Tired of your jewellery tarnishing? Here’s what I do……
I’ve just read an article on how to keep shiny silver jewellery shiny and tarnish free. And it’s green, no , not the tarnish, that’s black, but it does involve recycling and it’s free !
We all know those little silica gel packs that come in boxes of stuff you’ve bought (The ones that say “don’t eat”.)
Well,I’ve just read that these little freebies are an excellent way of preventing tarnish appearing on silver. Apparently, I just pop them into a bag or box with my jewellery and it will stay shining and clean. They work by removing moisture from the atmosphere- without which, tarnish cannot form. There’s a novel way of recycling! (although the article didn’t say so) I think that they may be toxic though ( hence do not eat!), so I must take care to keep them out of the reach of children and pets etc I’ll try it and let you know if it seems to work.
If it does work, it’ll really help as jewellery will aways be in tip top condition and ready to wear. It’ll save me time and expense cleaning my jewellery with chemical de-tarnishers.
On the odd occasion when I do have some tarnished jewellery to clean, I usually resort to the old fashioned kitchen foil and bicarbonate of soda method. Not heard of this one? it’s easy, I put a piece of kitchen foil into some hot water in a bowl in the kitchen sink and sprinkle in some bicarbonate of soda from my store cupboard. I then put the tarnished silver into the bowl and leave it for a few minutes. The black tarnish miraculously leaves the silver and ends up on the kitchen foil, leaving my jewellery shining and bright. It’s pure chemistry, can’t remember what the process is called – is it electrolysis? or is that hair removal? or is it both? can’t remember these days! I wouldn’t use this method if the jewellery is stone set or particularly valuable as some gemstones or pearls are porous and may be damaged by the chemical reaction. If in doubt about any jewellery related cleaning, I’d always advise customers to seek the advice of a reputable jeweller who may also offer a cleaning service. Anyway,that’s what I do when I need a quick fix for tarnish. What’s your tip? (nb -This is purely to let you know what I do, if you decide to try either these methods and I’m not advocating that you necessarily do, it’s entirely at your own risk!!!)
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Maybe the silica gel does help reduce tarnishing in some way but, since tarnish is actually silver sulphide and caused by exposure to sulphur and not moisture, it is hard to see quite how – perhaps, they absorb sulphur too? Otherwise, simply reducing exposure to the atmosphere by storing in a bag or box when not being worn helps.
Also, remember that some silver jewellery is deliberately tarnished (also referred to as “oxidization” although that is not the chemical process involved) as part of the design. This is very common in Indonesian jewellery for example. These pieces should only be cleaned with a polishing cloth and never using any sort of liquid dip cleaner.
I will be interested to hear the results of your trial.
I keep my jewellery in ziplock bags and being sealed they don’t tarnish. I also bought a jewellers cleaning cloth that cleans it all up beautifully, if it needs a clean.
Thanks Annette for your tip of using a jewellers cleaning cloth – I must get one of these. I’ve also heard of anti – tarnish cloth which apparently you buy from a fabric store by the meter and cut in into pieces which are then laid out over trays of jewellery to prevent it tarnishing. I’m thinking more on the scale of jewellery traders with this one, but if anyone has come across such fabric and has any experience with it , it would be good to hear from you.
Hi Bjewelled, thanks for your commenta and link to your lovely website. Really important point that you make re some jewellery being purposefully tarnished as part of it’s design and hence should not be cleaned unless you want to really change the way it looks. I will feed back on the results of the silica gell packs and see if I can shed any light on how they work.
Hi, I don’t know if it’s of any help to anyone but a company in the U.K. called Amber Magic are giving away free silver cleaning cloths to anybody who asks for them. Hurry up as they only have 400 left!
Wow, that’s a great tip off!! I’m going to google Amber Magic now and see if I can get one, thanks!