How to whiten your jewelry yourself and save money on cleaning
Tired of polishing good silverware every time you get it? Or are you looking for a way to clean up the tarnished pieces of silver you found at an antique store, garage sale, or digging through your grandmother’s attic? Forgo polish, try these simple hand remedies that don’t use harsh chemicals or commercial products and don’t require elbow grease.
Jewelry loves to be treated with care, but care does not give one hundred percent protection from contamination – it still gets dirt, grease and dust on the jewelry, there is a buildup and luster is lost. In most cases, you can do without the help of professionals and return your jewelry to its shining appearance.
Almost every family owns silverware, which is highly prized, passed down from one generation to the next.
It happens that silver becomes dull or there is a black patina on it. How to properly clean silver jewelry and restore its original shine?
How to give your favorite silver jewelry a long “life”
Wet cleaning of silverware is the gentlest care option. For items with small parts on which detergent may remain, wet cleaning will be the most effective option.
Beloved jewelry over time darkens and loses its luster and brightness. There are special cleaning solutions for precious metals, but they are expensive and not suitable for jewelry with stones. Experts have identified the best ways to gently clean gold and silver jewelry.
Experts recommend rubbing earrings and rings with alcohol at least once every six weeks to kill harmful bacteria. But it is not enough for more thorough cleaning.
- If your jewelry is set with a diamond or any other gemstone, do not treat it with vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, or a solution of manganese solution, otherwise the jewelry will darken. You can immerse jewelry in a soapy solution for a few minutes, and then go over it with a brush, or, better yet, with a special soft cloth for windows and monitors.
Experts also advise soaking the item overnight in a solution consisting of equal parts vodka and warm water. If there are no stones on the product, you can also treat it with toothpaste and clean all the fine corners.
How to clean silver with baking soda and foil
To make a homemade silver cleaner, you only need a few household utensils.
What does it take:
- aluminium foil
- table salt
- baking soda
- hot water
- a bowl or basin for washing dishes
This is the fastest and best “recipe” for cleaning silver and one of the most effective. To clean jewelry from plaque, put aluminum foil and silverware in the bottom of a saucepan. Boil the water and add baking soda or soda ash at the rate of 50 grams of baking soda per liter of water. Allow the mixture to come to a boil, then dip the jewelry in the solution. The baking soda and aluminum will react with silver sulfide, and in a few minutes the blackness will disappear. Necklace or earrings will shine like new. Rinse them under running water and allow them to dry.
CAUTION!
Do not use dry baking soda to clean silver jewelry with stones. Abrasives are aggressive to the porous structure of natural inlays such as pearls, turquoise, coral, etc. Stones become cloudy and lose their natural luster.
How does it work?
When salt, baking soda, aluminum foil and water mix, they undergo a chemical reaction known as ion exchange. In this process, the silver discoloration (silver sulfide) turns back into silver and the sulfide turns into aluminum foil. When the silver is sufficiently discolored, the aluminum foil shows a brown color. Who knew that science could be the thrifty man’s best friend?
Creating a silver cleaning solution has a number of advantages:
- You don’t need to polish your silverware.
- You don’t use obscure chemicals.
- It works quickly.
- It is cheap and using ingredients you already have in your kitchen.
Not only does this method eliminate discoloration caused by silver coming into contact with the air, but it also removes the patina caused by plants. Buy a bottle of silver glitter if you want to preserve the patina on your items.
Silver restorers also warn that silver surfaces soaked in this way have a rougher surface when viewed under a microscope and can discolor faster. Since pure silver replaces pure silver and patina, there may be lighter and darker areas on the piece.
Be careful not to scratch the silver object by running it over the aluminum foil. For this reason, it is better to use a silver cleaner that requires polishing rather than soaking.
How can I protect my silver from tarnishing
The main rule is to take care of your jewelry regularly, not just when it’s time to run to the jeweler.
Here are three basic rules that can extend the “life” of your jewelry:
1. Keep your silver jewelry dry in a proper box covered with a soft cloth.
2. Remove jewelry before any contact with water.
3. Do not let your jewelry come into contact with creams, perfumes, lotions, ointments or other medicines.
