Once a tiki mug has been hairline cracked, does it continue to spread? - General Tiki

TS Tom Slick Tiki Socialite The Beaches of South Bay, SoCal Joined: Aug 26, 2005 Posts: 1093	TS Tom Slick Posted posted on Tue, Sep 8, 2009 10:28 AM Lately with all of the hot weather and humidity, I've been hearing strange ping noises every so often, coming from my tiki mug shelf. I have two vintage mugs with known hairline splits running down the sides, but I was wondering if this was normal to hear, or does weather play tricks on the ceramics? I remember a similar sound a few years back, except much louder ceramic crack noise when my Shag 40th tiki room anniversary decided to split open, right after receiving it.(thankfully it was replaced by Disneyland/Holden). Apparently it either caused by the clay mold not being dry enough, and adding a dual two tone glaze, which was fired, trapping moisture within the mug... or as the glaze was drying, it shrinks just so slightly as it hardens, that the inside glaze(orange) dried at a different rate than the outside glaze(brown) did, causing stress on the mug. It was loud enough, that the crack(ping) noise woke me up at 7am. I discovered the clean 4 inch crack a few hours later. I don't know, but it has me a bit nervous. It's not like I can easily remove each of my mugs to inspect them, due to having used museum putty on all of the bases of them for the, "just in case of an earthquake" safety precaution. By the way, I highly recommend the stuff. It is museum wax, and bonds well! Anway, has anyone else heard their tiki mug shelves creak/ping/pop, and is it a normal happening?

Lately with all of the hot weather and humidity, I've been hearing strange ping noises every so often, coming from my tiki mug shelf. I have two vintage mugs with known hairline splits running down the sides, but I was wondering if this was normal to hear, or does weather play tricks on the ceramics?

I remember a similar sound a few years back, except much louder ceramic crack noise when my Shag 40th tiki room anniversary decided to split open, right after receiving it.(thankfully it was replaced by Disneyland/Holden). Apparently it either caused by the clay mold not being dry enough, and adding a dual two tone glaze, which was fired, trapping moisture within the mug... or as the glaze was drying, it shrinks just so slightly as it hardens, that the inside glaze(orange) dried at a different rate than the outside glaze(brown) did, causing stress on the mug. It was loud enough, that the crack(ping) noise woke me up at 7am. I discovered the clean 4 inch crack a few hours later.

I don't know, but it has me a bit nervous. It's not like I can easily remove each of my mugs to inspect them, due to having used museum putty on all of the bases of them for the, "just in case of an earthquake" safety precaution. By the way, I highly recommend the stuff. It is museum wax, and bonds well!

Anway, has anyone else heard their tiki mug shelves creak/ping/pop, and is it a normal happening?

Post #482082 by Tom Slick on Tue, Sep 8, 2009 10:28 AM