Handbuilder91

@Mark C. thanks for the reassurance, I feel better knowing a long-time player in the craft is still kicking despite some dusty decades

@shawnhar I am admittedly a hypochondriac but reading through a lot of hobbyist ceramic forums talking about silicosis made it sound like a dramatically bigger issue than it actually is. I ended up reading a ton of published studies on silicosis prevalence in various populations and it seems like the occurrence rate is so exceptionally low in general, and that these cases mostly occur in much higher exposure situations (miners, stone cutters, construction) where workers are exposed to free floating dust for hours at a time, every day, for years. Many introductory studies stated ceramicists were at risk, but these are people who spend years doing this for a living. While it freaked me out at the idea that having this in my home made my exposure constant, 24/7 for three years now I don’t work with nearly enough volume or leave enough out for it to have been a serious issue I don’t think. A lot of the comments made it sound like leaving a few crumbs on the floor that you step on was going to give you acute silicosis. I’m still going to take it seriously and keep a tidier space, cleaning up as I go and wet mopping everything down - but I think I can relax a little and keep pursuing my passion in my apartment until I can afford a studio space. Thanks for bringing me back to reality haha

Hi all, I’m hoping this community can let me know if I’m being overly paranoid or should be genuinely concerned. About three years ago I purchased 25 lbs of Amaco no.25 white clay. I had absolutely no clue that clay contained silica and was potentially hazardous to my health until literally earlier today. I have been sculpting on and off for the last three years, and I wasn’t the tidiest when it came to cleaning up. I have only hand built small pieces (around a foot tall) in that time, a total of five, and two of them I made in the last month as work has slowed down. I have not worked with any glazes or anything else, just the clay, and only when wet. The issue however is that because I wasn’t aware of the health hazards I left my work station somewhat sloppy, with dried clumps left for months at a time. I’m sure there were little pieces on the floor. My studio space basically consists of a table in me and my partner’s shared office. I am absolutely losing it at the idea that I have put our health at risk. As I understand it silicosis is something that builds up over years of low exposure, but there were extended periods of time where I had dried clay sitting out on my table where silica could have been exposing itself to the air and our lungs. I have since cleaned down every surface, opened the windows, mopped the floors, cleaned every tool and put away every piece of clay into a plastic bucket. I’m considering throwing my finished bone dry pieces in a reclaim bucket as I can’t fire them in a kiln and also don’t want them to cause any harm. I have ordered a HEPA filter which cannot arrive soon enough to clean the air. I’m terrified at the thought that silica is on every surface of our apartment and endangering our health. As much as I am absolutely in love with sculpting I’m putting an immediate halt to it as this seems to be a very serious issue and I want to prevent any further harm. So - how much trouble are we in here?