salvaged crystal for Summer cocktails..

Recently I came across these four crystal tumblers at a local opshop. I immediately fell for their simple lines and the fact they were all slightly irregular in size (a sign that they were handmade I'm told).

They were however very cloudy, which was probably why they were 50 cents each. I had a vague recollection of reading how to correct the cloudy issue and brought them home...

Then I consulted my somewhat trusty friend Google and came across everything from soaking in lemon juice or vinegar, scrubbing with toothpaste to using fine sandpaper to rid crystal of this seemingly common problem.

A gentle wash and polish, still quite hazy..

 

post vinegar bath, getting there...

After a little consideration, I decided on the vinegar solution, as it seemed the most gentle... Several hours in a diluted white vinegar bath (balsamic didn't seem right)and my tumblers do look a whole lot more sparkly. A couple more dunks, maybe with a stronger solution this time and hopefully they'll be good as new! If anyone has any better ideas though, I love to hear them...

In the meantime we road tested our (almost) lovely new tumblers with a kiwi/apple/vodka concoction...

We agreed, they do the job nicely!