What to Use to Dry China and Crystal: Don’t dry your china and crystal with a cloth that has been laundered with fabric softener. The softener may leave a film. Chemical can also damage finish on crystal and china, if it stays on for an extended period of time.
This warning from Kovell’s Antiques and Collectibles
WASHING COLORED PYREX
Don’t put vintage colored Pyrex mixing bowls in the dishwasher. After a few washings, the color is splotchy; after several, the color may be gone and you will have a white bowl.
If you are like me, you love vintage linens. That fat, meaty feeling cotton that made those fabulous cotton printed tablecloths, took a lot of wear and tear and kept on keeping on! If you are washing them, though, take a little care. They are bleachable, BUT it is safer to hang them out on the line. If you collect printed tablecloths from the fifties sixties, be careful washing them. They will fade. The vintage cloths were usually 50 by 54 inches; repros are often 60 by 60 inches.
Recently I have heard it mentioned that to feed your furniture, choose a “green” alternative such as cooking oil or olive oil. This is a particularly bad idea as it can change the top layer of the wood and darken it or, even worse, it can go rancid! It will smell!! For all of your furniture, choose a good wax based product. Briwax is a terrific one. Do shy away from the store bought sprays as the silicon in them that will damage the finish.
In humid, hot south Georgia, we have all seen furniture with mildew or mold on it. According to The Furniture Doctor in Augusta, GA, the best way to fix this problem is a two-part solution.
First, mix up a batch of Murphy’s Oil Soap. This item is available at any hardware store, or even the Marts, I think. Take cotton, cotton balls for a small piece or a cotton sock or tee shirt for larger pieces. Work the piece until no more mold is seen. Then use Howard’s Restore-A-Finish to put the wood back in shape. In Due Time carries Howard’s and it comes in whatever color you need, or a natural finish if just the patina needs restoring.
Great products, great solution!
Well…at least that is what it FELT like! I received this dear little Shawnee vase, marked USA and it was encrusted with concrete-like hard water deposit. It was truly ugly. It not only looked like concrete, but it stuck to the vase hard like concrete!! I put the base of it in a saucer filled with liquid fabric softener and let it sit there for several days.
With an exacto knife, I began doing what I can only compare to taking plaque off of teeth. It took a little doing and a couple of fresh, sharp exactos, but I got that vase as clean as a whistle! I then filled it up with fabric softener to get the very hard ring on the inside soft enough to do the same thing. You know how good hind-sight is, but I failed to take a before picture! The final product is lovely!!
Lightly apply BRIWAX with #0000 oil-free steel wool to remove just the top layer of old, dried finish. This will save the original finish. It will take time, but it’s worth it!
Have you tried BRIWAX!? This wonderful wax is used by the British Musuem. It is available in Clear and nine wood tones. Clear has been specially formulated so that it will not darken the wood, just enhance the grain. The colors enable you to tone down or tone up new wood, and help fill in small surface scratches and chips in older furniture or priceless antiques.
Want a great tip? Nylon pantyhose make an excellent buffing material!
BRIWAX products are available at In Due Time, Downtown Moultrie, GA.
At In Due Time we have found a product that works removing white heat rings, water or smoke damage. Howard’s Restor-A-Finish does the trick. Apply Restor-A-Finish with fine steel wool and rub hard enough with the grain to blend out the white effect, periodically checking your progress. If a high gloss finish should appear dull due to the use of steel wool, polish it out with Howard Burnishing Cream and/or Polishing Compound. Resor-A-Finish comes in a wide variety of wood colors and is available at In Due Time.
I am not sure when I heard this tip, but it is cheap and works like crazy! If you have an old piece of leather, a belt, old suitcase or a tooled pocketbook, you can do wonders with, of all things, Brylcreem! If you are OLD, it’s the ‘a little dab will do ya’ product. It can still be purchased at the Marts and I am sure other places. I just clean off the dust, etc with any household cleaner. Then spread on the Brylcreem! Just rub on a sufficient amount to get it all covered. If it is really stiff, it can be left on overnight. They I take a paper towel and keep rubbing until no more shows up on my paper towel! It really puts the life back in everything I have tried it on!
If you run an antique shop, you can learn a great deal. A good working knowledge of furniture styles and kinds of wood would be helpful. Looking at a piece of pottery and knowing what decade it was made could be an asset, too. There is as much information out there, as you would like to gather. BUT, what I have learned is how to clean a whole lot of stuff!!
One thing I have learned to clean is Hammered Aluminum. I can’t remember where or when I got this tip. It was probably from a customer. My best information comes from my customers.
In the automotive section of any ‘Mart’, you can find Mother’s Mag Wheel Cleaner. And I know that this sounds crazy, but you follow the directions. Rub on and keep rubbing until it turns black. Keep rubbing that black off, turning the rag, until you feel like the surface isn’t giving off much more black. Now you do something that is not on the instructions! Spray the entire surface down with Windex and keep wiping the black with paper towel until it comes up clean. Wow! What a great look you will have on your vintage 50’s and 60’s hammered aluminum!