Featured Cup and saucer saved from being candle

Hello dear community members!

When I am looking for good items, sometimes I can find cup and saucer sets, as a candles or bird feeders
This summer I’ve got and amazing early 19th century gilded set with hand painted landscape - cup attached with glue to saucer as a bird feeder. And today - candle again.
Sorry for quality of the pictures. But I can’t wait to share with you.

I think it is not English, is it? What your thoughts about this? Hand painted without any transfer lines. No marks or patter numbers. Cup with a crack, but I like it anyway.

Thank you!

 

Pretty!
How did you get the wax out without breaking the cup? And how do you unglue the cup from the saucer?
I'd love to know this because I've seen several good (and sometimes valuable!) c&s sets "ruined" by these common craft transformations.

 

Hi @bluumz! This one was easy. Slowly heating with water from the bottom of cup, and than used boiled water. Just to prevent cracking because of the quick temperature change. After than used scissors as wax block screwdriver. They glued wick holder to the bottom of the cup. But I remove glue with special glue remover. So not so bad.

With bird feeders it is much easier. As usual it’s just a hot glue sticks, so easy to remove without damage.
This cup is with crack, and I think that’s the reason it was reused. But as collector, I think that’s this might be a rare survival for this pattern (or maybe not of course ). So yes, good to have specimen with no cracks if you have choice. If don’t - I am happy with cracks.

 

It reminds me of some Dutch pieces by Societé Ceramique. Only those are generally marked. But it could be Dutch, Belgian, or even German.

 

Old eBay dealer trick: I used to heat my oven up to 150F, the lowest setting, and then put wax-covered items in on newspaper and then turn the oven off. The wax as often as not removed itself. I'm not sure how safe that would be for an early 19th century teacup, but it might be worth experimenting with one you don't care about. It sure would be safer than messing with scissors!

 

I used to use scissors as “screwdriver” like this. When cup was warm, I needed to turn wax around.

 

Best way to use them. I was picturing a blade near the enamel/paint/finish and going EEK!

 

How does one undo items stuck with hot glue?

Thanks for the tips about how to remove candle wax.

 

Heat, I'd think. Unless you pop them into the freezer.

 

Oooh I have the same EEEEekkk feeling now picturing that

 

Thanks! Hot glue very easy to remove just with hand, but no rush, slowly peeling what needed. I am lucky that few examples had nice paintings, so I had no damage at all. If glue is different, I am using glue remover solution. Easy to buy somewhere on Amazon. I am using it doing restoration all the time.