How to Separate Crystal Bowls That Are Stuck Together

By using hot and cold water to slightly expand one bowl while the other contracts, you can loosen your bowls without cracking or scratching them. This process uses the scientific principle of expansion and contraction, which dictates that hot temperatures will cause an object to swell just a tiny bit, while cold will make the object slightly smaller.

1. Drizzle a small amount of cooking oil around the top of the lower bowl so that it leaks down between the two bowls. Allow the oil to soak down into the lower bowl for a few minutes to help the bowls slide apart later on.

2. Fill a large basin or sink with hot water. Water should be quite warm, but not boiling.

3. Place a few ice cubes in the top crystal bowl, and fill the bowl with cold water. Holding the edges of the top bowl, dip the bottom bowl into the hot water. The hot water should be touching as much of the bottom bowl as possible without touching the top bowl at all, so your top bowl is getting cooler from the ice water while the bottom bowl is warming up.

4. Press against the rim of the bottom bowl with your fingers after it has been soaking for about a minute. The bottom bowl should separate from the top bowl.

Tip

To prevent crystal bowls from becoming stuck together, put a few layers of parchment paper in between bowls when they are stacked for storage.