Anyone Altered Their Fingerprints?

2tumblingdragonz · #1 2011-08-10, 9:47am

I know I'm not the first.

Distracted by whatever else was going on yesterday and not feeling 100%, I decide to shut down everything and take the day off from lampwork.

I had made 1 bead, but couldn't remember what so I thought I'd take a quick look.

I open the kiln door and pick up the mandrel.

You know what happened next and then my hand went into the quench bowl which I take out of the freezer every morning and add ice throughout the day, for this very reason.

Seems I have branded a mandrel into my thumb and pointer finger. A good inch long! Only rather than a raised brand it's a sunken brand.

I'd love to hear your stories, I guess this should go under stupid noobie mistakes.

namaste
Rowyn

Damselfly · #2 2011-08-10, 10:18am

I've totally done that before, usually when I think I"m being "smart" by moving mandrels closer together so I can fit more in.

Sorry to hear it!

glassymom · #3 2011-08-10, 10:56am

MEE TOO!! OUCH! I've done it with the mandrels for making pandora beads, they seem to get really hot really quick! STINKS!

Flame Ryder · #4 2011-08-10, 11:26am

I was pulling points when my parther handed me the next tube to pull, only she forgot that it had jsut come from the flame from cutting and I had second and third degree burns to my left thumb and first two fingers.

Ouch.

Lesson learnd, do it alone and it is safer.

Mike...

menty666 · #5 2011-08-10, 11:50am

I keep a pair of leather work gloves next to the kiln and make ample use of them

JEK3 · #6 2011-08-10, 5:45pm

I was doing some electronics repair, and needed a soldering iron in a hurry, so I figured I'd unscrew the low-wattage element from my iron and replace it with the high-wattage one so it would heat up quickly. Turns out I had already plugged it in a while earlier. Got to watch my fingers smoking and hear them sizzling as I grabbed the heating element area and gave it a twist. I ran upstairs to the bathroom with the smell of burning flesh in my nose. Didn't start to hurt until after I'd had it under cold water for a few minutes. My left thumb and index finger now have slightly less-pronounced prints.

Lorraine Chandler · #7 2011-08-10, 5:53pm

Ahh, yep. Several of them

alb6094 · #8 2011-08-10, 9:10pm

Done that, at least three times that I can recall moving mandrels around in the kiln. More recently I altered the appearance of the entire back of my left hand, stuck it in the torch flame.

Fire hot.

PerfectDeb · #9 2011-08-10, 9:43pm

been there, dont that, bought the tshirt

i did it with a 1/4 inch mandrel - just HAD to see what that big hole bead looked like didnt i -

i couldnt torch for a fortnight cos it was my mandrel spinning fingers

SerendipityArtGlass · #10 2011-08-10, 9:50pm

Let's not tell the serial killers that fingerprints can be altered.....

queenofswords · #11 2011-08-10, 10:29pm

You can tell when I am torching, I have burns and when working on flat glass I have cuts. I leave my DNA everywhere. The worse burn I suffered is when a pendant snapped off the punty and fell against my polyester sweater. The sweater melted onto my chest. I now have a 2 inch scar from the second degree burn. I also now wear neck to knee denim when torching. Glass is not for those with low pain tolerance.

alb6094 · #12 2011-08-11, 6:26am

Quote:

Originally Posted by queenofswords

You can tell when I am torching, I have burns and when working on flat glass I have cuts. I leave my DNA everywhere. The worse burn I suffered is when a pendant snapped off the punty and fell against my polyester sweater. The sweater melted onto my chest. I now have a 2 inch scar from the second degree burn. I also now wear neck to knee denim when torching. Glass is not for those with low pain tolerance.

Ain't THAT the truth? Things that in the past would have made me stop what I was doing now don't even phase me. I think you build up resistance to pain over time.

JanithS · #13 2011-08-11, 9:35am

The worst one that I got was when I was working a bead in the flame and I droped something on the floor. Instead of pulling the bead out of the flame, I leaned over to pick it up and my hand with the bead moved into the flame. Since I didn't have a home studio set up, I was renting space at my wonderful bead store. I literally drove home with my hand out the window so that the air would cool it off and I had my hand in ice water for the rest of the day. It was a really bad burn which ended up getting infected and I still have the scar to prove it. Lesson # 1 - DO NOT STICK YOUR HAND IN THE FLAME and there is no difference in the flame type as hot is just hot. The little burns from lifting up a still hot piece of glass don't bother me too much anymore, but that is because I'm a clutz and world class idiot and I pick up hot stuff all of the tim.

Winter Fire · #14 2011-08-11, 2:17pm

Ooooh, been there too. I was working on a bead, put down the rod, reached for the rod next to it; first rod rolled into the second and onto my index finger. I finished the bead but couldn't work for about a week.

Learned my lesson, though, and cleaned up my workbench. Now I only put out rods I'm going to use that session so there's always space for them on the rod rack. No more hot rolling rods.

FosterFire · #15 2011-08-11, 2:55pm

I had my fingerprints taken to work with the census. They complained because apparently I have "sanded" my fingers too smooth over the years. The comment I got was "you must use your hands a lot".

So my answer is..fingerprints? what fingerprints?

LarryC · #16 2011-08-11, 3:04pm

I have done it many times. So many over the last 6 years that the burns dont hurt very much anymore. I guess because the nerves in my fingertips have been effected?

queenofswords · #17 2011-08-11, 3:27pm

That would make a good CSI theme: The person was either an evil genius intent on never leaving fingerprints.....or they work with hot glass!

glasskat2010 · #18 2011-08-12, 12:49am

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2tumblingdragonz

I know I'm not the first.

Distracted by whatever else was going on yesterday and not feeling 100%, I decide to shut down everything and take the day off from lampwork.

I had made 1 bead, but couldn't remember what so I thought I'd take a quick look.

I open the kiln door and pick up the mandrel.

You know what happened next and then my hand went into the quench bowl which I take out of the freezer every morning and add ice throughout the day, for this very reason.

Seems I have branded a mandrel into my thumb and pointer finger. A good inch long! Only rather than a raised brand it's a sunken brand.

I'd love to hear your stories, I guess this should go under stupid noobie mistakes.

namaste
Rowyn

Well it's good to know I'm not the only one who's burned myself this week. Here's the story: so I was putting something in the kiln and it broke in two when it hit the kiln floor. In my frustration, I grabbed the other (hot) end of the tweezers and burned my left pinky finger and palm.

Glasskat2010