I love silver jewelery, especially when it is clean and shiny. I usually clean my jewelery the night before I plan to wear it and have always used a chemical based cleaner. The kind of cleaner that even smells toxic. Once, I forgot a bracelet in the container and when I found it, the stone had partially dissolved. Can't be good stuff to be in contact with. I decided to look for a greener way of cleaning my jewelery and found one that works fantastic.
Take an aluminum pie plate and lay your jewelery in a single layer. Sprinkle baking soda over the pieces, covering each one, then pour boiling water over the jewelery. There is some kind of reaction – a bit of a sulfur smell, so its probably best to not inhale the fumes. Leave the jewelery in the solution for a couple of minutes, stirring with a wooden spin, if necessary. Remove from water with tongs, rinse in a bowl of clear water and lay on a clean tea towel to dry. I have a large cuff bracelet that was too big to clean in the pie plate, so I lined a coffee cup with aluminum foil, and It worked really well.
The jewelery will be shiny like its never been before. I have mostly silver jewelery, but did clean my daughters gold ring that was tarnished from a hot tub. I had to repeat the cleaning a few times, but eventually the gold was restored to its shiny best. I have cleaned every piece of my jewelery this way, including the ones that have real turquoise stones and it all cleaned fantastic.
This was a great find for me and a small change that has made a big difference!
Have a great day..
Catherine
