I love silver jewelry.
But the silver that I don't wear everyday gets tarnished really fast because the air here is so humid!
Lots of jewelry is really hard to polish because chains and other intricate items are impossible to reach inside the nooks and crannies.
Grandma didn't go out and spend a bunch of money on chemical silver cleaner!
She would sit for hours and buff it to a glorious shine....
Until she found this great tip to "NO WORK" Tarnish-Free Silver!
Here we go!
What You'll need...
a glass baking dish.
aluminum foil big enough to line the baking dish.
steaming HOT water to fill the foil lined baking dish.
Salt
Baking Soda.
Tarnished silver.
Here are some of my tarnished silver pieces.
Line your baking dish with aluminum foil.
Fill your foil lined baking dish with steaming hot water.Add 2-3 teaspoons Salt
&
2-3 teaspoons Baking Soda.
and give it a little stir to dissolve the salt.
add your silver into the solution.
You want your silver pieces to be touching each-other
And touching the foil.
Let your silver soak in the salt/baking soda solution for about 5 minutes.
If you watch closely you can actually see the tarnish leave your silver!!
After soaking, remove your silver... rinse it off..
dry it (you can buff it to a high shine if you want)
and look at the tarnish free silver!!
See how purty and sparkly it is now?
and I didn't even get my hands dirty!
Thanks Grandma!
Thanks Grandma!
- Be careful use this cleaning solution on jewelry that include gems. Especially porous gems like pearls or turquoise could be damaged by the liquid.
- Be careful when polishing or dipping silver plated items. Any damage or imperfection in the plating could allow the liquid to attack the base metal underneath. The plated silver would look shiny and clean, but could be weakened on the inside.
- Wearing your silver jewelry will keep it free from tarnish.
Go forth and clean your silver!!
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17 comments:
My mom cleaned her silver this way occasionally but suggested that it isn't good for things where the patina in the grooves is desired, as it will clean the grooves as well and take some of the character away from the piece. She also suggested giving everything a good rub with silver polish afterward, not for tarnish removal obviously, but because it will seal the surface and prevent it from tarnishing as quickly. This cleaning method leaves the silver exposed and it will begin to tarnish immediately. The polish will slow it down, and it's much easier since you just need to shine it up, not clean it!
These are really great and echo friendly tips. Thanks to your Grandma.
Mathew
Provides commercial cleaning London services.
This is a very useful blog. I sort of stumbled upon it by accident today and I liked it already. Keep up the good work.
Andy Goddard
Office Cleaning London
I can absolutely confirm that baking soda is a wonderful natural cleaning product and is great not only on silver but also for cleaning things like the inside of the fridge. Always be careful cleaning silver plated objects though.
John from Cleaners in Manchester
I clean with baking soda all the time. In fact, I just got done scrubbing my bathtub with baking soda, water and vinegar. I love it, but I haven't used it on silver before. Thanks for the tip!
Thanks for sharing this tips..It's really a good tip for me and to everyone out there who loves silver jewelries too..thanks again and pls keep posting!
Here's another saving tip especially for your homes. You'll save up on those cleaning, repair and credit card bills too. check out http://www.gutterhelmet.com/blog/your-all-in-one-spring-gutter-checklist/ for some tips and tricks.
Very amazing way to tarnish the silver.And a very easy process too...love to have banged into your blog.
Wow! I am so glad I saw this. I have some silver jewelry that needs to be cleaned. Thank you!
Great suggestions. Baking soda is the best for silver.
so simple but effective tip.
Hi can we use it for any type of metallic jewelry?
Very amazing way to tarnish the silver.And a very easy process too...love to have banged into your blog.
Green Cleaning
That is so cool!
I just cleaned all of my tarnished earrings that I haven't worn in years because I didn't want to scrub'em clean! Thank you for this simple and cheap fix!
I love your tips and techniques. And yes! We need to be very careful if the accessories are studded with some gemstones because the liquid may completely damage them.
Silver jewelry
If you need to put the black antiquing back in your jewelry. I just hold it over a candle and let the smoke blacken it and then buff the rest of it off the raised parts of the jewelry. I have been doing if for years. You can seal it too.
This is cool! My dad taught me a trick he learned in Egypt (he was a jewelry merchant). If you rub the silver with ashes using your fingers or a cloth, the tarnish comes right off. This is good for pieces where you want some of the patina left on it.
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