Top Tips on How to Clean Lalique Crystal and Art Glass

February 08, 2019

Video Translation:

Hi this is Jennifer here with City Farmhouse Antiques and I am here to show you how to clean Lalique crystal and even some Murano art glass and a few other pieces of art glass I have here. First I cleaned this piece already because it is so heavy. When you have these heavy pieces of Murano glass or even these heavy pieces of Lalique don't slide them on the table. I cringe when I see people slide glass across a table. You scratch the bottom of the pieces when you do that and unless you have these little tiny felt buttons on the bottom your piece is going to scratch. If you have your pieces at home, have a housekeeper, doing an estate sale etc. make sure they know when they are cleaning or moving your glass pick it up. Don't slide it across the table. Not only are you going to scratch the bottom of your glass piece but you are also going to scratch your table. To clean a piece like this first of all an authentic piece of glass, we have talked about is going to be really heavy, so it is kind of tricky because you have to be real careful. First of all these pieces were cold because they have been in the back in a cold room in storage and I just pulled them out to clean them so you never want to clean or put hot water on a cold piece of glass because it can crack. Same thing goes for unpacking a piece of glass. If you have just gotten a piece you have ordered and you live in a colder part of the country right now with all of these storms back east if I were to ship a piece of glass I always tell the customer leave the box out. Leave it staying open until it comes to room temperature before you unpack your glass. If you have an antique piece of glass it will crack right before your eyes because it is not used to the temperature change. So to clean a piece like this I put like a rag or dish towel in the bottom of the sink to rest it on so I don't scratch it and you can actually lay it down like this and you are going to use luke warm water and you are going to draw your water just like you would for a baby to give a baby a bath. You don't want the water too hot or too cold. I try to use soap, just any kind, like this says Softsoap, but it isn't it is just Dawn dish soap but here in the shop I keep it in this container because it is easier. I use a little bit of this with my right hand. I can't show you right now because this piece of glass is really heavy and I try to keep one hand free from the soap and use my right hand with a little bit of soap and water to wash the piece with a paper towel or small cloth. Then you will go ahead and turn it over and rinse it off. I have already washed this piece. Then after you rinse it off they are so heavy number one you have to be so careful it doesn't slip out of your hands because it's wet which makes the glass slippery and with the weight, but two with it soapy that's why I try and only have soap on one hand and hold it with the other and rest it in the sink so it won't get away from me and once you rinse it you are going to put it up on some paper towel and dry it. So again, here I cleaned a piece of Lalique crystal and you can see there are stickers on bottom. You want to try to keep those stickers intact because that is going to help you maintain the value and integrity of the piece. So this piece was really dirty and grimy. So you are just going to hold it down and again use your right hand with a little bit of soap and the warm water and let it run over it in all those crevices to clean them out. You can see all the crevices in this piece and I don't wet the bottom end because that is where all of the stickers are. I take it out and dry it with paper towel upside down because again I don't want to get all my stickers wet and I know a lot of people have asked for me to use a pointer with these signatures but again I am good, but not that good. I can't hold the phone, hold the heavy piece of glass, and my priority is not dropping it. If you have sticker residue or something that you can't get off because it is by the sticker labels I use good old rubbing alcohol. You can take a cotton ball or q-tip and clean off any of that residue or grimy sticky dirt that is on the bottom around the stickers so you don't lose them or that way you won't loose your little felt buttons on the bottom either. Like this piece looks like someone tried to clean it and they did lose the little felt buttons so they taped them back on. So that is the best way to clean your Lalique crystal and art glass. I still have a few other pieces to clean here. This is a piece of Daum art glass, a tiger in a tree. In another video I show you if your piece has lost its luster how to use petroleum jelly to polish your piece, but this piece looks like it is in fabulous condition. So be sure to check us out on our website at www.cityfarmhouseantiques.com where we have more than just antiques and give us a like on Facebook.