Topic: Cleaning carnival glass

[josordoni]

I had a nice little bowl with a quite heavy limescale ring on it I wanted to get out, but I don't like to use heavy duty chemicals on carnival glass in case I damage the coating.

I scoured this board, but couldn't find any advice, but found a tip on the net to cover the limescale thickly with vaseline and leave it for a couple of days, wipe off and wash and the limescale would be gone.  Well it isn't gone but it is vastly improved. 

Does anyone have any other tips for cleaning coated glass?  Uncoated is easy, squish squish with limescale remover type bathroom cleaner and Bob's your uncle...

[Glen]

I don't have a magic solution to this Lynne - sorry  . I look forward to hearing anyone else's suggestions.

[josordoni]

Well the vaseline trick is quite good actually,

Here is the bowl before:


Here is the bowl now:

[Anne]

Lynne, does the vaseline actually remove the limescale though, or does it disguise it? (Like the earlier mentions of silicon oil to disguise water damage.)  As vaseline is itself quite sticky and hard to get off things I'm wondering how it's working on the limescale?  I might have a play with a limescaled piece here and see what happens.

[josordoni]

I don't really know Anne, I put the vaseline on, left it for about 36 hours, wiped the residue off, gave it a good wash in neat washing up liquid, but it is hellish difficult to shift.  So I gritted my teeth and sprayed it with grease remover cleaner, which seemed to get me back to squeaky glass.  I then left it to dry completely for 24 hours before I photographed it.

There were still some little bits of scale that showed white, so I suppose the rest would also have showed white if it were still there? 

[Anne]

That sounds more hopeful than I'd imagined, Lynne. Vaseline's a nightmare to get off anything, as you say. I'll let you know how I get on with my piece - we may be onto something here! 

[josordoni]

I still prefer my Lidl bathroom cleaner on smooth glass though.

quick and shiny!

[Connie]

I use Dow Scrubbling Bubbles on all my glass,pottery, and porcelain including carnival glass.  I have never had it damage anything except you can't use it on cold painted items.

Since Scrubbing Bubbles is designed to shine metal bathroom fixtures I have found that it makes silver deposit glass sparkle and also carnival glass (which has metallic salts).  I make sure I rinse very well in tepid water.

[josordoni]

Scrubbing bubbles isn't available here, but looking at the site, it seems very similar in its use and also in the fact it can't be used on marble or limestone, to the Lidl one I have .

So I wonder if I am just being too tentative about using it?  Maybe I'll give it a go on a valueless piece and see how I go.

How long do you leave your bubbles on for Connie?