I have a couple of fast & easy ways to clean any silver, but silver jewelry in particular. One is much easier & faster, but you can take your pick on which method you want to use. I'm not here to dictate. I'm just here to tell you you're an idiot if you don't pick the right one.
When I left my job as an entertainment reporter at the television station MuchMoreMusic I was given a Tiffany bracelet as a going away present. Up to that point the most extravagant thing I'd hung around my wrist was a rare neon green scrunchy in the 1980s.
And once I draped a very expensive chain of linked dry cured sausages around my neck.
I've collected more silver jewelry since then which has lead to one of the greatest thrills in my life. Cleaning it. Nope. Not because I'm a big loser. Because cleaning your silver jewelry can actually be one of the fastest, instantly satisfying things you can do. Like having an abscess lanced.
I know. When you clicked on this post about how to clean silver jewelry you figured it would be some horrible drudgery that you'd have to endure. This is not that. I promise. If cleaning my silver jewelry was a lot of work I wouldn't do it. Who has time to clean silver? Butlers. That's who. Not me. Not you.
We are very busy people who have important things (like watching cat videos) to do.
So how are you going to clean silver? If you own the good stuff you can take it to the place you bought it from and they'll professionally clean it for you. This is a struggle if you bought the silver ring while on vacation in Mexico for a couple of reasons. You may have bought the piece on the beach from a random stranger whist sipping your 7th Piña Colada.
In which case you will need to fly back to Mexico (probably not a problem) and hope you can find and recognize the random stranger. This will involve drinking another 7 Piña Coladas to ensure you're looking with the same level of drunkenness. The other problem is, even if you find the barefoot random stranger, chances are they won't have a free cleaning with purchase policy.
We have therefore established you're probably going to clean your bracelet, ring, necklace, belly chain yourself.
O.K. let's go over the basics so you know what we're dealing with here.
Table of Contents
Silver tarnish.
WHAT IS IT??
Tarnish on silver is a natural chemical reaction between the silver and things in the air that contain sulphur, like hydrogen sulphide. The mixture of the silver with sulphur creates black silver sulphide (tarnish).
Silver tarnish needs to be removed with either polishing, chemical dipping or electrochemically.
3 ways to clean silver jewelry
You have 3, just 3 options for cleaning silver. You can polish it, electrochemically clean it or "dip" it.
POLISHING SILVER
You can polish your silver with a silver paste, but these pastes are pretty abrasive, which means while they will clean your jewellery they'll also form tiny scratches on it. You can test how scratchy your silver polish is by rubbing it onto a piece of unscratched plexiglass.
ELECTROCHEMICAL CLEANING OF SILVER (using aluminum foil)
Electrochemical cleaning is what happens when you put silver into a bowl or sink with aluminum foil and washing soda (sodium carbonate).
This method works because when the two metals touch in the solution of water and sodium carbonate. The aluminum foil corrodes and then releases hydrogen gas. This gas is what reacts with the silver tarnish to remove it. The sodium carbonate acts as an electrolyte. I have no idea what that means exactly but it's a thing.
Cleaning with aluminum foil and something that has sodium carbonate (like Arm & Hammer's Super Washing Soda) works, but in my opinion not as well as silver dip. Actually, not only in my opinion. Aluminum foil just plain doesn't do as good a job as silver dip but if it's all that you have it absolutely does work.
It can take anywhere from 5 -30 minutes to work.
REMEMBER! Sodium Carbonate is not the same as Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking soda).
DIPPING SILVER JEWELRY
This is the easiest, most sure fire way to *instantly* clean even the most tarnished of silver jewellery. Yes. Even that ring you got in Mexico 9 years ago.
It's gentle as long as you use the dip properly and works in seconds.
METHOD 1
Materials
Aluminum foil or pan
Hot water
Sodium Carbonate (Washing Soda)
Cleaning silver with aluminum foil
- Line a bowl or sink with aluminum foil (or just use an aluminum pan.)
- Fill it with hot water and throw in around ¼ cup of Arm and Hammer's Super Washing soda which is made of 100% Sodium Carbonate.
- Add your jewelry and keep an eye on it. It can take anywhere from 5-30 minutes to remove tarnish this way.
- Take your silver out of the solution, rinse it under water and polish with a polishing cloth if you have one.
My method of choice is silver dip. You can get jewelry dip at malls or jewelry stores. Most probably jewelry stores in malls. Walmart carries it as well and so do some hardware stores if they have a cleaning products section.
METHOD 2
Cleaning silver by dipping
Materials
SILVER DIP
The two easiest to find brands of silver dip are Connoisseurs or Hagerty. I've used both.
SILVER POLISHING CLOTH
This Connoisseurs one is just $5 on Amazon but if you have a jewelry store near you I'm sure you could get one from there.
Polishing cloths are embedded with a very mild abrasive that is designed to not scratch the finish of your jewelry.
- Lift the plastic basket out of the jar of cleaner and put your piece of jewelry in it.
- Put your piece of jewellery into the basket.
- Submerge the basket in the jar and swirl it around for a few seconds. Often you only need to dip the piece in then take it right out again. Do NOT leave your jewellery in the dip. If you leave it in too long it'll RUIN your silver. So remember!
- Pull the basket out of the cleaner. INSTANTLY clean.
- Rinse your jewellery under water. If you leave it in the basket you run less a risk of sending your earring down the drain. Also, just putting the plug in the sink would help with this.
- If you have one, give it a final polish with the polishing cloth.
That's it. In a few seconds your silver will look like new.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
The difference between the before and after is even more dramatic in real life. Such an instant sense of satisfaction. And far fewer calories than the instant satisfaction one would get from eating a bag of potato chips.
You can see the difference between the two methods below.
The chain at the top is the silver dip method.
The chain at the bottom is the aluminum foil method.
TIP: You can also use the silver dip for cleaning other silverware by dipping a rag into the solution and rubbing it on your silver utensils, jugs, trays or whatever else.
Cleaning Silver.
Materials
- SILVER DIP
Instructions
- Lift the plastic basket out of the jar of cleaner and put your piece of jewelry in it.
- Put your piece of jewellery into the basket.
- Submerge the basket in the jar and swirl it around for a few seconds. Often you only need to dip the piece in then take it right out again. Do NOT leave your jewellery in the dip. If you leave it in too long it’ll RUIN your silver. So remember!
- Pull the basket out of the cleaner. INSTANTLY clean.
- Rinse your jewellery under water. If you leave it in the basket you run less a risk of sending your earring down the drain. Also, just putting the plug in the sink would help with this.
- If you have one, give it a final polish with the polishing cloth.
Recommended Products
I'm an Amazon affiliate some I get a few cents when you buy something I've linked to.
I'm not going to call you an idiot if you choose to use the aluminum foil method. I'm just going to assume you have a fear of magpies and don't want your silver to be so shiny you risk being attacked by a flock of them.
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Jenn
Gutter ad - you could minimize the interference with the text by adding a box of white under the text area in your template.
Sounds like the money is really tempting... making the text readable would be one thing that will let us continue to enjoy the site while you enjoyed a bit of pin money.
I got a Firefox alert that it is blocking 2 pop-up windows, as well. I don't know if that is part of the gutter ad or not.
Karen
Thanks jenn! I have no idea how to do that in my template, but I'm sure my web designer does. Which means it will cost me money to run my ad that makes me money. This is turning into an ordeal! Thanks again for your help. ~ karen
Karen
By the way ... If *YOU* know how to do this, feel free to email me the instructions. I can get into my templates, etc. I just don't know what the code would be and which template to put it in. The page template, or single post template would be my guess! ~ karen
Amy in StL
I usually use silver polish, but I have a jewelry box I inherited with silver cloth in all the drawers so my small stuff doesn't get tarnished. My householdey stuff though is really, really tarnished.
Hey, I wonder if that guy who I gave the cash to on the offramp this morning who insisted, "I really just want a job." would be interested in cleaning silver? Probably not a good idea to bring the family silver and a can of silver cleaner with me tomorrow morning, huh....
marilyn
actually toothpaste works amazingly well even on really tarnished stuff. i received a silver engraved bracelet when we were cleaning out my mother-in-laws house that was so tarnished! she obviously never wore it and i took the toothpaste to it and then my polishing cloth..beautiful result its all i use and i only wear silver. i use sensodyne it seems to work the best lol sensitive and all just sayin..
Eleni
I second this. Toothpaste does wonders cleaning jewelery. Used it on my old silver ring and it made it pretty clean. It was not completely clean though, I had to take it to a professional, but still, it cleaned it much better.
I also cleaned me regular silver jewelry with toothpaste and I found it works better if the oxidize is not too old. Cleaned my newer jewelery spotless.
Ellynn
I'm right in the middle of the states, in Missouri, and I don't see the new splashy ad. I know you're Facebook page says it only runs occasionally, but now I'm kind of sad that I can't get a screen shot of it! I like the format of your page; the ads are never intrusive and they're interesting. Hope someone gets you a screenshot soon!
Mike
That bananna looks manky.
Katie
You can also get those blue clothes at musical instrument stores--I still have mine from my years of flute playing...and, to my parents' chagrin, certainly use the cloth more than my flute. :) You can even get a two part rag for the REALLY dirty jobs.
Jen
I love the video! The dramatic music defiunitely added to the suspense. I would add a caution to using the dip, though. Some jewelry has had oxidation added, purposefully, to add dimension and accent the highs and lows of a piece. If this is the case, I would tell you to skip the dip, and only use the polishing cloth. Also, storing your silver in ziplock bags with a tiny piece of anti tarnish paper (you can usually buy this in a store like Bed Bath and Beyond, 3M makes one)., or just in the ziplock bag, will help slow down the tarnishing process, and eliminate the need for a maid to help clean all your shinies. Love, Love Love your site Karen, keep it coming!
Karen
Thanks Jen! ~ karen
Christine
I also had this method it ruin a piece after many successful times.l swear by Twinkle now. Cheap and much easier to get a shine than Haggertys.lt may be wearing off some silver but it wont affect it in my life time.
Keeping chalk with your silver seems to slow the tarnishing down too.
blake
So I got a glass salad bowl from Tiffany when we got married...I immediately loved and will love the couple that gave us that bowl because they chose to give it from Tiffany...When I saw that blue box I freaked out...what's with that? I am not a materialistic kind of gal but I admit I totally freaked out that I have something from Tiffany!
ps I kept the box of course
Christal Lewis
Karen,
Your boyfriend sounds like a keeper.
Patti
I love this, Karen! That jewelery cleaner is THE BEST, and I can't say enough about it! It works on gold, too, shines it up like new!
And it's true. It really does work on that ring from Mexico. I use it on mine all the time! hah!
Robbin
LOL! Love the music too!
Andrea
Karen,
Avoid the mall. Use toothpaste and an old toothbrush to clean silver jewelry. Rinse, dry with a paper towel, finish with a polishing cloth, good as new! Cheaper and no mall induced headaches.
Heart your blog!
Karen
Thanks Andrea! I'm going to continue on with my silver dip. It's fast and easy and not messy and a jar of the dip lasts FOREVER. Plus, this post was on how to deal with "extremely" tarnished jewellery (because a reader asked for it) Toothpaste works on slightly tarnished jewellery, but not on stuff that's been left in a drawer to die for 8 years. The dip will. I'll just make sure to buy it at the local jewellery store ... not the mall! ~ karen
amy walters, aDESIGNdock
That really came out beautifully Karen. This post reminds me of my Grams and Gramps. They priced and sorted jewellery for the local goodwill store. When I'd go over for visits, they were often cleaning up old lovelies ;)
Marti
Ok, what do you have for removing tarnish on a silverplate teapot? 2 cup size. WIth matching creamer and sugar. Whatcha got? HUH? HUH? HUH? And I mean these suckers are almost black. I tried Tarn-X and now I got spots. Advise, please?
Amy Schmucker
Today everything is purple and party themed. Can't read the words against the purple background. Its really pretty, But not can read..Please help.
Amy
Karen
Sorry Amy - It's a new ad i was trying out, but I can't see it because it only runs in the States and I'm in Canada! Apparently it's not working out, LOL. - Karen
Penny Santa-Barbara
After you've polished your jewelry toss it in a zip lock bag and it won't tarnish.
Andrea
Great tutorial, Karen.
I have to ask, though. Did someone hi-jack your blog? When I look at it this morning, it has this purply, grape colored background and paint cans and confetti everywhere. Just doesn't look like you! What happened???
Karen
Andrea - LOL. Uh Oh. I had a new ad put up yesterday. It is a "gutter" ad which means it runs in the side gutters of the site but only occasionally. Pays BIG money. Because the ad only runs in the States, I can't see it to review it here in Canada! If you happen to be able to get a screen grab of it, do so and show me so I know whether it's hideous enough to quit using! ~ karen
Becky
I've been told that toothpaste works too. I couldn't say that I'd use it on tiffany, but it works well on my silver hoops.
Micol
Ok, now I need a little piece of blu cloth like yours. Great post! Please read wath i do instead.
I clean my silver jewelry with a home electrolytic process. It's super easy. You only need a bowl with a piece of aluminium paper inside (i use an aluminium food container) some salt and warm water. It works in seconds! With this process the dirt is transfered from the silver to the aluminium, so their contact is very important. The internet is full of further explanations. I would love you try this and give me your opinion.
Karen
Micol! I have tried this method, but with larger pieces of silver! I do it in my sink. It doesn't work as well or as fast as the silver dip, (honestly that stuff is like magic) but it's good for silver serving pieces and such. It's allllllmost as good, but not quite as the dip. Like I say, great for larger pieces though. Haven't done that method in a while! ~ karen
mothership
how do you do this in your sink exactly???
Karen
I'll do a post on it. ;) ~ karen
Micol
I saw your video and it really is impressive. Beautiful jewellery by the way.
Greg
doing the math, that must mean you've been gone from MMM for more than seven years??? Say it ain't so... that means I must be... dear God.
You were a great MMM host, I was a big fan. What years was that incidently? All the best. Your blog is great, highlights the sense of humor I liked so much.