How to clean silver jewelry
Silver is dishonorable for dulling, going black and brown at the edges. This is caused by contact to the air which shows in the copper content that existed in sterling silver oxidizing on the surface.
There are more than a few ways to clean silver. Proprietary brands such as Goddard\'s Silver Dip are outstanding - just a few seconds dip and then a warm rinse with a mild detergent and then pat dry with some kitchen paper towel. With these dips, though, you must not dip pearls - they will be irreparably damaged. You can clean the silver around the pearls by dipping a soft toothbrush into the dip and then polishing the silver, avoiding the pearls. Don\'t clean your teeth with the toothbrush afterwards!
But talking of toothbrushes, another method of onslaught silver is to use tooth paste. Simply rub the toothpaste all over the silver and rinse it off. You won\'t get such outstanding results on really blackened silver as with the dips, but for normal cleaning, it\'s a lot cheaper.
Another way of keeping your silver clean and keep away from having to resort to such methods to clean it is to put a piece of chalk in the box alongside it - the chalk absorbs the moisture in the air that as I said earlier , affects the silver. Along the same lines is the method of packaging up your silver in acid-free tissue paper until you want to use it. This is what we do with virtually all our silver sales - if a bride-to-be buys a tiara and her wedding is not for a few months, we tell her to keep the tiara wrapped up until the big day!
Gold jewelry, though retaining its shine longer than silver still can go dull and grimy. It can be quite a surprise after cleaning to understand just how dirty it had become. Again with gold, I would recommend jewelry dip even the same silver dips I mentioned before will also work on gold. The dips will not harm gemstones or crystals so you will be safe dipping those.
Pearls, as I talk about before are the exception. They need very gentle cleaning as the surface is delicate and can easily become scuffed and lose their luster. Also beware perfume! The alcohol happy of perfumes can affect pearls.
Pearls are best cleaned using warm water and a mild detergent appropriate for woolens and then gently dried with a soft cloth. Store pearls in a soft pouch away from other jewelry to avoid the pearls flattering scratched.
How to clean silver jewelry >
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