Care and use
Vitrified ceramic is easy to look after and there are perhaps four things worth knowing. Everything below applies to our own shelves; where a limit differs from piece to piece we say so rather than quoting one number for the whole range.
The dishwasher
Every piece we make goes in the dishwasher. The thing that damages ceramics in there is not water or detergent, it is contact: two pieces touching on a moving rack knock together every time the spray arm turns, and after enough cycles one of them loses a flake of glaze at the rim.
- Space mugs so the handles cannot hook each other.
- Lay bowls at an angle rather than flat, or they fill with water and then tip it into whatever is below.
- Keep heavy items out of the same basket as cups.
- A chipped rim on anything you drink from is the end of that piece. The exposed edge is sharp and porous.
The microwave
Everything here is microwave-safe, and that is partly because we use no metallic decoration anywhere. A gold or platinum rim is the usual reason a nice mug cannot go in.
Worth knowing: the microwave heats the food, not the ceramic. The piece gets hot from what is inside it, so a bowl can come out hotter than expected after a long run. The federal guidance on microwave ovens makes the same point, noting that most microwave injuries are heat burns from hot containers rather than anything to do with the radiation.
The oven, and thermal shock
This is the one place where the shelves genuinely differ, and where borrowing a number from the wrong card causes damage.
| Shelf | Oven | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Ramekins and bakeware | Yes, to the figure on the card | Casserole and baking dishes are the highest rated pieces we make. Individual ramekin sets vary and state their own limit. |
| Bowls | Some, to the figure on the card | Several bowl sets are oven-rated at a lower temperature. Where a card does not say so, treat the piece as not oven-safe. |
| Plates | Warming only, where stated | A dinner plate rated to a few hundred degrees is for warming, not for baking. |
| Mugs and cups | No | Handles and thin walls make a mug the wrong shape for oven heat. |
| Butter, spoon rests, canisters, crocks | No | Lids, seals and bamboo parts are the limiting factor rather than the ceramic. |
| Planters | No | These are not food vessels and do not belong in an oven at all. |
The card for the piece you own is the figure that applies. Where two of our pieces disagree, both are correct: thickness and shape change what a body can take.
Thermal shock is the failure mode to actually worry about. It happens when one part of a piece expands faster than another, and the crack is instant and permanent. A dish out of a hot oven wants a dry board or a folded cloth, never a wet worktop. Cold liquid into a hot dish does the same damage in reverse.
Grey marks on a white glaze
After a few months a white glaze picks up fine grey lines. Those are metal marks: cutlery deposits a trace of itself on the glaze the way a pencil marks paper. They are cosmetic and they lift with a paste of bicarbonate of soda on a damp cloth, or with any mild cream cleaner.
A scratch that goes through the glaze into the body is permanent, and that is what scouring powder and steel wool do to ceramics. If a mark survives a cream cleaner, it is in the glass rather than on it.
Tea and coffee staining
A vitrified body cannot stain, because it does not absorb. What stains is the crazed surface of an old glaze, where tannins settle into fine cracks. On a sound glaze a brown film is sitting on top and comes off with bicarbonate of soda or a soak in warm water with a little oxygen bleach.
Storing without chipping
- Stack dry. A film of water lets pieces slide into each other rather than settle.
- Two mugs high is a sensible stack; four is a tower that falls.
- Felt pads or a paper towel between stacked plates is worth the trouble for pieces you care about.
- Hanging mugs on hooks is the commonest cause of a broken handle. The handle carries the weight of the mug all day, every day.
Planters, which are a different animal
Our planters have drainage holes and matching saucers, and they are designed to be wet on the inside. Do not stand one directly on unsealed wood, because water will find its way through the drainage hole and sit under the saucer. The self-watering pots keep a reservoir below the soil and want emptying if a plant goes dormant.
Everything on this page applies to any high-fired ceramic, ours included. To see which shelf a piece belongs to and what limits it carries, the HASENSE range lists all 12 shelves with the sizes on each card.
