I would be worried that whatever was in the and on the clay would be sort of "burned into" the clay, making it impossible to separate later on.i_viter wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2024 5:41 amHello people!
I’ve got an idea and can’t let it go for quite a some time, so decided to discuss it here. What if a teapot was used hard and was left neglected, or served as an ink reservoir and looks really messy, totally black and greasy inside and soaked with ink flow traces outside heavily, how to clean it properly? Bleach?
Somehow, it puts me off, knowing that some components can get into pores and stay there as carbonates/calcites.
So I’m thinking (theoretically yet) about “refreshing firing” in electric kiln - from my experience 600C is enough for all organic residues to burn out. And yet it’s far from level of temperature that can affect clay or shape. Of course, it must be processed slowly and in closed clay saggar to prevent any kiln atmosphere interaction with vintage Yixing.
Any thoughts?
Don't want to shock anyone - I'm just thinking from a maker's perspective and an important part of vintage/Yixing teaware works as education for me, in which I see marks of techniques and experience of craftsmen of the past applied. And sometimes I think technically, looking at Yixing pot as a piece of stoneware of a specific kind.
But fear do not – the classic sodium percarbonate wash gets rid of ink quite easily. Rinse - repeat, a few times, prolongued soak to let other stuff slowly come out (hot and let cool down and soak for a day, repeat), separate citric acid soaks, a good scrubbing with mildly abrasives sponges. It is just time and effort, but I have done it many times and used the pots to tell the tale. If it is not acrylics or other chemical colours it is fine to clean.