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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