Information

Care Of Hand-Made Ceramics

Dishwasher
My pottery is all high fired stoneware, which means that you can happily wash it in a dishwasher (I put all my pottery in the dishwasher at home!) However, there is always a greater risk of pottery getting small scratches, chips or cracks in dishwashers (due to items knocking together in the cycle and the harsh products we use in them) therefore, I would always recommend hand washing, which is far kinder to hand-made ceramics.

Microwaves
My pottery is all high fired stoneware which, in theory, is absolutely fine to be used in the microwave. However, as I am not able to test a range of appliances I would advise against putting hand-made ceramics in the microwave.
Thermal Shock
As with all ceramics, you should avoid thermal shock - which is caused by a rapid change in temperature. The risk of causing thermal shock is much greater when the item is large but I would still suggest the following:

• Warm large mugs with a little hot water before filling and allow any freshly boiled water to cool a little before filling your mug.

• Never take an item of pottery from the fridge and put it into the oven or microwave. 

• Never put a hot ceramic item into a sink of water.

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Packaging

I have given a lot of thought to how I post my ceramics to customers to minimise my impact on the environment whilst protecting the items that I am sending to the highest possible degree.  I re-use and recycle boxes as much as possible and, where this is not possible, I have used boxes that are from FSC responsible sources.  ALL bubblewrap used in my parcels has been collected, I DO NOT purchase new bubblewrap, I collect up any that is sent to me and family and friends also donate theirs as well! Any packaging peanuts included are made from starch which are completely biodegradable and can be put in your food-compost bin. If you receive any pellets from me that are not starch based please be assured that they are re-used from my own packages and I would encourage my customers to re-use all packaging, where possible.  I have recently switched to using paper-based brown tape for my parcels, which can also be recycled so there is no need to remove this before recycling my boxes! With all this in mind, I am extremely careful to package my ceramics as safely as possible before posting, however, in the unlikely event that your pottery is damaged during the journey to you I will replace or refund the item for you as soon as possible.

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Gift Wrapping

All my orders are wrapped in a layer of decorative tissue and tied with a stamped ‘heather.elvidge.ceramics’ tag, as standard. I take pride in sending out my pieces (after all I used to be a packaging designer!!) If you require an additional gift note adding to the order (when sending directly to a recipient) please email me the message, along with your order number, and I will arrange this for you. heather@heatherelvidgeceramics.com

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Payment Methods

Credit / Debit Cards  - PAYPAL - Offline Payments