Thursday, January 9, 2014

Crafting 911 -- OUCH! My fingers are stuck together and my art is on FIRE!

Having one's art "on fire" sounds as if could actually be great news!  Except when the said fire is the result of an unfortunate glue selection and leads to having the fire department visit your home, followed by a trip to the ER......

"Super" glues, also called cyanoacrylates are common and inexpensive adhesives found in almost every artist's toolbox. Great for attaching do-dads to collages, repairing broken knick-knacks and much more  but getting them on your SKIN can rapidly turn nasty. Once stuck, if  you try to rip the glued skin away from whatever it's stuck to, whether it's paper, metal, plastic or worst of all, other skin, you will be ripping your flesh and causing yourself injury.

Luckily, there is a simple solution to this sticky situation: acetone. Those who work with cyanoacrylates on a regular basis will want to stock up on acetone or a nail polish remover that contains acetone.  Applying acetone to the super-stuck skin can break the sticky bond and free your fingers without causing pain and snickering ER staff. 
  
NOTE: Please keep your acetone away from plastic and painted surfaces, it will "eat" plastic and can strip paint.  It's also flammable so avoid open flames and heat!  To be safe use it in an open or well-ventilated area and clean your hands or surfaces that come into contact with acetone quickly.

It's less common knowledge, but perhaps even more important to know that this kind of glue is not-so-super to use on cotton or wool fabrics.  Why?  Because of a chemical reaction that occurs when cyanoacrylate glues come into contact with these fabrics.  Baaaaad mojo, unless a pyrotechnic display figures into your artwork the result of  application can cause heat, smoke and even FIRE!

Do keep in mind that other items made of related materials such as cotton balls or cotton swabs can also flame up if used to dab on or wipe up cyanoacrylates.

Here's a bonus tip -- since acetone isn't cheap, it's cool that it also has as a very useful crafty application -- acetone can be rubbed over the back of  a laser/toner-based copy as a photo-transfer medium!!  Here's a link to one of many tutorials showing how simple this technique can be.

Be safe when crafting and check the usage instructions on all glues before using.  It can save you from frustration and potential danger!

Smiles and Purrs!
Kitty!

1 comment:

  1. Had a little extra time to see your blog more in depth. It's a fun place to land, and I LOVE kitties.

    ReplyDelete