I’ve never been one to wear gloves or worry about running with scissors. Safety seems a lot like my overprotective 3rd grade teacher worrying about poison ivy on the playground. * eye roll *

But you know what? I always always always wear a mask when dry-sanding or buffing polymer clay. This isn’t just being overprotective. This is your life.

You see, these particles are super tiny and readily become airborne. And they lodge in your lungs. And that leads to really bad things.

Just wear the damn mask.

What kind of mask? At least an N95 rated dust mask from the hardware store (Affiliate Link – learn more here). But if you’re spending much time doing it, get a respirator with dust cartridges. They’re more comfortable.