11 Wonderful and Easy Tricks to Clean Silver Jewelry at Home
Make your silver jewelry shine like before as brand new!
Imagine: you’re going out for a special meal. You’ve picked the perfect outfit, shoes and makeup. You go to add your favourite piece of silver jewellery as a finishing touch, but you open your jewellery box to discover it’s covered in awful brown and black tarnish, rendering it unwearable. What now?
While you can remove silver tarnish easily enough, doing so the wrong way or with the wrong products can cause more tarnish or – even worse – cause damage to your jewellery.
Thankfully learning how to clean silver jewellery is simpler than you think and it only requires a few tools and techniques. Once you’ve learned the process, cleaning your favourite silver pieces will become routine, and you won’t be shocked at opening your jewellery box to a tarnished necklace again.
Keep reading to learn all about how to make silver jewelry shine and clean your silver jewelry properly to extend the life of your favourite pieces and be able to enjoy wearing them whenever you like.
This guide is specifically about cleaning silver jewellery. If you are jewelry designer or jewelry retail store owner You might like to also check out our blog : Best Private Label jewelry manufacturers in India .
According to Wikipedia, tarnish is a product of a chemical reaction between a metal and a non-metal compound, most commonly oxygen and sulphur dioxide, which forms a metal oxide (and sometimes metal sulphide or chloride) on the metal.
The good news is that normal tarnish on silver is not corrosive and the metal underneath the oxide layer should be just fine. However, silver can also tarnish from exposure to chlorine and acids which may potentially be more damaging to the metal, including causing pits to appear.
Tarnish can appear as a yellow, brown, black or grey coating on the surface of your silver jewellery, which is sometimes quite patchy. Sterling silver tarnishes more easily than pure silver due to its copper content and this tarnish is likely to be more noticeable and darker in colour. However, even pure (or fine) silver can develop a matte grey oxide on its surface over time.
Most jewellery is made with sterling silver or similar alloys because pure silver is generally too soft to be made into jewellery. However, you may own sterling silver jewellery which has had a pure silver plating applied to its surface, which can help to slow down tarnishing.
The Best Way to Clean Sterling Silver Jewelry
Sterling silver tarnishes over time, which is why it’s important to take care of your jewelry. If you don’t want the sterling silver to turn black or green, then follow these steps on how to clean sterling silver jewelry.
- In a small bowl, stir a couple drops of mild dish soap into warm water to create suds. Let your silver jewelry sit in the solution for about five minutes.
- Use a soft toothbrush to gentle scrub away tarnish from any crevices in the jewelry.
- Rinse each piece in a bowl of clean, warm water. (If rinsing over the sink, use a drain catcher to prevent dropping any jewelry down the drain).
- Dry each piece of jewelry with a soft cloth. Don’t use a paper towel, which can scratch the soft surface of silver jewelry.
How to Clean Sterling Silver Jewelry
- Tips from Leading Jewelry Manufacturers
Cleaning sterling silver jewelry can be challenging without proper knowledge and preparation. A recent study conducted by the Jewelry Manufacturers Association (JMA) found that only 15% of American adults know how to properly clean their sterling silver jewelry, despite the fact that 75% own at least one piece of sterling silver jewelry as part of their collection. Here are some tips from leading jewelry manufacturers on how to clean your sterling silver jewelry so you can keep it in tip-top condition and wear it proudly every day!
To clean sterling silver jewelry, use a jewelry cleaner, an old toothbrush, and an ultrasonic machine. The cleaner should contain no solvents or harsh chemicals and should be safe for the type of stone that is set in your ring. Apply the cleaner with a soft cloth or a paper towel soaked in solution. Rub the dirt off with the old toothbrush or some cotton balls or swabs dipped in solution. Rinse with warm water and dry with a clean cloth. If you have an ultrasonic machine, put your pieces in it for five minutes before rinsing them off. This will help remove any dirt that is embedded inside of cracks and crevices on your jewelry pieces which might be difficult to reach otherwise.
