darkstrider at January 30, 2006 7:24 AM
Also, here's a site I found where you can buy the chalk whiting used in the papier mache composition: http://www.naturalpigments.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=510-11WHCLC
Posted by: Darkstrider at January 30, 2006 7:30 AM
Thanks for the tip on Nitrile gloves, Dan! After lots and lots of researching online, I found what I consider to be an authoritative aswer to the question, "What kind of safety glove should I use with epoxy?" The answer: Nitrile!
The most active discussions about epoxy safety seem to be within the community of folks who make boat hulls. They don't seem to have arrived at a conclusion. The magic search terms that got me an answer from the medical establishment were "epoxy allergy". Here's the relevant link: http://dermnetnz.org/dermatitis/epoxy-allergy.html
...And here's the relevant quote: "To reduce exposure, use special gloves (nitrile rubber or nitrile butatoluene gloves) to protect the hands. Rubber gloves do not help as the resin penetrates through the glove in 30 seconds. Vinyl and neoprene rubber are not totally protective."
I've bought a box of 100 gloves for about $20 at a local medical supplies store. I wear them (and my "organic solvents" respirator) every time I work with epoxy now. [I see that you can also purchase these things off of Amazon.com.]
Posted by: sven at February 11, 2006 2:10 PM
Darkstrider: Thanks for reminding me about Ronnie Burkett's papier mache article! I've read it a couple of times before -- but this time the part that leapt out at me was that you can cast using "composition". I'm eager to give that a try now.
The trick of casting in a soft latex mold, freezing, removing the icy cast and putting it in the oven -- sounds very intriguing.
Actually, I wound up losing several hours researching Ronnie Burkett's puppetry. Wow, does he ever have great looking puppets! I went so far as to order a copy of "Tinka's New Dress" from Amazon.com. [Can't say when I'll get around to reading it, though... Sigh.]
Posted by: sven at February 11, 2006 2:24 PM
I asked how to remove epoxy from my hands. I got this article which tells how to prevent this from happening, but not how to remove once you have the problem.
Posted by: jo pitzer at September 29, 2006 2:33 AM