Silver items and jewelry will definitely darken after a while. And the question arises of how to help silver shine with renewed vigor? How to clean silver properly? What is better to use in order not to spoil your favorite jewelry? Let's try to clean your jewelry or silverware with the help of old and proven recipes. These methods have been tested and proven to be the most effective.
Proper preparation is the key to success
Before cleaning silver at home, you need to prepare the product. To do this, a silver object (cross, ring, chain) must be washed in warm water with the addition of any shower gel. You can use ordinary solid soap - it doesn't matter. At this stage, it is important to remove, thus, biological contaminants. Sweat and sebum are covered with the thinnest filmwearable jewelry. A favorite ring with carved curls and stones is best cleaned with a toothbrush. The movements must be careful and accurate. Having thus washed the product, it is well rinsed in cold clean water. Then, using a clean, dry material, remove the remaining water from the surface. Ordinary paper towels are also suitable for this. You can use a clean handkerchief as it is thin enough to absorb a lot of moisture.
Now let's look at the most famous and proven ways to clean silver.
Soda
Cleaning with baking soda. Pour some powder onto a flat saucer. Now we moisten a clean rag or toothbrush in water. Dip a wet brush into soda crystals. And some soda sticks to it. Soda becomes damp from a wet brush and soda gruel appears on it. This is the bag we need. We take it and clean the ring or pendant. Gently rub the product until the dark plaque is removed. After completing the cleaning procedure, be sure to rinse the product in cold water and dry with a tissue.
Attention - vinegar
The following method will tell you how to clean silver with vinegar. Usually vinegar is found in any household. Look in your kitchen cabinet too. Before cleaning silver at home in this way, you need to test your vinegar. Attention! Be careful! Read the inscription on the label, it should say that the composition in the bottle is table vinegar, but not vinegar essence! As a rule, the essence is more concentrated and can bringirreparable damage to your favorite product. So, you are convinced that you have vinegar. Now let's start the procedure. Pour approximately 100 milliliters of liquid into a ceramic or glass bowl. Fasten your jewelry on a thick thread and use this thread to lower the product into the solution. After an hour, you can get a silver item by simply pulling it out of the vinegar by a string. Rinse the silver in clean cold water and dry it before continuing to use.
Citric acid
Cleaning silver with citric acid is a great way to get rid of blackening and loss of luster on your silver cutlery. Dilute 100 grams of citric acid powder in half a liter of clean water. Find a piece of copper wire. Now you can start the magic! Pour the white sour powder into the water and stir well to dissolve it. Boil this solution and, as soon as you see small bubbles from boiling, lower the wire into the dishes. Now carefully put the cutlery in the resulting liquid and turn off the fire. After 20 minutes, you will need to get the silver out of the water and rinse it. The first rinse is done in moderately warm water, and the second in cool water. For a beautiful shine, silver cutlery should be wiped down and carefully polished using a soft cloth.
Hydrogen peroxide
A fairly common method is cleaning silver with hydrogen peroxide. Shower gel, peroxide and alcohol should be mixed in a ceramic or glass container. All take in the same proportions. Now you needadd clean cold water and, after mixing, place a silver product in the liquid. Silver after 15-35 minutes should be removed from the cleaning solution and rinsed in cold water. Do not forget about drying the product. So it will not have dark spots after cleaning.
Important
Attention! If you have chosen this cleaning method, we advise you to test the effect of the solution on a small area of the product. To do this, dip a cotton swab into the peroxide-based solution and rub the silver with it. If there is no darkening and everything suits you, then start cleaning.
Product with stones
Do you have a fancy piece of silver jewelry that has stones and needs to be cleaned? To clean silver with stones at home, you need to use extremely gentle methods. And the solution for this purpose is also needed gentle and harmless. To prepare it, you need to stir a quarter of a piece of solid soap in a glass of water. Soap before stirring should be rubbed through a fine grater. Then add three to four drops of 10% ammonia. Bring the resulting solution to a boil. But don't you dare boil it! Do not forget that ammonia, if used ineptly, can be harmful to he alth. After bringing the mixture to a boil, moisten a brush (you can use a toothbrush) in it and clean your product with gentle movements. Then, if necessary, you can dip a cotton swab into the solution to clean smaller and more sinuous areas. And if your favorite ring has a very fine engraving, use a wooden toothpick in the same way.
About stones
If your silverware is adorned with natural stones, cleaning at home will only harm them. Therefore, it is better to entrust such things to professionals. Each natural stone has its own characteristics:
- Amber, pearls and coral will not survive cleaning with ammonia and ammonia.
- Turquoise should be away from water. Never immerse this stone in a humid environment.
- Pearl inserts in products are washed in a delicate soap solution.
- Amethyst can withstand low concentrations of alkali and acid. The same can be said about topaz. But both of these stones will definitely fade when exposed to hot water.
- Quartz and cubic zirkonia - perhaps the most uncapricious pebbles. Well tolerated laundering in soapy water.
And tooth powder
The next way is to clean the cutlery and other silverware with tooth powder. Before cleaning silver at home in this way, make sure you have tooth powder in your home. The principle is that a little of this product is poured onto a damp cloth and the product itself is wiped. You need to rub until the dark raid gives up its positions and retreats.
Toothpaste
By the way, if you miss the powder and don't have it in your bathroom, replace it with toothpaste. Squeeze some toothpaste onto an old toothbrush and soak it under running cold water to start brushing. The procedure is completed by rinsing and wiping the product.
S alt solution
For a glass of water you need to take a dessert spoon of pure s alt. Mix s alt in water and immerse silver items in this water. And if you need to speed up the process, then boil the solution together with chains and rings for five to ten minutes. Remove items from the hot s alty concentrate and rinse. We wash the rings first in warm water and at the end of the process rinse them in cold water.
Coca-Cola
Do you like sparkling water? Especially if it's Coca-Cola? Then leave a glass of this wonderful remedy. Tie a thread around your jewelry and dip it into the drink. After 20 minutes, you will again have shining silver items. Don't forget to rinse them in cold water.
Blackened silver
Do not forget that blackened silver also exists. If your product initially had a dark appearance, most likely it has a special patina on it. It is to her that your jewelry owes its noble appearance and charm. Of course, this silver is also cleaned, but it is better to carry out such a procedure using special solutions for cleaning silver jewelry. A jar of such a tool is not very expensive and lasts for a long period. To clean ordinary silver, you can also use a special tool in this direction. Usually these solutions are available in jewelry stores. Just ask a consultant and he will guide you on the right path. And then you will no longer be disturbed by the question of how to clean silver at home.
