Glass easily breaks so exercise particular care in cleaning, display, handling and storage.  Follow the simple tips below to preserve your investment in these beautiful items.

Cleaning

• Remove any hand jewellery to avoid percussion damage. It is advisable not to wear gloves as you do not get a good grip.
• Wash in luke-warm soft or distilled water charged with a small amount of washing up liquid. Hard water can leave surface lime scale on glass and hot or cold water potentially crack any old or weakened item.
• Do not use a dishwasher. 
• Wash items one at a time in a plastic bowl.
• Dry items individually with a clean lint free cloth again making sure that you keep all items well away from each other after cleaning.
• Place on a protective mat after cleaning.
• For ingrained dirt, do not use hard brushes as cut or painted glass easily scratches.
• Loosen dirt using luke-warm water then clean using only a soft brush.

Repair

• Do not attempt to glue broken glass.
• Repairs should only be undertaken by a recognised glass conservator. 

Display

• Glass is best displayed protected within a suitable display cabinet.
• Display pieces well away from each other to avoid the potential for percussion damage.
• Also avoid direct sunlight or any other strong heat source (e.g., radiators). Rapid temperature changes can easily crack weakened glass.
• If you use your glass vases to display flowers, change water regularly as standing organically charged water can easily produce internal staining which may then become difficult to remove.
• Also remove all organic debris during cleaning.

Handling

• Always handle using two hands making sure that you remove any loose items such as lids etc., beforehand. 
• Wear white cotton gloves to avoid leaving grease or acid on the glass surface.

Storage

• Store wrapped in acid free paper (not newspaper) and box to prevent any potential for percussion damage.