So, remember last year when I came back from NCECA & made myself a damp box? (Quick reminder: it's just a rubbermaid container with a lid, from the supermarket, with about an inch of plaster in the bottom.)
I had mostly been using it to help students - often they pull handles and then don't have time to attach them in the three hour class period, but the damp box will easily preserve a handle until next week's class. In December I made a bunch of press-molded buttons and pendants, stored them in the damp box...and then promptly forgot about them.
Today - yet another snow day, no drought this year! - I was cleaning up my studio. Well: cleaning is maybe an exaggeration. I was picking things up from one place and putting them down in another, and I came upon the long-forgotten damp box full of buttons. They are as wet as they were when they went in. In fact, I am having to leave them uncovered for a while, because they are a bit too wet to finish the edges and backs. I'll finish these off, then drill the holes: tiny, 32nd/ inch holes for buttons, bigger, 16th/ inch holes for pendants.
Best part: I did the work so long ago, it feels like a bonus, like when you find money in the pocket of a coat you haven't worn in a while. 😎😎😎😎😎
Ah, a great idea which I shall be copying! I need a much larger one, because I work in a community studio which is only open certain hours. Some days when it's cold, things dry very fast on my little shelf because the heat is blowing, and some days when it's warm, they dry very slowly. Just a plastic covering doesn't seem to work. I think I'll try making a whole shelf into a damp box. Much plastic to cut the wind!
ReplyDeleteOr you could get one of those 15" deep storage bins from Home Depot & put a couple of inches of plastic in the bottom.
ReplyDeleteGood luck.
I need to make one of those. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete