Hi Everyone

I have a couple of old Yixing teapots which need cleaning and I was
wondering if I could get advice from this group on the best way to do it. I
know that you shouldn't use detergents or any other substance which the pots
can absorb. I've also seen on-line that toothbrushes do the job well along
with bicarb soda. However, I'm finding that the toothbrushes don't get into
all the corners of the pots and I'm not sure if the bicarb should be applied
as some sort of paste? As it is, my current attempts at cleaning this way
don't seem to be going too well.

Any advice would be welcome to clean up accumulated grime off these pots.

thanks

Kat

Kat, I use baby bottle brush cleaner from Babies'R'Us to clean the
inside of a new Yixing before seasoning. It (the brush) is generously
bristled with soft, synthetic brush and therefore can touch all places
-- if not most -- inside the pot.

Where / who did you get these "old" pots from?


KM wrote:
> Hi Everyone
>
> I have a couple of old Yixing teapots which need cleaning and I was
> wondering if I could get advice from this group on the best way to do it. I
> know that you shouldn't use detergents or any other substance which the pots
> can absorb. I've also seen on-line that toothbrushes do the job well along
> with bicarb soda. However, I'm finding that the toothbrushes don't get into
> all the corners of the pots and I'm not sure if the bicarb should be applied
> as some sort of paste? As it is, my current attempts at cleaning this way
> don't seem to be going too well.
>
> Any advice would be welcome to clean up accumulated grime off these pots.
>
> thanks
>
> Kat

> Where / who did you get these "old" pots from?
>

From that old standby - eBay. The pots themselves are lovely, but they do
seem to have some stains I can't seem to move off them. I know it can be
done. I've seen old cleaned teapots on line. I'm just having problems doing
it myself.

Kat

I have quite an extensive experience in this particular task.
1. If it does not smell badly - prolonged soaking in water with a little
white vinegar will do the job. If you also want some mechanical cleaning -
fill it with 1/3 of good clean sea sand and shake vigoirously for an hour or
so.
Use massaging vibrator - I am not joking - the larger ones have enough of
the almost flat surface on the top so you will only need to use your hands
to press it against the vibrator.
Now I understand I will be flooded with "vibrator" jokes... Oh, well

2. If it does smell bad (usually from teh molds) - the best way (and I say -
the only way) to clean it - slow heating and slow cooling in a lab stove
untill it gets cherry-red colored (about 700-800 Centigrade).
Best way to slow heat (5-6 hours) and slow cool (same cycle). Most lab ovens
can be programmed to do this.
Also it can be done in a kiln if you havd some pottery community school
access. I never tried higher heat because it is not needed. Will the yixing
pot be able to withstand white-hot kiln or not - I do not know. But often
things are fired in quite low temperatures, so it is possible to use kiln.

Sasha.


"KM" > wrote in message
...
> Hi Everyone
>
> I have a couple of old Yixing teapots which need cleaning and I was
> wondering if I could get advice from this group on the best way to do it.
> I know that you shouldn't use detergents or any other substance which the
> pots can absorb. I've also seen on-line that toothbrushes do the job well
> along with bicarb soda. However, I'm finding that the toothbrushes don't
> get into all the corners of the pots and I'm not sure if the bicarb should
> be applied as some sort of paste? As it is, my current attempts at
> cleaning this way don't seem to be going too well.
>
> Any advice would be welcome to clean up accumulated grime off these pots.
>
> thanks
>
> Kat
>
>
>

Hi Sasha

Luckily my teapot smells fine.....so I'll give your suggestions a go and see
how they work.

thanks

Kat

Just a small addition -

1. Very nice results can be obtained with ultrasound baths. But stay away
from any of their cleaning liquids, that will be the death of your yixing.
Use clean water with a bit of white vinegar. Clean the teapot and the lid
separately. Do not use high energy - rather longer times.

2. While using lab ovens to "cook" your teapot, you can look at it through
special visor, but NEVER open the oven's door before it COMPLETELY cools -
an air movement is usually enough to cool one side of the pot even a little
bit and that will crack it right away.
These pots are very sensitive to thermal gradients - I once had an empty
yixing teapot got quite hot on a very low flame setting on a kitchen stove
(may be 600F, no more) and when I realized that it was empty Instead of
killing the flame and letting it cool on its own, I killed the flame and
lifted it up. The cooling action of that lifting movement was enough to
crack it with a very characteristic and very fine precise round crack that
was almost invisible but nevertheless deadly. Always let ceramics cool on
their own. Slow heating everyone understands, slow cooling is not as
intuitive.

Sasha.


"Alex Chaihorsky" > wrote in message
. net...
>I have quite an extensive experience in this particular task.
> 1. If it does not smell badly - prolonged soaking in water with a little
> white vinegar will do the job. If you also want some mechanical cleaning -
> fill it with 1/3 of good clean sea sand and shake vigoirously for an hour
> or so.
> Use massaging vibrator - I am not joking - the larger ones have enough of
> the almost flat surface on the top so you will only need to use your hands
> to press it against the vibrator.
> Now I understand I will be flooded with "vibrator" jokes... Oh, well
>
> 2. If it does smell bad (usually from teh molds) - the best way (and I
> say - the only way) to clean it - slow heating and slow cooling in a lab
> stove untill it gets cherry-red colored (about 700-800 Centigrade).
> Best way to slow heat (5-6 hours) and slow cool (same cycle). Most lab
> ovens can be programmed to do this.
> Also it can be done in a kiln if you havd some pottery community school
> access. I never tried higher heat because it is not needed. Will the
> yixing pot be able to withstand white-hot kiln or not - I do not know. But
> often things are fired in quite low temperatures, so it is possible to use
> kiln.
>
> Sasha.
>
>
> "KM" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Hi Everyone
>>
>> I have a couple of old Yixing teapots which need cleaning and I was
>> wondering if I could get advice from this group on the best way to do it.
>> I know that you shouldn't use detergents or any other substance which the
>> pots can absorb. I've also seen on-line that toothbrushes do the job
>> well along with bicarb soda. However, I'm finding that the toothbrushes
>> don't get into all the corners of the pots and I'm not sure if the bicarb
>> should be applied as some sort of paste? As it is, my current attempts
>> at cleaning this way don't seem to be going too well.
>>
>> Any advice would be welcome to clean up accumulated grime off these pots.
>>
>> thanks
>>
>> Kat
>>
>>
>>
>
>