If your jewelry appears to have dulled with age, or requires deep cleaning, we highly recommend using a jewelry cleaning cloth, followed by your jewelry polishing cloth. The cleaning cloth can be used on gold, sterling silver, and sterling silver finished with rhodium. To use the cleaning cloth, be sure that the jewelry is dry; then rub with the cleaning cloth. Follow by buffing with your polishing cloth to restore the shine to your jewelry.
Simply wearing your jewelry helps prevent, or at least slow, the oxidation process keeping your jewelry looking new. To minimize scratches, jewelry can be stored in cloth pouches, small ziplock bags, or in separate compartments in your jewelry box.
Cleaning and Polishing Silver Jewelry
All silver will tarnish or oxidize with time due to continuous exposure to air and moisture in the air. Film from lotions, powder, and skin oils dulls and reduces brilliance. When cared for properly, your fine quality silver will last a lifetime.
The best way to polish silver jewelry is to use a jewelry polishing cloth. NEVER use a commercial silver dipping solution as this will damage the rhodium finish and is known to remove color and polish from certain gemstones, including turquoise and pearls and NEVER use products such as Windex. These type of products have ammonia in them and will turn your sterling silver black. The jewelry will not clean by conventional methods if ammonia and/or a product containing ammonia has been used. Should you confront this situation, clean the jewelry with vinegar. Vinegar will not clean silver, but it's opposite on the PH scale and will negate the effects of the ammonia. After you clean with the vinegar, you can then clean the silver by conventional means; warm sudsy water and use a soft toothbrush, or approved sterling silver cleanser. Some have recommended using toothpaste to clean silver jewelry; we do not suggest doing this because toothpaste contains small abrasive granules which can leave scratches on your silver.
Silver is a great metal to work with. I've used silver often in some of the metal projects posted on this site. It’s soft and easy to shape and form. It’s also a lot less expensive than gold. However, the one complaint I hear most about sterling silver is that it tarnishes. Yes, it does. It never quite looks the same as the first day you buy it or finish polishing it on the rouge wheel.
Those with well equipped studios or workshops have a polishing wheel handy or an ultrasonic cleaning solution always going. But, we all can’t have that luxury. Some of us have to work in kitchens or garages and do the best we can. Eventually, we have to clean up and put equipment away so dinner can be made or the car brought inside. (Okay, well, maybe we don’t do that as often as we should.)
However, I have the answer to the problem of cleaning sterling silver. Below are a few recipes you can try in your own kitchen to clean your silver jewelry. Both work very well. I’ve tried them. Of course, always work safely.
- Make sure the kids or family pet is kept away from such poisons as ammonia.
- Make sure the kids or family pet is away from the stove top.
- DO NOT put anything but sterling silver items (no plated materials) into the cleaning solution.
- DO NOT put any porous stones (turquoise), shells (mother of pearl), or pearls (cultured, freshwater) into the solution.
- Use your common sense. When in doubt, don’t do it.
Electrolytic Cleaning Solution
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup baking soda
- 1/4 cup salt
- 1/4 cup liquid dish soap
- 1/2 gallon of water
Equipment:
- Aluminum foil
- Plastic spoon
- Stove top
- Colander or strainer
- Towel
Take a large pot, such as a spaghetti pot, and completely line the inside with aluminum foil. Pour all of the ingredients into the pot and stir with your plastic spoon. Collect the sterling silver jewelry you want to clean, and count each item so you know the total number you put into the pot. Place them into the solution and spread them out on the bottom of the pot so they don't touch each other. Bring this to a low boil for a few minutes. Then turn off the burner and let it sit for another couple of minutes. Then using the colander or strainer, pour out the solution. Rinse well with cold water making sure that all salt is rinsed off your silver. (Salt will eventually corrode metal.) Count your items as you place them on a towel to dry. Make sure you’ve accounted for all your jewelry before you throw away the aluminum. It will be dirty because the oxides on your jewelry were transferred to it. Your sterling silver jewelry should now look like new.
Super Cleaner
In an eight ounce container (pickle jars work well), combine one inch of cleaning detergent (Top Job or Mr. Clean), one inch of dish washing liquid, and one inch of ammonia. Fill the rest of the container with water. Shake well. Use your microwave to heat up solution slightly or put in an old pot (you don’t use for food) and simmer on stove top. Place jewelry (silver or gold) into solution and let sit for about ten minutes. Remove from solution and rinse with water. That’s it.
Both these cleaner work well. For silver, I prefer the first recipe since it uses ingredients most people have around the house, and it’s not as toxic as the second recipe so it’s safer if you have children or animals around your house. The Super Cleaner can also be used for cleaning your jewelry projects in between buffing compounds so your polishing wheels don’t
Cleaning and Polishing Copper Jewelry
Dipping copper jewelry in a small solution of lemon or lime juice with a dash of salt will clean and restore shine to copper jewelry. Rinse the piece off well after dipping and dry before storing. Use the polishing cloth to add extra luster and keep the piece shining between cleanings.
Cleaning and Polishing Gemstone Jewelry
Although gemstones are among the most durable of substances, they do need some care. Following a few general rules will make sure that they last for generations still looking like the day you bought them.
First of all: keep them clean! Rings in particular tend to collect dust and soap behind the stone, particularly if you wear them all the time. To clean transparent crystalline gemstones, simply soak them in water with a touch of gentle soap. If necessary, use a soft toothbrush to scrub behind the stone.
Diamonds are very hard but can shatter in two with a single well-placed blow. Rubies and sapphires are the toughest gems but even they can chip if hit sharply.
Think twice before putting gems in an ultrasonic cleaner. Diamonds, rubies, and sapphires will be fine but many other gems may not be: when in doubt, leave it out.
Opaque gemstones like lapis lazuli, turquoise, malachite, require special care. Never use an ultrasonic cleaner and never use ammonia or any chemical solution. These gem materials should just be wiped clean gently with a moist cloth. These gemstones can be porous and may absorb chemicals, even soap, and they may build up inside the stone and discolor it.
Opals also require special care. Never use an ultrasonic, never use ammonia, and avoid heat and strong light which can dry out the water in opals.
Organic gems like pearls, coral, and amber should only be wiped clean with a moist cloth. Due to their organic nature, these gems are both soft and porous. Be careful about chemicals in hairspray, cosmetics, or perfume: they can, over time, damage pearls in particular.
Store each piece of gemstone jewelry separately so that harder stones don't scratch softer ones. Almost every gemstone is much harder than the metal it is set in. Gems can scratch the finish on your gold, silver or platinum if you throw your jewelry in a heap in a drawer or jewelry box.