Tips
Cleaning Tarnished Silver Jewellery
I have a memory of being at my nans house and helping her polish the silverware she kept in a cabinet, candle sticks coffee jugs all silver, they would be a slight brown /grey colour. Using a cloth and some very smelly silver cleaner I spent ages polishing it all back to that gleaming shine.
Luckily, these days it’s made a lot easier with silver polishing cloths with the anti-tarnish chemical already within the cloth!
Silver is subject to tarnishing over time, resulting in dull or even black jewellery. Tarnishing occurs when silver is exposed to oxygen and sulphur in the air or products worn on the body. It is unavoidable, but, thankfully, luckily its quick and easy to rectify. Chlorine is also a big no no when it comes to silver, jump into a hot tub with your silver on and you will need quite a bit of effort to get it shiny again.
Here are a few tips to follow when wearing or storing your jewellery
- Choose your jewellery for the day after applying any lotions or perfumes.
- Remove for showers, swimming & manual labour like gardening.
- Give your jewellery a wipe with a silver polishing cloth regularly.
- Store your jewellery in a jewellery box, you can purchase anti tarnish strips that you can place within your jewellery box. You can purchase some here
- Do not use silver dip unless as a last resort and only with pieces without gemstones. This is a very harsh chemical and can over time eat away at the surface and cause the piece to tarnish quicker. If you do use it, don’t leave it in for long!
Jewellery with Gemstones should ideally be kept out of water and given a buff with a soft lint free cloth and a silver polishing cloth on the silver parts.
If you do have a lot of tarnished jewellery start by giving them a wash with warm mild soapy water to remove any dirt, dry off with a soft cloth and then use a silver polishing cloth (large cloths can be purchased from most supermarkets) and buff the whole.
Cleaning Gold
With gold its important not to use abrasive cloths, again use a lint free soft cloth and if it needs a clean some mild soap and warm water.
I hope you find these tips useful and will keep your jewellery clean and shiny for years to come!
Lisa x
