Still Crazed-y After All These Years

No rest for the weary at That Old House,
not if you are a piece of aged, crazed,
possibly cracked, ironstone.

Yes, we put old crackpots to good use.

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I am bowled over by old ironstone bowls.

I love their shapes, their heft, their creamy color.  

These 19th century bowls belonged to my mother.

They lived in her everyday dishes cupboard, and were used.

Almost every day.

One is quite crazed at the bottom.

Not crazy. . That's reserved for me.

From what I have read, using crazed china is safe if you follow some basic rules.  

Don't cook in it.  Don't store foods in it.  You don't want food taking up squatters' rights in crazed crockery.

But to use a beautiful but crazed old dinner plate?  As long as it's soap-and-hot-water clean, go for it.

Two of these bowls are similarly shaped.  

The larger one is marked Homer Laughlin.  The other is unmarked.

The smallest bowl, which is wide and low, has a significant crack.

I don't use it for food.  I use it for soap.

For a really big bar of soap at the kitchen sink.

  I put this bar of soap in the kitchen at Christmastime.  I love it; it's huge and locally made,
and it makes me feel like a French housewife in a rustic farmhouse.
Yes, I have a strange fantasy life.  

This soap was bigger 5 months ago.
It barely fit in the bowl back then, but now there's plenty of room.

What delights you in your own home?
Is it something small or otherwise insignificant?

I get joy from seeing this hefty century-old bowl at my sink,
and joy from the feel of the smooth soap in my hands.
Simple things.  Like me.  :-)

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And now, it's leftovers for lunch.
Spaghetti squash, with a "pasta" sauce of ground turkey, roasted garlic, onions,
and New Jersey-grown-and-canned tomatoes.

In an old ironstone bowl.
Sorry.  Only enough for one.

Enjoy the weekend!  We're planning more yard work.
Ah, Howard's favorite hobby . . . .   -- Cass

P.S.  Ironstone was first patented in 1813 by the Mason company in the U.K.  It was quite heavily decorated, as it competed with the Asian wares that were so popular.  White ironstone didn't become a thing until the English manufacturers discovered that U.S. housewives preferred their dishes white, and unadorned . . . and Presto! white ironstone was born.  That was about 1840.  Shortly after that, the first white ironstone was produced in the United States . . . in Trenton, New Jersey.  Of course.

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