Metal clay safety

I got another wave of horror stories from my last posting about metal clay safety. Classrooms full of kiln fumes are what really get me. Â I got a few scary stories about instructors doing the first firing of a new kiln in a classroom; this is so unprofessional that I can’t even fathom it. We often order new kilns to be delivered to shows for classes, and sell the kilns at the shows, but as anyone who is teaching should know, you have to fire the kiln for the first time when no one is in the room. Horrible fumes can burn off. Â One student was so sick from a first firing that she barely made it home, and, honestly, she could have died- she was way to0 sick to drive. Thank God she wasn’t pregnant at the time.

I admit that I get angry when I hear these stories, mostly because there is no reason on Earth for instructors to poison students in this way. Â Kilns CAN be fired out of the classrooms, there is always a hallway, an outdoor area, or an empty room that can be used as a kiln room. And if not, then we can fire overnight, or build in a break, and lock the classroom. Students need to stand up for themselves in this matter, because honestly, most of my peers either don’t care, don’t agree that smallish amounts of poison matter, or are afraid to rock the boat by asking shows and studios to provide them with alternative kiln space.

Unbelievably, I am still hearing stories of senior instructors using floral foam and/or Styrofoam burnout cores in a classroom situation; this ought to be a criminal offense, and I say that seriously. I can’t even fathom the irresponsibility of firing these materials in a room full of people. If the PMC Guild gave a rat’s ass, things might start to improve. Witness the continued existence of this page of the PDF on the Guild’s website, involving the firing of a bead with a layered core of floral foam (phenolic resin; package directions warn against touching the stuff with your bare hands) and Stryofoam (outgasses benzene, a neurotoxin, and, in some cases, Styrene, an embryotoxin that can change the DNA of a developing fetus.)

Firing directions in this Guild publication: Â ”Fire as usual.” They could correct this, and I’ve asked them to do it at least four times, in writing, starting almost three years ago. All they would have to do is add a caution that suggests firing these beads only with fume ventilation, or outdoors. They don’t even have to admit that a kiln full of a dozen of these huge beads is outgassing pure poison that could destroy a pregnancy. But they won’t do it. Â Why?

Here is a screen shot of the relevant section, which is page 205 of the PDF:

“Fire as usual. ” Â I just can’t fathom why they won’t fix this with a notation.

I love you; that’s why I care. It’s as simple as that. Are you just a customer to the Guild, a mark?

I know that some people get upset when I post about safety, and especially when I single things out, like Barbara’s tutorial on the Guild web site. It bothers me, too- I have to be honest. I happen to love and adore and respect her, and her work. Almost all of the senior instructors are people that I like and respect, and I regret having to continue this campaign. But this cavalier attitude about people’s physical safety just can’t go on. People are starting to get sick, or turn grey, and sadly that’s exactly what it’s going to take before the Guild, Rio, the major shows, or these individuals admit that safer working conditions are called for. There was some noise a few months ago about getting people tested- I wrote to Tim and suggested that although it was commendable that he volunteered for this, that we choose some of the smaller, more vulnerable members of our teaching cadre to test. Anyone have an update on this?

Source: http://katemckinnon.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/metal-clay-safety/