White Gloves

I recall with a tinge of fondness,  the hat and white glove days of my late teens.  Later, much later, I bought white gloves at every garage sale if they were out on a table.  Actually, I had quite a nice little collection of them.  On Tuesday they were nearly all put to good use and they will be again when I start digitizing my father's slides from the 50's and 60's.

We have obtained the services of a sweet friend for a few hours every other week to help us at home.  As we had cleaned so well prior to the photography session, I had Tutu clean the three chandeliers in this very small house.  Three!  Many years ago my compulsive-shopper mate found an electric company going out of business, apparently  the fixture sale was irresistible.  I was very annoyed about that to tell the truth...thinking about the old saying about the purse and the pig's ear.  He recalls moving them around and around the house after he got them wired in...just to satisfy my home decorating eye.  That stopped me from complaining,  I could see that that was no easy task, even if he was perhaps 25 years younger then.

The three of us, He Who...Tutu, and me-self, were thrilled over the cleaning results.

Wanting to do things right, I discovered on the internet the correct way to clean crystals:   

The White Glove Method.

This method does not require removing crystal.

Prepare a cleaning solution of one part isopropyl alcohol to three parts distilled water. Put it in a spray bottle.  (Oops, I used only two parts water)

Wear white cotton gloves. Spray one glove with the above solution and keep one dry. Caress the crystal with the damp glove and wipe it immediately with the dry glove. This can be fun if you love crystal!

IMPORTANT: Do not use packaged cleaning fluids under any circumstances, even if they claim to be for crystal. They may contain ammonia or other chemicals that will eventually degrade the frame finish. The crystal cleaning methods described here are the only methods Schonbek supports.