In order to keep them from becoming dull and make it easier to restore their natural lustre, it is advised that silver items be cleaned at least once a month.

Nowadays, there are silver ornamental pieces that can be galvanized with rhodium during the manufacturing process, making them practically immune to oxidation. In contrast, as time passes and the item is exposed to dust and other environmental factors, antique silver artefacts get darker. Are you curious about the best silver cleaner you most likely already have in your home?

Despite popular assumptions, rhodium as a substance does not oxidize but instead has a reaction with hydrogen sulphide, increasing its transparency. Fortunately, polishing them with commercially available materials isn't your only option; you can also use some simple home cures to improve their appearance. Here are some tips and tricks for cleaning and polishing silver at home for your convenience.

Effective tricks to clean silver at home

How to care for silver items

Why does silver tarnish or oxidize?

It is the oxidation process that causes silver to tarnish when it is exposed to certain elements, such as air or sulphur, and certain acids. Silver jewellery that has been stored for an extended period of time may eventually tarnish. When rubber comes into contact with the precious metal, it can cause tarnishing to occur.

Silver jewellery can lose its lustre if it is subjected to severe temperatures or medicine that alters the pH of the skin. A reaction with other substances in the environment can cause silver to darken, although this can also be triggered by an individual's PH.

Our recommendation on how to care for silver items

To keep them looking their best, we suggest keeping them in a cool, dry place that is ideally airtight. Each piece should be stored separately or wrapped in a soft cloth to avoid scratching, tangling, and snagging. Our boxes, which are also known as jewellery boxes, are perfect for storing your valuables in a safe and secure location away from the elements including sunlight, dampness, and dust.

Excessive perspiration, chlorine or salt should not be allowed to come into contact with your pieces in order to prevent the emergence of stains on them, especially if they are gold- or rose-gold-plated.

Avoid coming into touch with soaps, shampoos, waxes and cosmetics, as well as cleaning products, detergents, and other similar products and substances that are not appropriate for silver cleaning. As a result, they can damage the plating on your jewellery items and build over time, leaving residues and dulling the jewellery's appearance. However, if you ended up reading this article, perhaps you were wondering how to clean silver earrings or how to clean silver chain? Whatever your reasons were, we have the best advice for silver polish and how to clean silver jewellery. Keep reading!

Should I clean silver

How to clean silver naturally at home

How to clean small silver items

Although small silver objects such as jewellery have a tendency to darken with time, there are several simple homemade procedures that can be used on how to clean silver necklace and to restore the brightness of silver and make it stay significantly longer in its brightness. Let's see if we can figure it out:

It is a proven method for reviving tarnished silver objects that have been around for a long time.

Powder detergent such as bowl sparkle will be preferred because it is relatively simple to buy, and because almost everyone has some laundry detergent in their home. Look at the steps involved in the process on how to clean tarnished silver.

What we require is:

  • Container made of glass
  • Aluminium foil
  • A quarter cup of powder detergent

In the little container, place a piece of aluminium foil to keep it from getting too hot. Then pour in hot water and stir in the laundry detergent until everything is well-combined. The aluminium reacts with the detergent, causing the sulphur ions to adhere to the surface. This makes it even easier to clean than it would be with only soap and water.

Immediately after mixing, insert the small silver jewellery or silver objects you need to clean in the solution for roughly seven minutes (the detergent reacts with the aluminium foil and water, creating a foam that cleans the silver jewellery in depth).

Afterwards, take the jewellery out of the mixture and rub it with a cloth to get rid of any remaining dirt. Rinse your silver jewellery thoroughly with clean water and dry it completely to remove any moisture and allow it to darken once more.

After this, your jewellery will be really dazzling, and perhaps next time you can share this with your relatives and show them how to clean silver rings!

Silver cleaning

How to clean large silver items

Of course, you can clean large silver items with a powder detergent as well, which is a powerful silver jewellery cleaner. However, we would like to show you another way of caring for your silver with toothpaste that you can try right away on the large silver items at your home.

When considering what to use to clean silver, baking soda, powder detergent and salt are not the only alternatives. The use of toothpaste to remove silver stains is another option, and it is one that most of us have in our kitchens and bathrooms already. This handmade method is not only effective, but it is also quite simple to do and it will definitely help you in the process of how to clean silver plate or any other large silver object.

Regarding the toothpaste cleaning method, the procedure is as straightforward as the following:

  • Soap and water should be used to clean the object in question.
  • Then, using a chamois tissue or a cloth soaked with toothpaste, gently rub the silver.
  • When you notice that the object has returned to its normal colour, rinse it thoroughly with water.
  • Last but not least, dry it with a clean silver cleaning cloth.

How to clean sterling silver with ketchup?

It is a lesser-known process that, while it may appear strange at first, has the added benefit of being cleansing. This is because the acid in the tomato reacts with the acid in the silver, causing it to become detached from our tarnished silver. Interesting?

What exactly do we need?

  • Ketchup
  • A surface on which to rest the jewellery
  • Toothbrush
  • Paper towel

Squeeze a small amount of Ketchup onto the jewel you wish to clean and rub the stained areas with a paper towel until the stain is gone. If we are unable to accomplish the desired result after 20 minutes, we should let the tarnished silver sit in the ketchup for another 20 minutes before repeating the easy operation.

When you're finished, rub the surface with a soft silver cleaning cloth before rinsing with cool water.

How to clean silver 1
Tricks to clean silver

Combination of techniques

Earlier in this article, we looked at three different ways for cleaning and silver polish. The combined procedure, however, is great for cleaning extremely unclean or black silver jewellery when we want to restore it with less effort and a professional finish. In order to accomplish this, we shall employ a variety of strategies.

While holding the silver item in your hands, add a few drops of dishwashing detergent, wet it a little, and rub the item until it foams. After that, rinse thoroughly with plenty of water.

Place them in a jar of vinegar for about 5 minutes before rinsing them well with water.

Do not allow them to dry out before relocating them to a new container. With your fingertips, rub in a few tablespoons of baking soda until it is completely dissolved.

Then heat the water and prepare the metal (a big piece and small pieces like confetti).

Prepare a bowl by lining the inside with aluminium foil, placing the jewellery/item that has been soaked in baking soda in the bowl, and filling the bowl with boiling water. Stir in the aluminium confetti until it is evenly distributed. Allow for approximately 5 minutes of resting time.

To clean the item, rinse it with water and then apply toothpaste (better if it is a whitening paste) and rub with your fingertips and then a toothbrush to get into all the corners of the piece.

Finally, we rinse with water and massage with a dry cotton silver cleaning cloth to remove any remaining residue.

Conclusion

Jewellery, silverware, and ornamental things are all examples of what you can find as tarnished silver. Objects made of silver deteriorate over time, becoming unsightly, with some turning black, others yellow, and some that include a little amount of copper even taking on a greenish tint. However, all of these inconveniences have a simple remedy that, with a little care and attention, can be accomplished in a short amount of time with goods that are readily available in most households.

All silver items are subjected to the effects of the passage of time as well as the attack of various external substances of various kinds. However, the majority of them have to do with how they are used and handled. Silver can be affected by a variety of factors, including the pH of the skin, sweat, moisturizers and sun creams, soap and detergent, chlorine from swimming pools or seawater, as well as cosmetics such as fragrances and lacquers, to name a few. However, we hope that this article was helpful for you and you learned how to care for silver items, and also how to clean silver at home.