Help for restoring clay dinner bell ring?

I have an old, very ornately painted (glazed) dinner bell my Mom made
probably 70 years ago or more.

When I was a kid, it had a beautiful ring to it but haven't heard it
since. Currently it has a sad "tink" sound to it.

The inside "dinger" is not glazed and I don't know how to tell if it's
been fired.

It's about 4 inches tall and it's bottom diameter is about 3 inches. It's
walls are probably 3/16 inches thick.

I can see the glaze is very discolored probably by kitchen oils, etc.
over time and I'm guessing this is what deadened the ring.

Is there any way to put this little dinner bell back to work?

Many thanks,

Andy

P.S. If it rings again, I'll post a quicktime (movie) of it on my website
upon request. --A

Andy,
I'm going to guess that your bell is regular ceramic clay. Polymer clay
is a type of oven-bakeable plastic. You might get better answers on the
rec.crafts.pottery group.


Barbara
www.penguintrax.com

eBay & Justbeadsenguintrax

0
/O\


Nurturing doesn't end at birth: breastfeed, co-sleep, babywear.

There is a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness.
(Dave Barry)

Need quality, inexpensive web hosting? Check out
http://www.lyonshost.com. Shopping carts, blogs, image galleries,
content management and more!

Andy wrote:
I have an old, very ornately painted (glazed) dinner bell my Mom made
probably 70 years ago or more.

When I was a kid, it had a beautiful ring to it but haven't heard it
since. Currently it has a sad "tink" sound to it.

The inside "dinger" is not glazed and I don't know how to tell if it's
been fired.

It's about 4 inches tall and it's bottom diameter is about 3 inches. It's
walls are probably 3/16 inches thick.

I can see the glaze is very discolored probably by kitchen oils, etc.
over time and I'm guessing this is what deadened the ring.

Is there any way to put this little dinner bell back to work?

Many thanks,

Andy

P.S. If it rings again, I'll post a quicktime (movie) of it on my website
upon request. --A