Washing and Storing Mouth Blown Glass: Idéelle, Lily and Primula

Thin, mouth blown glass rewards a few minutes of care and punishes careless habits slowly: a faint haze, a chipped rim, a ring of dried water that never quite rinses off. This guide covers how to wash, dry and store Holmegaard glass so it stays as clear as the day it was unpacked, using the Idéelle Tumbler 19 cl clear, the Lily tumblers and the Primula pieces as working examples.

Know which glass you are holding

Not every piece on a Holmegaard shelf is made the same way, and the method decides the care. The Idéelle tumbler is mouth blown: a gather of molten glass is inflated and shaped by hand, which gives the walls their thinness and the rim its softness. The range dates back to 1978 and was designed by Per Lütken, one of the most skilled glassblowers in the factory's history. The tumbler stands 11.5 cm high with a diameter of 7 cm and weighs 0.2 kg.

The Lily Tumbler 32 cl 2 pcs. is a different object. It is hand pressed glass, moulded with a floral relief inspired by the water lily, and it is noticeably heavier: 9.5 cm high, Ø8.5 cm, and 0.63 kg for the pair. The Flow Tumbler 35 cl is mouth blown with a softly irregular rim, and the Primula Vase H12.5 cm and the Primula tealight holder (Ø9.5 cm) are mouth blown with gentle optic lines folded into the glass.

Where the product notes give a dishwasher programme, follow it to the letter: a glass programme at no more than 55°C. Where they say nothing, as with Flow and Primula, treat the piece as hand wash only.

Washing by hand, including thin stems

Hand washing glass is mostly about temperature and grip. Use warm water rather than hot, because a sudden change in temperature is what stresses thin walls, and never move a glass straight from hot water to a cold counter or the reverse. Lay a folded tea towel or a rubber mat in the bottom of the sink so a slip ends with a soft landing instead of a crack.

• Wash one glass at a time. Glasses knocking together under the water is the most common cause of small rim chips.
• Use a soft sponge or a bottle brush, and a small amount of mild washing-up liquid. Skip anything abrasive; scratches in clear glass catch light and never polish out.
• Hold a tumbler by the body, not by the rim, and turn it rather than twisting the sponge inside it.
• For stemmed glasses, such as the wine and champagne glasses in the wider Idéelle range, hold the bowl and the stem together in one hand. Twisting the bowl while gripping only the foot puts the whole force on the narrowest point, which is where stems break.
• Rinse in clean warm water so no detergent film is left to dry on the surface.

The Lily relief needs one extra pass. Its raised petals are part of the moulded glass, and the soft grooves between them can hold a trace of juice or cordial. A soft brush run along the pattern clears them in seconds.

Drying without water marks

Water marks are not dirt from the washing. They are the minerals that were dissolved in the rinse water, left behind when the droplets evaporate. The fix is simple: do not let the water evaporate on the glass.

1. Let the glass drain upside down on a rack or a clean towel for a minute or two, no longer.
2. Dry it while it is still warm with a lint-free cloth. Linen or microfibre kept only for glass works best; a cloth that has been used on greasy plates will leave a smear.
3. Support the glass from inside with the cloth in one hand and polish the outside with the other. For a stemmed glass, hold the bowl, never the foot, while you polish.
4. Hold it up to a window and catch any last spot while it is fresh.

The same applies to vases. The Primula Vase is the piece most likely to be left wet: after emptying it, rinse it, shake out the water and dry the inside with a cloth wrapped around a wooden spoon handle, so no ring forms at the old waterline.

Clouding from hard water, and when it is something else

In hard water areas, a milky film can build up over months, especially on glasses that air dry. This is limescale sitting on the surface. It feels slightly rough under a fingertip, it often looks patchy, and it shows most clearly on clear glass such as the Idéelle tumbler. Because it is a deposit, it can usually be loosened and wiped away, and careful drying after every wash prevents most of it from forming at all.

There is a second kind of clouding that looks similar but is not a deposit. When the surface of the glass itself has been worn, usually by repeated washing at too high a temperature or with harsh detergents, the haze is even across the glass, often with a faint rainbow sheen, and wiping does nothing. This is permanent. It is the reason the product notes for Idéelle and Lily specify a glass programme at no more than 55°C.

A simple test tells the two apart: wet the cloudy area with a fingertip. If the haze disappears while it is wet and returns as it dries, the surface itself is affected. If it stays visible, you are most likely looking at a deposit that can be cleaned.

Storing glass upright, not rim down

Many kitchens store glasses upside down to keep dust out. For thin mouth blown glass it is the wrong way round. The rim is the thinnest and most fragile part of the glass, and resting the full weight on it every day invites small chips. Stored rim down, a glass also traps damp air inside.

• Store tumblers upright on a dry shelf, with a finger's width between them so they do not touch when the cupboard door closes.
• Stack only what is designed to stack. The Lily tumblers are stackable; mouth blown pieces such as Idéelle and Flow should stand on their own.
• Keep stemmed glasses upright and away from the front edge of the shelf, where a sleeve or a door can catch them.

For candle holders, let the Primula tealight holder cool fully before washing, and remove wax only once it has set, lifting it out rather than scraping the glass.

A routine that keeps glass clear

Good glass care is a short list repeated often: warm water, one glass at a time, dry while warm, store upright. If you want to understand why the walls of a mouth blown tumbler are so thin in the first place, our piece on how Idéelle glass is made follows the process at the furnace. And if you are adding to the shelf, browse the full Glassware collection for tumblers, wine glasses and stemware from Holmegaard and others.