Part lose prevention?

I have an apron of sorts, clipped to the front of my workbench. If I remember, I drape it over my thighs to catch parts.  Two problems- I often forget to replace it on thighs if I get up suddenly to grab something out of reach for bench, and parts bounce off of it and get to floor occasionally even if it is in place. 

I have been thinking of building a little tray hinged to front of bench, flat bottom covered with thin foam.  Have not set it up yet, so don't know if it will work better, but I hope it would eliminate small parts bouncing off and ending up on floor.  Amazing how much speed and kinetic energy parts pick up falling just from bench top to top of thighs!

If I'm using tweezers...just a very light grip.

For parts that are prone to escaping the treezers grasp, I just barely poke the part with a sharp Xacto blade...just enough to hold it, and light enough that it will release when the part is touched to the glue. (I put a tiny spot of glue/CA where the part is to go...not on the part itself).

there is a product called the "ultimate photo etch placer" it's a wax like pencil .you just dab it on the part and place it , it just lets go ., there is a how to on u-tube about it, you get it from ultimate modeling products.,

Dip the tweezer tips in liquid tape to prevent slipping.

I tape to the work surface a corner of the specific part I'm about to cut so it stays put.

I have used a flashlight to locate parts both on tile and carpeting simply by angling the light, making the part easier to see as it creates a shadow. 

 I feel your pain. Happens to me all the time. I find it 97.2% of the time but still it's a pain. Sometimes PE parts are more trouble than they're worth. 

some good ideas thasks everyone

To stop the PE from pinging off when cutting from the frets, I first put post it note paper ( the kind with the glue on the whole sheet I found at Wall Mart ) on the whole fret. This solved that problem.

I bought a can of "drum stick wax " from a music store. This is like post it note glue in a can. Dip a tooth pick in the wax and you can pick up tiny PE parts for assembly. This works like the "sticky pencil" mentioned above.  I would have bought the sticky pencil but since I am a musician,  I already had the drum stick wax on hand and it works good.