| Experts agree that a little extra care of your collectible ornaments helps to maintain and increase their value. A build up of dust damages the finish and reduces their value. Before you put your ornaments away, take time to dust and clean them lightly. Be cautious when cleaning hollow glass, porcelain or crystal Christmas ornaments, drops or garlands and especially gentle if the surface of your ornament is hand painted or decorated with glitter. Always use a soft, natural hair brush for cleaning your ornaments. Look for sable, ox or squirrel hair artist brushes in the filbert, hake, oval wash or square wash shapes at your local artist supply store or at a reputable artist supply store on line. Never use water, soap, solvents, liquid or anything wet of any kind on hand painted or glittered ornaments. Glass/ porcelain/ crystal ornaments with a plain, smooth or undecorated surface can be cleaned with a clean, soft dry lint-free cloth. Since most collectible glass or porcelain ornaments are delicate, avoid handling them excessively. Set them down on a soft, well-padded surface to clean. Handle the pieces carefully, do not squeeze the body of the ornament when you hold it for cleaning. Otherwise, you could break it. A cylindrical ornament stand (such as an egg, sphere or paperweight stand) will be helpful for holding your ornament steady while you are cleaning it. Solid glass ornaments, crystal drops, glass bead or porcelain garlands can be cleaned with a soft cloth moistened by a few drops of a good quality, gentle glass cleaner without solvents. A one/three parts mixture of white vinegar and water will also work but could damage the brass connectors between the garland beads. Solid crystal, glass or porcelain ornaments are less susceptible to contact breakage but, should still be handled carefully. Set them down on a soft, well-padded surface to clean. A cylindrical stand (such as an egg, sphere or paperweight stand) will be helpful for holding ornaments steady while cleaning. Plastic cleaning gloves with roughened finger tips will give you a better grip on the item and stop a glass/crystal garland from slipping through your fingers (onto the floor!) They'll also prevent unwanted fingerprints on the surface of a cleaned crystal ornament or garland. Metal ornaments can be cleaned with a clean, soft cloth or with a cloth impregnated with cleaning solution such as the one included in our Collectors Kit. A similar type of cloth is normally available at your local jewelry store. Clean your solid metal - sterling silver, brass, gold ornaments, garlands or ornament hooks with a jeweler recommended polish or polish impregnated cloth. If your ornaments are nickel silver, 14-24K gold, silver or brass plated , they are probably also lacquered to prevent tarnish. Using polish on them may damage the finish. So, be sure to check with the manufacturer and follow their recommended cleaning procedure. Resin ornaments can be cleaned with a soft, natural hair brush - such as mentioned above. The resin itself is imperious to water. However, the paint and decorations applied to the ornament may not be. To be on the safe side do not use water, solvents or anything wet of any kind on these ornaments / collectibles either. Follow the manufacturers' recommended cleaning procedure. Paper or cast paper ornaments should be wrapped in unbuffered tissue and stored flat. Follow the manufacturers' recommendations for cleaning. After cleaning, wrap the ornaments in acid-free, unbuffered tissue paper, archive quality paper towels or acid free lightweight cotton batting (thin cotton stuffing sometimes used for quilts, padding in garments or pillows). PS: we sell archival quality acid-free tissue for all ornaments and collectibles in sheets from letter paper size for small ornaments to 24" x 36" for Christopher Radko or Thomas Pacconi's large ornaments, wedding gowns and Fontanini collectibles. Here's a tip that could save you money: Bounty white paper towels are acid free. Please note that Bounty is not marked or advertised as archival quality, unbuffered or acid free. However, Proctor and Gamble has verified for us that none of their Bounty paper towels contain acid. They suggest using Bounty white towels for storing ornaments or small collectibles. What is not recommended for archival quality wrapping or storing of collectible ornaments? - newspaper unless it is acid free, unbuffered, unprinted, archival quality newsprint
- fabric softener sheets unless they are unbuffered, acid free
- unbuffered paper sheets or shred ( unbuffered tissue is better)
- plastic / acrylic boxes, wrapping paper
Do not use a sealed plastic bag directly against your ornament. In fact, you should not use any plastic of any kind for storing your ornaments or ornament tree because it holds moisture. Moisture will ultimately destroy the finish on your ornaments. Check out our beautifully boxed Ornament Collectors Kit. It is an acid free storage system especially created to provide archival quality cleaning and storage for a small ornament collection or collectors of miniature or flat ornaments. If you have too many ornaments for one storage box, you can line a large plastic tub container with thick layers of acid free tissue, wrap each ornament individually in acid free tissue and store it in the container. After the ornaments are seated, fill the spaces around the ornaments and the container to the top with acid-free tissue shred to keep the ornaments from knocking against each other - especially if your storage box or container does not have individual dividers. Make sure it has a secure, tight-fitting lid and store the container in a cool, dry area because plastic containers can trap moisture. Use desiccants to control unwanted moisture inside the container. Store your packed ornaments in a dry room where the temperature and humidity is constant and moderate all year around. Avoid storage spaces with fluctuations in the moisture level, heat or cold such as your basement, attic or garage unless these areas are the same cool, dry temperature year around or equipped with an automatic climate control. Why? Extremes in temperature can cause surface cracking in the finish on your ornaments or cracks in the ornament itself. A bedroom closet or any storage space on an interior wall would be ideal. When you set your ornaments out on display, avoid placing them in direct sunlight or close to a source of heat. Make sure electric lights do not touch them when arranged on your tree. If you own Ornamotions or electrically operated ornaments, read and save the manufacturers' instructions. Remove the batteries before putting them away after the holidays because batteries can sometimes leak. Remember to get fresh batteries at the start of each holiday display season. With proper care, your collectible ornaments will last a lifetime and remain the family heirlooms you intended them to be when you made your purchase. Click here to see all of our ornament and artificial tree storage options and the archival tissue/shred products in our store. Thanks for buying ornament stands and trees, display stands and pedestals or archival quality ornament storage from Ornament Trees.com. We appreciate your confidence in our products. :-) |
The "Buy Now" price for products with this symbol includes a $2 - $15 oversize box fee. Regular shipping will be applied at checkout. 