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Take it out, wash with warm soapy water, dry well and let sit a few hours or till next day. If it is a piece with heavy all over crazing and has been soaking for a while, it will need additional drying. Preheat oven to lowest temp, place item inside and leave for a couple of hours. More yuck may ooze out so just and wash again if necessary and repeat oven drying. In winter I won't mail a treated item until 2 days after treatment.

Pick up a really stained and crazed old plate and give it a try. It is amazing!

TO BLEACH OR NOT TO BLEACH:
You can clean coffee & tea stains out of your cups with bleach as long as they are not crazed. Any commercial cleaning product you use, including bleach can get into the clay or porcelain through the crazing lines and eat away at it. Only use peroxide on crazed pieces.

Something to remember about old china and porcelain is that it dries out over time. If you have Great Granny's dishes in the china cabinet and they haven't been used in at least 30 years, chances are they shouldn't be used now. They will be prone to chipping and cracking even from delicate handling and may craze from either hot food or the after dinner washing up. The "good" dishes should be used at least 3 times a year in order to keep them from being only good as shelf pretties.

Finally, for those who buy pottery from internet auctions, websites, or othe far off places that require them to be shipped some advice. in the winter, when the mail arrives with your ebay purchases of china or pottery - BE PATIENT. Do not open the box right away. If it came from the back of the mail truck right into your house, you should still leave it a few hours. If it has been outside in temperatures near or below freezing, leave it till the next day. The pieces inside need to come to room temp slowly to avoid the potential for cracking, crazing. Depending on how the things are packed, the packing materials can really insulate the piece and it can take a long time for it to warm up. I go to a lot of outdoor auctions even in the winter and have heard the dreaded sound of glass and china snapping from the back of my car on a long drive home. Frozen fragiles have to be treated with extreme care.

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Overview

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Catalogue Information

Cleaning Tips

Tour the Studio

Misrepresentation

Some Basic Rules

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