Green your studio!

[H. Palleiko Designs]

I actually just blogged about this subject yesterday with a few small steps that can be a catalyst to creating a more green studio. Here are a few things I listed:

I don't use paper towels in my studio. Instead I use rags I have cut from my husband's old cotton t-shirts. When they need washing I simply throw them in the wash with everything else. Think about the amount of paper towels you go through. Can you eliminate half that amount?

I recycle and use recycled/upcycled metal scrap in a lot of my work. I also recycle or reuse plastic and paper products use in shipping and packaging.

For pickling my metal after soldering I do not use a toxic substance. Instead I use straight distilled white vinegar. It takes a little bit longer but the end result is exactly the same.

I currently use a store bought chemical flux (as little as possible when needed) but one can also make their own using boric acid mixed with denatured acohol; yielding a much safer product.

You can see the entire post here: http://hpalleikodesigns.blogspot.com

I am interested to see what other do in their studios to create a more green space.

[Brigitte Martin]

I think I can learn a thing or two from you: Straight, distilled white vinegar INSTEAD of that awful pickling stuff ? Great. Do you have to keep it warm to do the trick ? Any brand working better than the others ?

[H. Palleiko Designs]

Yes. I use generic distilled white vinegar in the large gallon containers from the grocery store. I use it cold at the moment because I don't have a little crockpot - I don't know if keeping it warm will make it work faster or not. I throw it in after soldering and work on something else while I am waiting. About 30 minutes or so worked quite well. Then I just rinsed it and wiped down with a rag. Its not perfect but given that I have MCS this is a much better option for me. Having a healthier work environment outweighs the cons of slightly more cleanup work -- for me anyway.

[Angela Baduel-Crispin]

A neat and inexpensive little substitute for a crockpot is a baby-bottle warmer from the Salvation Army or equivalent. It generally comes with a button for 2 different temperatures like "low" and "high", high being around 50°C, which is close enough to the 60°C recommended for pickle. I also use a little plastic basket or nest like thingy that comes with ... well, real, edible pickles here in France, and fits just right in the bottle warmer. Great system for "A buck three eighty" (cheepo!). I have one for liver of sulfur bath as well (the green option being a hot boiled egg in a zip-lock bag). Old, used down jeans are great for the final hand polish too, both on silver, polymer and Faux Bone (also in the PVC family). Now I just have to stop using those paper towels !

[Michelle Pajak-Reynolds]

Hi Heather,

Thanks for the tip about the vinegar. I hadn't thought of that before, duh! Does the vinegar pickle make your studio smell like really strong salad dressing?

Michelle

[Mary-Lynne Eason]

In addition to reusing cotton shirts, I also use recycled cotton socks for polishing polymer clay beads.

I am in the unique position of building a studio (very small, 9'x9') from scratch, bare walls, floor and ceiling to date. Northern exposure with lots of windows, heavily insulated, so heat costs are minimal. I'm looking for some suggestions for a wall color that will create a warm and peaceful environment without distorting the color of my work, and floor coverings that are green as well as practical. Thanks!

[H. Palleiko Designs]

My soldering station is actually outside (covered but open air patio space). So with the ventilation it's not something I've noticed. I've used it inside pickling occasionally and the smell hasn't been too strong.

[Gary Schott]

Isn't vinegar the reason we actually call today's chemicals "pickle?"...because vinegar is used to make pickles and vinegar was the primary source for cleaning off oxides back in the day? At least that's what I've been told.

I actually require all of my students to bring in their own hand towel...it saves on a lot of money and waste!

Now, I like to do poor-man's copper plating with my students...using saturated pickle solution and steel...anyone know if the same reaction happens when using the white vinegar? I smell an experiment!...

[H. Palleiko Designs]

Oh I don't know about the steel. I always thought that was a chemical reaction with the pickle powder solution. Let us know what results your experiment yields.

[Tom McCarthy]

I've been using vinegar for at least a year now. Before that I'd briefly tried alum (Gary, this may be yet another reason it may be called pickle). I disliked the alum because it was really cloudy and thus hard to find small pieces at the bottom. I do heat the vinegar in a crock pot which improves its cleaning speed. It is still not as fast as sodium bisulfate. Yes it does have that kitchen smell but hey, it's not fish sauce! It does beat sharing sparex fumes with my wife and small cat.
As to the plating it should work (I'm in the process of trying it now for you). You get the copper plating because the free copper floating around in your pickle--why it turns blue-- is negatively charged, most of the non-ferrous metal ions are. Iron, on the other hand is positively charged so when you add binding wire or whatever steel into the pickle you create a plating situation since acids are electrolytes.
I have to dash off to make dinner but I'll get right back to this.

[Tom McCarthy]

So much for getting right back to this. It's now three months later. I pulled some of the vinegar out of my pot, added silver and steel and was quite underwhelmed.
Today, however, I soldered a silver and gold piece and forgot to take off the binding wire before pickling in the vinegar. The copper plating was perfect! (naturally, since I didn't want it).
So you can copper plate with the vinegar; just make sure there is lots of free copper in it. Today's was the same batch I'd tried back in May.
I'm off to the drugstore for hydrogen peroxide...

[Claudia Rush]

I took a workshop several years ago with DX Ross and we used vinegar and salt. I thought it worked beautifully and it didn't seem to me to take that long to work.

[Catherine Chandler]

great tips! Thank you all :)