A few years ago I managed to get my hands on a complete set of 18 vintage herb/spice jars - the type with a glass stopper. They are rather grubby and I was wondering if anyone knew a safe way to clean them - they have a layer of tacky grease on them and old labels that I want to remove as well. The glass on some of the bottles is also discoloured (probably due to its original contents). I am worried about damaging the glass and also compromising the rubber seals on the stoppers.
If anyone has any experience in safely cleaning/restoring glass like this I would be grateful to hear from you.
The type of jars that I have are very similar to this:
(http://www.rogersarkansas.com/museum/donation/images/Appleg1.jpg)
not an expert but found this on the net
http://www.great-glass.co.uk/glass%20notes/clean1.htm#CLEAN (http://www.great-glass.co.uk/glass%20notes/clean1.htm#CLEAN)
Some great advice there.
Baie dankie!
Any ideas how to remove old labels without leaving glue on the glass?
I have another lovely bottle (an old vodka bottle) that is marked with glue from a label as well.
WD40 Oil, lightly brush it on, and the labels will slide off. Got that tip from my dad years ago :)
oh and impressed with the afrikaans ;)
Jy is baie welkom :D
Quote from: springbokgirlie on January 21, 2008, 09:38:40
WD40 Oil, lightly brush it on, and the labels will slide off. Got that tip from my dad years ago :)
Brilliant! Thanks for that.
I am hoping to use the bottles again once I have them cleaned (I got them and the original spice rack as well at a German flea market for a grand total of â,¬6!). I also want to try and replicate the original labels as they are quite nice - gold framed and a good size for writing on.
Quote from: springbokgirlie on January 21, 2008, 09:39:41
oh and impressed with the afrikaans ;)
Jy is baie welkom :D
I am many years out of South Africa now but still use Afrikaans on a near daily basis (handy for holding private conversations).
Ons kan afrikaans praat lol. Maar ek is nie baie goed nie meer nie. :)
Quote from: springbokgirlie on January 21, 2008, 09:51:20
Ons kan afrikaans praat lol. Maar ek is nie baie goed nie meer nie. :)
Ek kan dit beter praat as skry self. Twee van die mense met wie ek bly is Afrikaansprekers so ek kry darem 'n bietjie oefening daagliks.
How long have you been out of SA? I am in my 8th year now.
My mom is afrikaans, and I can speak it really well, but writing it its a nightmare lol.
I have been in the UK nearly 16 years now!!.
Whereabouts are you from, I grew up in Brackendowns in Alberton.
Quote from: springbokgirlie on January 21, 2008, 09:57:14
My mom is afrikaans, and I can speak it really well, but writing it its a nightmare lol.
I have been in the UK nearly 16 years now!!.
Whereabouts are you from, I grew up in Brackendowns in Alberton.
I am from Kraaifontein in the Cape (neighbouring towns are Brackenfell and Durbanville). My mom is also Afrikaans and most of my family are too, I just fell out of using it since leaving home. Bad really.
16 years - you are native at this point then?
hmmmm Will never be a native... Have green and gold blood ;)
Most my family are afrikaans too, but have English too who live over here.
Quote from: springbokgirlie on January 21, 2008, 10:21:20
hmmmm Will never be a native... Have green and gold blood ;)
Most my family are afrikaans too, but have English too who live over here.
I know what you mean. My family is a bit complicated and I have ties with South Africa and Italy, though Italy is perhaps stronger now as it is much closer.
One great blessing of having an allotment is that you can grow those hard to find South African veggies (I am giving a lot of space over to gem squash this coming year).
nooo dont make me jealous.
I would love to grow gem squash. I have butternut squash seeds.
I have not got an allotment, just doing the best I can in my garden.
Quote from: springbokgirlie on January 21, 2008, 10:28:59
nooo dont make me jealous.
I would love to grow gem squash. I have butternut squash seeds.
I have not got an allotment, just doing the best I can in my garden.
My current stock of gemsquash seeds is allocated but my mother is sending more up so I can send some to you if you wish. You can grow these up a trellis so should not take up too much space in your garden.
I would really appreciate that :) :)
I buy them all the time, funny what you miss when you live elsewhere.
I have a good butcher who does boerewors though :D I have regular braais lol.
Quote from: springbokgirlie on January 21, 2008, 10:36:46
I would really appreciate that :) :)
I buy them all the time, funny what you miss when you live elsewhere.
I have a good butcher who does boerewors though :D I have regular braais lol.
Sounds great! I miss a good braai - has been too wet here of late to do anything outside. Normally we can braai once the freeze sets in but there hasn't been one this year.
Braai in the kitchen!! ;)
I don't have any helpful info for you Rob, but I just wanted to say that I enjoyed reading this thread with you two having a little reminisce about where you're from. It's nice that you've 'found' each other for a chat. It's like eavesdropping on two friends ;D ;D :-[ ;D
We used to clean the insides of wine caraffes with lead shot swirling around, dry, they were brilliant after.
XX Jeannine
'Magic Balls' !
Bought from kleeneze brochere or similar company. Put into bottle with water swill round several times. Drain though sieve or equivalent to capture the magic balls to re use again.
Similar idea to lead shot that jeannine mentioned
We use it to clean out glass decanter
My Dad used to clean decanters, glass vases etc with Steradent, said it worked a treat. :)