How to Clean Your Sterling Silver Jewelry

Silver is a great metal to work with. 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 things away so dinner can be made or the car brought inside. (Okay, well, maybe we don’t do that as often as we should.)

But there is a way to clean your silver jewelry, and below are a few recipes you can try in your own kitchen. 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:
• ¼ cup baking soda
• ¼ cup salt
• ¼ cup liquid dish soap
• ½ gallon of water

Equipment:
• Large pot
• Aluminum foil
• Plastic spoon
• Stove top
• colander or strainer
• towel

Take a large pot, such as a spaghetti pot, and 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. 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 with cold water. Count your items as you place them on a towel to dry. Make sure you’ve account 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 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 wheels don’t get contaminated or caked up.

All graphics created by Tammy Powley.

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