Friday

spring cleaning tutorial ...

I'm just getting over a nasty cold/flu thing and my first thoughts are to do a massive cleanse of my house -- I want everything to smell like oranges, mmmm!



But first, I will start with a little silver cleaning. I've been meaning to do this for while. I have some old cheap-ish jewelry around that has been stored in various ways but I've recently noticed how tarnished and gross they are looking.

SO, a little disclaimer, I am not a scientist. I am in no way responsible for any ill-will that you may inflict on yourself in some freak occurrance. This is a natural way to clean silver but for gosh sakes don't burn yourself on boiling water and DO NOT stand over and sniff any fumes!

That said, here's a supplies list:

baking soda (not powder!)
tin tray
spoon
boiling water

Here's the before pic:



Ewww. First, start some water boiling on the stove. Next gather your buggered up silver and place it in your old pie tin - be sure the tin doesn't have any holes in it. Sprinkle your pieces with baking soda - be sure to cover the tarnished parts fully ...


You'll probably have to do this process 5 or 6 times to get some good results so spread out the baking soda ... next pour boiling water over your pieces ...



(This is the part where you don't want to be standing directly over the tin, there's a little harmless chemical reaction happening here.)

and the finally the big reveal ...



MUCH better! this was about 6 soakings later. Be sure to wash everything off with a little natural soap and water when you are all finished.

Some tips for keeping sterling silver shiny:

DO NOT:
-store silver with your change (quarters, pennies, etc)
-wear silver when applying soaps, lotions, perfume (wait for it to dry)
-store jewelry in or on wood (too much acid)
-store with rubber or other crappy jewelry

Storage tips:
-store in an airtight container
-store alone in a ziplock bag
-store with a small anti-tarnish paper strip


And remember, the oils in your skin help prevent tarnishing so wear your silver often!!

1 comment:

EdwardRad said...

This is an awesome tip!! I've got some earrings that have been languishing in a box in my closet for a few years now because I didn't have the heart to get rid of them and they're too detailed to really clean well with a cloth. Thanks so much for posting this. ^_^