Care & maintenance of irregularly glazed teawares

[debunix]

I like to see tea stains filling the crazing in the glaze, and if the tea stain creeps underneath the glaze subtly from the cracks, that's lovely too. But the buildup of superficial tannins that cover the subtle glow or bright shine of the glaze is less attractive to me, especially when it becomes very irregular through cleaning that removes it only on the high areas.

[theredbaron]

I am somewhat lost here.

Why would you need to remove the tea stains? The more you use them the more beautiful these vessels become. Just wipe them after use with a wet cloth.

This is definitely a matter of taste. Do you let tea stains build on your porcelain wares?

On porcelain i generally don't let stains build up, but those are very easy to clean. Porcelain does not have open pores either, which makes it easier. Anything else - unglazed pottery, or things like hagi is different. But that's just me.

[Chip]

I am somewhat lost here.

Why would you need to remove the tea stains? The more you use them the more beautiful these vessels become. Just wipe them after use with a wet cloth.

This is definitely a matter of taste. Do you let tea stains build on your porcelain wares?

+1. Some pieces I allow to build up stains, and some pieces I do not. It depends on what a particular piece ... says to me.

[edkrueger]

stain = sloppy
patina = careful
sloppy ≠ careful

[debunix]

Thanks for the baking soda suggestion. Finally got to it with a couple of my lightly stained pieces and it worked beautifully, restoring the clean sheen to the glaze without bleaching the beautiful marking building up in the crazing or damaging the raised bits of glaze.

[Poohblah]

deb, if you find a need to buff with cloth, you can always try using a chamois (high-quality microfiber is best) rather than a cotton towel. I've noticed that a good chamois does not tend to snag on things as easily as a cloth or towel.

[debunix]

Another great suggestion, thanks. Will look into getting a few for my special bowls & cups.