Glass Cleaning Basics

Overview

Before loading glass into a kiln, make sure it’s thoroughly cleaned of contaminants like glass-cutting fluid, minerals, salts, dusts, fibers, sticker residues, fingerprints, pen marks, and oils from skin. If these or other substances are not removed before a firing, they may show up in the finished piece or cause devitrification, the growth of crystalline structures on the glass.

It doesn’t take any special effort or equipment to clean glass properly. We use cotton towels and Spartan Window Cleaner. Simply spray a little bit of cleaner onto the glass, and wipe. Cleaning glass before it goes into the kiln might seem like an extra step, but it's actually very important, and can prevent frustration later.