Mar 11, 2014

Catch tray for the studio

I didn’t really think about the mess that working in metal can produce until I started piercing (cutting out) shapes for my jewelry class.  Then I realized that if I wanted to do any sanding, dremel, or cutting in my studio, I’d have to find a way to contain the metal dust.  I also didn’t realized just how fine the metal dust is until I used a towel on the dining room table for a sanding project and found that the dust had gone right through it!  That meant that in order to set up a contained station, I’d need a way to catch the dust and that it had to be non-porous.  A bit of research on jewelers benches showed me the solution for the catching: a catch tray (duh).  I tried a couple of different ideas for my bench using a shower curtain.  The curtain was too stiff and the Velcro, snaps and other attaching devices not “user friendly.”  Then I found a solution: using pipe to create a detachable catch tray.  I liked it because I could put it away when I was finished, and it could be customized for my odd shaped bench.  Trial run with the shower curtain showed that the structure would be fine, I just needed a different fabric.  A trip to JoAnne’s, a piece of lined vinyl and voila!  I also put a piece of the vinyl on the top of the table to catch fly away dust and attempt to keep it from coating all my bead & stone trays and tools!


A couple of tips: be sure to measure the fabric around the PVC pipe so it fits snugly.  Hem the front first, the sides next and finally fit to your bench with a dart.




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