Best Gloves for Artists
1 September 2023
Getting stuck into arts and crafts can be great fun, but without the right equipment things can get messy, and sometimes even dangerous. Wood carving, resin moulding, and glass blowing, for example, are all risky artistic activities that can lead to injury if proper procedures aren't followed. Luckily, there's a wide selection of gloves available to keep your hands clean and free from harm when creating art with various materials.
Whether you're picking up a new craft or want to find quality safety equipment for your favourite hobby, you can find our top recommendations for the best gloves for artists in this handy guide!
What Does This Guide Cover?
Best Digital Art Gloves
WHY WE LOVE THEM...
- Highly dexterous design won't limit the hand's natural movement
- Non-touchscreen compatible material, but with a fingerless design for use with tablets
- Seamless design ensures optimal comfort even during long-term wear
Ideal For...
- Creating digital art on touchscreen devices
- Outdoor photography in slightly chilly temperatures
Not the Best For...
Editor's Verdict: Digital art is an increasingly popular pursuit, and it’s easy to see why. All you need is your tablet and a touchscreen-pen, and you can create a masterpiece with less mess made and less space required than traditional sketching and painting methods.
When creating digital art, however, it can be difficult to get your hand into a comfortable position without at least part of it touching the screen. This moves or jerks the drawing or pen, making it awkward to complete your work. A fingerless and dexterous pair of gloves, such as the Ejendals Tegera 970 Thermal Fingerless Gloves, are a great solution to this issue.
Best Winter Photography Gloves
WHY WE LOVE THEM...
- Removeable mitts keep your fingers warm, but can be removed for camera-work
- Simple to use quickly so that you never miss that perfect shot
- Thermal properties keep your hand safe and warm in freezing temperatures
Ideal For...
- General photography
- Outdoor winter photography
Not The Best For...
Editor's Verdict: From snowy days to storms, a whole host of amateur and professional photographers have taken a keen interest in getting the perfect snapshot of the winter season.
While gloves aren't a requirement in most fields of photography, when working in freezing temperatures it's important to keep warm without impacting freedom-of-movement in the hands, or your ability to hold a camera. For this, we'd recommend a pair of dexterous thermal gloves such as the Ejendals Graninge G6030 Thermal WinterGloves with Removeable Mitts.
Best Gloves for Resin Handling
Why We Love Them...
- Powder-free design helps to minimise the risk of contaminating your resin mixture
- Rolled and beaded cuff designed to help prevent liquid resin from dripping onto your arm
- "Grip-Rite" finish feature enhances grip to minimise risk of slippage and accidents
- Disposable design provides optimal convenience and hygienic usage
Ideal For...
- Working with epoxy coating or casting resin
- Working with UV resin
Not the Best For...
Editor's Verdict: Resin is a type of plastic that can be used to create things like coasters, bookmarks, and jewellery, or even as a protective and shiny coating for other craft projects. UV resin and epoxy resin are particularly popular for crafting with.
While fun to work with, resin is a toxic substance and should be used with the upmost care. You'll need a mask, a well ventilated working space, and a pair of gloves that keep your hands safe without contaminating the resin mixture. As resin cannot be cleaned off of most materials, single-use gloves like the Black Mamba Disposable Nitrile Gloves BX-BMG are the best choice.
Best Wood Carving Gloves
Why We Love Them...
- Designed with high levels of cut protection for secure handling of blades and carving tools
- Provide excellent grip on dry materials, minimising the risk of slippage and accidents
- Breathable design helps to minimise the impact of moisture build-up for comfort
Ideal For...
Not the Best For...
Editor's Verdict: Wood carving and whittling is a craft with much clearer risk factors than most other crafts. No matter how experienced you are, the sharp materials you need to carve tough wooden materials can be dangerous to use without cut-resistant safety equipment.
Top-quality gloves like the MaxiCut Ultra Level 5 Palm Coated Grip Gloves provide excellent protection against wounds and lacerations when utilising sharp materials, while providing enhanced grip to ensure that you can hold the wood that you're carving steady.
Best Glass Blowing Gloves
Why We Love Them...
- Contact-heat resistant design enables brief contact with materials up to 350°C
- High level of burning resistance to minimise the risk of ignition
- Extended-cuff option expands protection to the wrists
Ideal For...
Not the Best For...
Editor's Verdict: It's slowly becoming easier to make fantastic glass-blown creations, from jewellery to drinking glasses, from the comfort of your own home.
Due to the high levels of heat required for this craft, however, proper safety equipment is essential. Contact with melting glass or a glass-blowing flame can be potentially disastrous. Safety gloves like the Polyco Volcano Heavyweight Kevlar Heat Resistant Gloves are a great choice for keeping your hands free from burns and injury when creating things with hot glass.
Best Tattoo Artist Gloves
Why We Love Them...
- Sleek black design looks professional and masks blood and ink during tattooing
- Designed with resistance to bacteria, viruses, and fungi to improve hygiene
- Ambidextrous design and touchscreen compatibility offer optimal convenience
Ideal For...
- Tattoo artists and piercers
- Working with epoxy or UV resin
Not the Best For...
Editor's Verdict: To become a tattoo artist requires years training and experience, so by the time you're inking art onto skin you'll know all about how important hygiene is in this industry. It's not just about keeping your hands clean, but ensuring the area you're tattooing is clean and not at risk of infection.
The UniGloves Select Black Latex GT002 Tattoo Artist's Gloves are a fantastic choice of hygiene equipment for tattoo artists, as well body piercers. Constructed with textured palms for excellent grip and a touchscreen compatibility for convenience, these powder-free and disposable gloves provide durable protection in a sleek and professional looking black design.
Best Art Handling Gloves
Why We Love Them...
- Comfortable and effective gloves for transporting and installing art pieces
- PVC-dotted-palm enhances grip to reduce the risk of dropping and damaging artworks
- Low-linting design significantly minimises the risk of surface contamination to aid with preservation efforts
Ideal For...
- Art Handling
- Art Installation
Not the Best For...
Editor's Verdict: Once you've created your work of art, whether it's a painting, blown glass, carved wood, or resin piece, you'll want to ensure it's well preserved and handled with caution.
When transporting or displaying works of art, particularly those that are fragile, it's important to ensure they are being handled with caution. There are two main risks when working with canvases or more delicate pieces, first being physical damage such as tears or rips. The second big risk-factor when handling various art works is contamination, whether this be from lint, glove-powder or a transfer contaminant from another material. These contaminants can cause damage to, or accelerate the degradation of, various materials.
Using a pair of low-linting and breathable gloves such as the Knitted Nylon Low-Linting White Gloves With PVC Palm Dots, you can transport and handle various artworks with minimal risk of damage and contamination.
Whether you're a professional or an amateur artist, having the right safety equipment can significantly enhance not only the resulting artwork, but your experience creating it. From keeping your hands clean to preventing burns, lacerations, or contamination, there are plenty of reasons to wear safety gloves when taking part in your chosen craft.
Browse our full range of Art Gloves to find more handy crafting gloves!
