Dirty little secret: How to deal with Tarnish
Tips how to make your jewelry to shine and look beautiful forever
Here are the tips how to take a good care of your Sterling Silver jewelry pieces to make them shine, and look like you just bought it. Tarnish affect fine jewelry such as gold, and sterling silver. Silver is one of the most delicate and fragile metals that can be tarnished, scratched, and lose its natural shine.
Tarnish is a natural process that happens over time. This natural process is caused by the oxygen and hydrogen sulfide. All jewelry is in contact with air, and hydrogen sulfide is found in paper, such as a paper jewelry box where you put your jewelry.
Salt Bath
It is very easy to get rid of tarnish just by following these easy steps: Heat the water up to 70 degrees of Celcius. Add alumnium foil and one tbsp. of salt. Put your jewelry piece in the water. The result will appear immediately. The combination of salt, water, and alumnium foil creates a chemical reaction known as ion exchange. Your sterling silver will look as it is new.
Baking Soda & Vinegar
Another option is to use the combination of 1/2 cup of white vinegar and 2 tbsp. of baking soda. It is a very gentle method of removing the tarnish. Leave your jewelry inside of the mix of vinegar and baking soda up to 3 hours. In result, rinse it with a tap water, and dry.
Use a Silver polish
If tarnish is so deep that using the natural ingredients did not work right for you, your best option would be to use a silver polish that you can find in local jewelry stores. It is specially formulated for silver jewelry, and would be the safest option for polishing an antique piece.
Professional Cleaning
Even special polishes can remove a layer of silver, if you are dealing with a delicate jewelry, it is better to get a professional cleaning.
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