Dust it with a soft dry microfibre cloth, lightly, in one direction. Never use glass cleaner, anything with ammonia or alcohol, or a paper towel: they cloud and scratch acrylic. The glass inside is sealed and needs nothing. Keep it out of hours of hard sun and away from steam, and it stays clear for years.
What is the whole routine?
A soft dry microfibre cloth once in a while, drawn lightly across the acrylic in one direction. That is all it needs. If something has dried on, a damp microfibre cloth with a drop of mild washing-up liquid, then a dry one; never rub at a mark.
- Dust: a soft dry microfibre cloth, lightly, one direction
- A mark: a damp microfibre cloth and a drop of mild washing-up liquid, then dry
- Never glass cleaner, ammonia, alcohol, solvents or anything abrasive
- Never a paper towel or a kitchen cloth: both scratch acrylic
- The standoff caps: the same dry cloth; they unscrew by hand if you ever take the piece down
Why no glass cleaner?
Because the surface you see through is acrylic, not glass. Ammonia and alcohol craze acrylic: a fog of fine cracks that cannot be polished out. Household glass sprays almost all contain one or the other. Plain water and a drop of washing-up liquid are the strongest things that should ever touch it.
The glass inside is a different matter: it is real coloured glass, it does not fade, and it is sealed between the two sheets, so nothing you do to the outside reaches it. The materials guide explains what each layer is.
What about sun, damp and salt air?
Damp and salt air do it no harm, which is why the 30 cm piece lives happily on a bulkhead. Hours of hard direct sun every day are the one thing to avoid: acrylic yellows a little over years of it, though the glass does not. Hang it where the sun crosses it rather than sits on it, and it stays clear.
What if the acrylic is scratched?
A fine scratch on acrylic can be polished out with a plastic polish made for it, worked gently with a microfibre cloth; a deep one cannot. Write to the studio before trying anything, with a photo of the mark, and a person will say what will work. Where to hang it so that it does not get knocked is in the hanging guide.
Questions this leaves
Can I use a glass-cleaning spray?
No. Nearly all of them carry ammonia or alcohol, and both craze acrylic. A dry microfibre cloth for dust, a damp one with a drop of washing-up liquid for a mark, and nothing else.
Will the colours fade?
The glass does not fade; it is coloured through, not painted, and sealed inside the frame. The acrylic can yellow faintly after years of hard sun, so keep it out of that and the colours stay as they left the bench.
Does the glass need dusting?
No. It is sealed between the two acrylic sheets and nothing reaches it. Only the outside of the frame is ever touched.
