Caring for Clay

Ceramics have been made and decorated in all sorts of different ways. They are fragile and need to be handled carefully.

Pick it up very carefully over a padded surface, make sure you have a hand underneath and use both hands to hold it. Make sure to take off any loose bits like lids and put them down separately, before you pick it up or turn it over. You can think a teapot is perfect, but its handle may have been mended long ago and painted over cleverly: you may pick it up at just the moment when the mend has decided to give up, leaving you holding a handle and no teapot.

 

Ceramics must be stored properly and handled as little as possible. If they are on proper shelves with lots of space, and glass doors in front of them, you’ll be able to see them without having to touch them.

If you have a disaster and break something, you will need a conservator to mend the pot. The most important thing is to make it safe and put it back as nearly as you can to the way it was. The business of retouching the mended areas with colour is quite delicate and it is difficult getting new colours to match the original ones.