Handmade ceramics do not behave like factory tableware, and that is rather the point. But it does mean a few habits are worth knowing, and a few things are worth not worrying about.
What is a flaw and what is not
Glaze pools slightly thicker where a piece curves. Colour varies between items from the same batch, sometimes noticeably, because kiln temperature is not identical in every corner. Small pinholes appear where air escaped the glaze during firing. The unglazed foot of a bowl feels rough because that is where it stood in the kiln.
None of these is a defect. They are the marks of something made rather than moulded, and a piece without them was probably pressed by machine.
What is a defect: a crack running through the body, a chip on a rim or edge, or a glaze that flakes when you run a nail across it. Those are worth raising with whoever sold it to you.
Crazing
Crazing is the fine web of lines that appears in a glaze over time, most visible on pale pieces. It happens because the glaze and the clay beneath it expand at slightly different rates.
On decorative pieces it is simply part of how a glaze ages, and many potters encourage it. On something you eat from every day it is worth keeping an eye on, because the lines can hold traces of food and darken. Washing promptly rather than leaving a plate to soak overnight slows it considerably.
Washing
Most modern glazed ceramics take a dishwasher without trouble. Two things shorten their life.
The first is heat. A long cycle at 65 or 70 degrees is harder on a glaze than a shorter one at 50. If your machine has an eco or delicate programme, use it.
The second is loading. Ceramics chip when they knock against each other, not when they get wet. Leave a gap between pieces, and do not stack bowls inside one another in the basket.
Anything with gold or platinum detail must be washed by hand. Metallic finishes are applied after the main firing and dishwasher detergent strips them, usually within a dozen cycles.
Heat and cold
Ceramic hates sudden change more than it hates high temperature. Taking a dish from the fridge straight into a hot oven is the fastest way to crack it, and the crack often runs invisibly before it appears.
Let a dish come to room temperature first. Do the same in reverse: a hot plate onto a cold worktop can do the same damage. A folded tea towel underneath is enough.
Assume a piece is not oven safe unless it says so. Decorative bowls and serving plates usually are not, whatever they are made of.
Stains and marks
Grey pencil-like lines on white plates come from cutlery, not from damage. The metal is softer than the glaze and leaves a trace on the surface. A little bicarbonate of soda on a damp cloth removes them.
Tea and coffee stains in a crazed glaze respond to the same treatment. Avoid bleach: it lightens the stain temporarily and roughens the glaze, which then stains faster next time.
Never use a scouring pad or an abrasive cream on a glazed surface. Once the shine has gone it does not come back.
Storing
Stack plates with something soft between them if you can, a paper towel or a felt pad. Ceramic against ceramic under weight is how rims chip in a cupboard rather than in the sink.
Hang cups by the handle only if the handle is substantial. On lighter pieces the handle is the weakest point.
The short version
- Variation in glaze and colour is normal; cracks and chips are not.
- Wash on a cooler cycle, with space between pieces.
- Hand wash anything with gold or platinum.
- Never take a piece from cold to hot in one step.
- Bicarbonate of soda for marks, never bleach or a scourer.
Treated reasonably, good ceramics outlast most of the furniture they sit on.