How to care for your handmade pottery

I'm assuming that after reading my previous post everyone turned their store bought dinnerware into a very interesting broken pottery mosaic project and spent the next couple of weeks eating off recycled cardboard plates while frantically building a whole ,spanking new,amazing collection of handmade pottery. ( the thing with the cardboard plates? mum's the word,I can only say it happened)
Now you have dishes that you care very much about, maybe because you're attracted to the way they feel in your hand, maybe you like that little creepy image staring back at you from your soup or you just hear on the back of your mind your partner's sigh when you came back with more of those expensive dishes and you don't want to know how they sigh when drop a 30$ bowl.
Whatever the reason you are very careful with your pots and would like them to live a long happy life with you. Believe me, I know ,I've been carrying a broken handle mug on three continents until last summer.
On to caring for your handmade pots.The dishwasher is not your pots friend as a hot alkaline environment but we both know you're not going to spend time washing all dishes by hand.Unless you like it and you're into conserving water in which case I would like to know your secret and follow your lead.
If you're like me and you loathe doing the dishes ,you should, while loading the dishwasher make sure they are separated in the wash to minimize touching and shock, use less detergent preferably one less harmful to the earth like method or seven generation brands (I never found the liquid detergents based on corn to work properly for me but is a personal choice) keep the water not very hot and skip the drying cycle letting your dishes dry naturally instead .
With this treatment your stoneware and porcelains should be fine ,if you have earthenware you might end up with crazing on the pots (see the previous blog post for reference)I recommend hand washing and careful drying for earthenware ,as well as for fragile items,or items that have protruding decorations like clay ribbons excessive handles ,very thin handles, lids with big knobs, teapots. A good rule of thumb is to avoid the dishwasher for pieces that are complicated and made out of more then one part.
You might consider your household dynamics when you buy pottery.In my case I prefer sturdy simple pots that will survive a drop on the hardwood floor with wide bases that are not easily knocked over by my child ,I avoid matte colors that can get scribbled on by metal utensils and some texture on the outside so little grabby hands can grab a slippery wet pot. Before I had a child, well , I was into translucent, magnificently thin Japanese porcelain which now lives in my mosaic scrap pile.
I remember somebody asking me for thicker plates because their partner was regularly chipping plates while loading them in the dishwasher and somebody who wished for a very organic ,uneven,knobby mug handle for person with arthritis in their hand.
The chemical leaching is a concern no matter what kind of dishes you will use(except Pyrex but that's not handmade ).In US regulated so far are only lead and cadmium but most colors are using oxides, to one percentege or another.I personally stay away from eating from luster surface pots ,the iridescent mother of pearl like surface is usually created by excess of colorant on top of the glaze and it can rub off in your food with use.
The amount of leaching depends on many ,many factors ,the abrasion of the surface,continuous thermal shock (hot cold cycles) dishwasher detergent, physical damage to the pot, hairline cracks,glaze crazing and very important AGE. Like anything else pots are aging and they will develop problems. The chemical exposure from handmade pots is thought to be minimal over the life of a pot(and I like to think less dangerous than eating your food from a burned nonstick pan ) ,I couldn't find data directly linking injury or death to eating from pottery but I would be interested if anyone will post links to articles on the matter.
You can minimize your exposure by taking turns in using different pots in consecutive days ,stop using them if they get discolored , scratched or the surface looks pitted ,stop using them if when tapped the rim sounds dull or if they start getting hot in the microwave.
I know this sounds like a lot but in my household which believe me is an extreme testing ground our handmade pottery from different potters survived for the last 6 years with minimal damage.Think how many of the store bought plates you still have from 6 years ago and if you like them today as much as you did when you got them.
I know I do and I have a story for each of my eclectic handmade pots.
Feel free to post your own collection in the comments.
Until then.