Sources
Where this site says anything about lead, cadmium, or what a knock does to a fired body, it quotes a national body rather than itself. Each page below was opened and read on the date next to it, and the sentence on our page was written afterwards to fit what the source says.
Pages we read
- Questions and Answers on Lead-Glazed Traditional Pottery, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Read 14 August 2026. The page carries its own currency date of 27 October 2017.
- The safe use of cookware and bakeware, Health Canada. Read 14 August 2026.
- Basic care — Glass and ceramic objects, Canadian Conservation Institute. Read 14 August 2026.
What we quote from them
- Glazing applies and fuses a thin, glass-like coating onto the surface of the clay to seal its pores. the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- When the pottery is fired at the proper temperature for the proper amount of time, essentially all the lead is bound into the glaze. the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Pottery not listed above that was made in commercial factories for everyday use is much less likely to have problems related to lead. the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Be aware that no amount of washing, boiling, or other process can remove lead from pottery. the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Ceramic, enamel or glass cookware can cause health concerns when the pigments used in making, glazing or decorating the cookware contain lead or cadmium. Health Canada
- Ceramic (pottery), enamel or glass cookware is easily cleaned and can be heated to fairly high temperatures. Health Canada
- A gentle tap with a fingernail should make a “ping” sound; a dull-sounding tap is an indication of a crack or fracture that may not be obvious to the naked eye. the Canadian Conservation Institute
- When stacking glass or ceramic items for storage, place a cushion of soft material between each piece. the Canadian Conservation Institute
- Do not store or display ceramics or glass where there are extreme or rapid changes in temperature and humidity. the Canadian Conservation Institute
This is general information about tableware, not medical advice. If you are worried about a specific piece you already own, the sources below explain what the testing kits do and what a warning label looks like.
Editorial practice
We write the names on this site ourselves. A product name here is built from what the piece is, how much it holds, how many come in the box and what colour the glaze is, in that order, and it is short enough to read on a shelf label. That is a deliberate break from the hundred and fifty character strings this kind of product usually carries.
Facts on a product page come from what the piece states about itself. If a capacity is not stated, the page does not carry one, and no page invents a measurement to look complete. Dimensions are a good example: where the stated figures were plainly a placeholder, they were dropped rather than printed.
Where a subject touches health, we quote a national body and print the date we read it. Where we have nothing to quote and nothing to measure, we say so.