Abacus
Antique Dealers: How To Clean Your Antique Pottery
Items
For
those of us who have some beautiful pottery that looks
a little run down there are a few tricks of the trade
to bring the life back into your pieces.
Make
sure your piece has *NO* repairs before you try any
of these methods. If you know that it’s been
repaired - *DON’T* take the chance! You may end
up with paying to have it restored - again!
Go
to your local Beauty Supply store. Buy Peroxide #40
solution. This is very important.
Get
a dark bucket or container that your pottery will
fit in. Pour the peroxide in to the bucket and then
gentley put your pottery into it. *DO NOT* put your
hands into the solution! This is a bleach. It will
bleach your hands and might even cause burns on some
people. Use those heavy duty cleaning gloves if there
is a possibility that you might get wet.
If
your pottery is very “dirty” it may take
a days or even weeks to become clean. Don’t worry
about your item. The peroxide will not harm them.
Once
your item is nice and clean, wash it with simple dish
detergent to remove all the peroxide. Dry completely.
Keep those gloves handy!
For
the finishing touch on Matte glaze, use “Howard
Feed*N*Wax”. A small dot, about the size of the
pencil eraser end will work. Put this on a paper towel
and go over the whole piece. Wipe off as soon as you
finish the piece. This will also help to keep you
item from becoming brittle. Don’t get cared away
with the wax. It’s supposed to be a Matte finish!
**NEVER
use BLEACH!** This will distroy the clay your pottery
is made of. Literally eats it from the inside out.
If this has happened or you suspect someone might
have done this in the past - soak the item in equal
parts of water and vinager. Then wash with dishwashing
soap. Now check to see if you get the “fuzzies”
again. If this happens put it back in the vinager
and water solution and soak it longer. Repeat this
process until you can let the piece dry out and not
get the “fuzzies”.
Pencil
like marks on your pottery just never seem to come
off? Try a pencil eraser! Slowly and gently start
at one end of the mark and erase it. If it doesn’t
come all the way off - *don’t scratch at it with
anything else* - you may remove the glaze or worse
- crack the item.
Hope this helps.
