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Painting Debbie

June 27th, 2010 admin No comments

Painting Debbie

Reducing Art Studio Fumes--4 Steps That Will Reduce Paint Fumes In Your Studio

Visual artists allow us to relive beautiful moments again and again by capturing the moment for us on their canvas. Unfortunately, their gift to us often means they are forced to breathe harmful chemical fumes for hours on end.

Many of the materials used in a Fine Art studio contain volatile organic chemicals that can cause acute side effects such as headache, nausea, and light headedness. And prolonged exposure to these airborne chemicals has been shown to cause more serious and sometimes irreversible health problems. Here are 4 ideas that are easy to implement and will greatly reduce the fumes you breathe and increase your air quality and productivity.

1. Proper ventilation is important to let the fumes leave the room. Moving the air from inside to outside with an exhaust fan is a great way to reduce build up of chemical fumes. It can be as simple as placing a box fan in the window and allowing it to blow out, pulling air from inside your studio to outdoor. The direction of the air flow is important, otherwise turning the fan inward only blows the chemicals around rather than getting them out.

2. If possible, use products that contain volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) outside. Cleaning brushes with solvents outside is an easy way to keep indoor air clean. This will eliminate the fumes from your indoor air. Be sure to properly dispose of solvents so they don't leach into the water and soil, and store any unused portions with the lids on tight to prevent off gassing from occurring while they are just sitting on the shelf. If possible store them away from where you work.

3. There are so many green products on the market now. Talk to your suppliers about using products that contain less, or even no volatile organic chemicals. These are not only less threatening to your health, but are easier on the environment as well.

4. Use a high efficiency particle arresting (or HEPA) air purifier that can remove fine particulates from the air. If it also has an inner filter that can remove airborne chemicals your air cleaner will be able to eliminate all the airborne pollutants that, left in the air, will cause you problems. Allowing this purifier to clean your air 24 hours a day every day will insure that your air quality is always as clean and healthy as it can be.

Knowing that your air is healthy and that you are not putting yourself at risk when you are creating will allow you focus all of your attention on your art rather than worrying about chemicals that you're breathing.

Breathing air with a higher oxygen level will pay off not only with good health, but probably with better quality of art as well.

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