Safety First Everyone

 

I just want to take a little bit of your time to say something that has been on my mind the last few days. 

I watch a lot of YouTube videos, most of them are various types of crafting. And in that watching of videos I am seeing an alarming trend, at least I find it alarming. That trend is YouTube crafters demonstrating how to do things in dangerous ways.

This ranges from the simple act of using a normal, often cheap pair of scissors that are designed to cut paper and using them to cut wood. This is so dangerous but I see it just about every day on one channel or another. I would hope they aren't thinking but I am afraid that they are just ignoring the obvious. And many of them when asked about this practice will respond with something about the “proper tools” being too expensive. I am fairly certain that the one time expense of those tools is a lot lower than a trip to the emergency room. Not to mention the pain that can come from an injury received this way.

Another one I see a lot is using chemicals (paints, glues, etc) in a closed space. A lot of these items need to be used in a well ventilated area, some of them state right on the label that they should only be used outside. But I see them being used at the craft table, without any warnings to do otherwise. At least explain you are only doing this for the camera and normally you would do it outside.

The finial straw for me was a video I watched recently where a well known artist was using some 2 part resin. For the most part this is a wonderful and safe product as long as safety rules are followed. The big rule this artist skipped was gloves. You always need to wear gloves when working with resin and they were not. And they are well known enough that a lot of viewers are going to take this a the right way to use the product. 

Now I don't care what you do in your craft room on your own. There are no craft police that are going to come knocking at your door and call you out for these infractions. The problem as I see it is when you start doing tutorials on YouTube (or other formats) and still use these unsafe practices. With what has been happening in our world the last year or so I know a lot of folks that have never really done any crafting since grade school are starting to want to craft. It is a wonderful way to relax and fill some time and you get the bonus of having an item you can point to and say “I made that” A lot of those novice crafters are turning to YouTube channels to learn to do things. They are not going to know that what they are seeing is the right way to do it or a very dangerous short cut.

I take this fact very seriously. In fact there have been videos I have filmed and decided not to post because I felt I did something that was unsafe without explaining that fact. I have also pulled a few of my videos after they went up for the same reason.

So I guess other than venting about this I want to just say be careful and if something seems like it might not be safe listen to that instinct.