August 18, 2013

Don’t Smoke!

I picked up two little Staffordshire Dogs at a sale this weekend. Honestly, I almost didn’t get them because of how filthy they were. I started cleaning the one on the right, and then thought I should take a picture to see the before and after shots.I scrubbed them a bit with dish detergent, but that didn’t do a thing. Because they’re not glazed, I thought I’d try a Magic Eraser®. Since I didn’t pay a lot for them, it wouldn’t really matter if they were ruined. But it worked like magic! Basically, the nicotine had put a coat of stain on both pieces. It had also given them a little bit of a shine. The very thought of living in a house that’s had that much smoke in it just makes me ill.

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This is another of the many things I did this weekend. I had a great old candlestick which had lost all of its silver-plate. I didn’t want to have it re-plated because it’s a but wobbly and as a finished piece, it wouldn’t be worth it. So I got a can of black gloss spray-paint and re-imagined the piece.

It’s actually in four parts, so I took them all apart and gave them a number of light coats of paint, turning after each coat to make sure all parts were covered. I think it turned out pretty well! If I do this again, I might take a rough sponge to the piece before I spray it to give the paint something to grip.

How was your weekend?

23 comments:

  1. I had a similar experience with a dark forest-green planter that was so evenly grimy, I thought that was the base color, but when I scrubbed it, it turned out to be more of a light-green-turquoise color.

    Perhaps your statuettes were in a house that had a coal-burning fireplace or furnace, which could also deposit layers of filthy residue like this. A lot of Chinese pieces acquire this kind of heavy 'patina' when they are placed near altars that burn incense--another reason to be careful when gaging the age of Asian or other antiques.
    --Road to Parnassus

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    1. Not a lot of coal-burning stoves or fireplaces here. It smelled like tobacco smoke when i cleaned it. I guess it's all just patina!

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  2. Replies
    1. Be careful with it! It can take the finish off a piece.

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  3. Good Job!!! I love the dogs and like what you did with that old candelabra!!!

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    1. Pretty happy about the way the candelabra turned out!

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  4. Glad you came to the rescue of those little doggies. I've been in homes where the walls were coated with the same "tobacco glaze". Can't imagine living like that.

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    1. I was pretty sure there were more, just couldn't find them!

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  5. I bought a cheap but pretty oil painting at auction on the internet. When I got it, it REAKED of cigarette smoke. I didn't want to pay to have it cleaned so I hit it with some windex-gasp!-but the nicotine just dripped right off it. And it was beautiful. I sold it and made a nice profit. Amen.

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    1. Makes me ill to think of a house with that much smoke in it!

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  6. Meg great job!! Love the little Staffordshire dogs they turned out so lovely and I adore the candlestick!!

    xoxo
    Karena
    2013 Designer Series

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    1. Was quite pleased about the way everything turned out!

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  7. I am intrigued that you think the items were in unglazed. Perhaps you are suggesting these were items from the 40's or 50's when the ceramic craze in full swing ; with shops selling bisque pieces ready to add detail with glazes, to then fire in the kiln once again???. The detail of the pieces suggest it was probably from a mold. perhaps the glaze was a matte finish. If the pieces were unglazed i would think the nastiness would have been absorbed by the bisque stage of the piece as it, I do believe "absorbs" the glaze to be fired. Honestly, or a wax resist could have aided in your cleaning. I find this simply intriguing I would be eager for a ceramics expert to weigh in.

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    1. Unglazed in that they didn't have a shiny, glazed finish on them. That they were matte, flat, seemingly porous. They had been fired, but not glazed. Perhaps only painted, although the paint didn't come off when I scrubbed them with a brush and the magic eraser.

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  8. Hi Meg. Love the candelabra project. Next time, use ""metal" paint or automobile paint and you won't need to worry about the surface. The candelabra is now what I call the perfect black!!
    Have a super week.
    Mary

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    1. Mary... i used paint marked for metal surfaces, but it might have been multi-purpose.

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  9. Great job on doggies + candelabra + happy new week. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

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  10. Great job on all! One suggestion: When cleaning anything porcelain, always try an overnight soak in warm water with OxyClean. I know, I know, it's supposed to be for laundry... but trust me - the stuff even removes baked-on lasagna from pyrex baking dishes! One overnight soak and you can wipe the baked-on stuff off with a paper towel. It works wonders on anything ceramic/porcelain/glass.

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    1. Haha! I guess you missed it when I gave the OxyClean hint a few weeks ago!

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  11. Speaking of tips...the back card of my Colgador de Plato or Plate hanger --for hairline cracks in plates, put the plate in a pan of milk and boil for 45 minutes. the crack should disappear. really!! has anyone heard of this "trick?"

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  12. Ban leaf blowers. Weekly use is misuse--contributes to topsoil erosion. Go ravens.

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  13. oh I love the dogs , I don't know why in the last couple years I always am drawn to them in any antique shop or blog where ever I am

    glad you didn't ruin they cleaning them so harshly, the oxiclean soap sound great for anything

    I am going to try the milk boil tonight for one of my flo blue plates

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