HOW TO CLEAN SILVER JEWELRY: A HOME MADE CLEANER
HOW TO CLEAN SILVER JEWELRY: A HOME MADE CLEANER
My mom and lola (grandma) used to tell me that toothpaste are used for cleaning jewelry. Well they were right. One of the main ingredients in cleaning our gold and silver is actually Baking soda which is a primary ingredient of many toothpaste.
Here are the things you could use:
Put small sheet of aluminum foil lining the bowl, pour some baking soda into a bowl and boiling water and dissolve the baking soda into it.
Submerge the silver jewelry in the hot water for about 5 to 10 minutes, but it shouldn’t be long before you start to see tiny yellow or black flakes in the water or the aluminum foil turning black. What’s happening is that the hot solution of baking soda and water is separating the sulfur from the silver and transferring it to the aluminum. This easy homemade tarnish remover takes advantage of the fact that sulfur is more chemically attracted to aluminum than silver.
Using a soft wet cloth, scrub the silver free of tarnish with more baking soda.
Just be gentle, so as not to scratch the silver. Once the silver is clean, you should rinse it in clean water to remove any traces of baking soda, then dry it with a soft clean cloth. You may find that you can take off even more tarnish by rubbing at any remaining dark spots with the cloth.
Most silversmiths, jewelers, and collectors discourage this method because baking soda is abrasive and can leave tiny scratches on the surface of silver. But if you have a piece that’s heavily tarnished and doesn’t have a lot of monetary or sentimental value, this is a good option.
If your silver is severely tarnished, you may have to repeat the process several times.
Enjoy life… MWAHUGZ!!!
