HOW TO Clean Silver Jewelry + #FundayMonday Link-Up!
So I was doing some cleaning and organizing of my dresser on Friday night (nesting? am I nesting? I hope so!). As I was cleaning and organizing my jewelry, I noticed that I have SO many pieces of older (and some, quite honestly NOT that old) silver jewelry that are just SUPER tarnished.
I don’t know if it’s my skin’s chemistry with silver or what, but it seems like any piece of silver jewelry I get turns tarnished so quickly. You know what I’m talking about… like brown or dark or black. Especially necklace chains. Gross.
Anyway, I have tried and tried and tried to use silver polishing cloths, jewelry cleaner, etc… but I could only kind of take care of the tarnish… and in the end, the jewelry still looked terrible.
Well, I did some creative Googling and tried a few different methods and ingredients and ladies and gents, I think I have finally found a way to ACTUALLY how to clean my silver jewelry. And for cheap. And it’s easy. And you don’t have to go out any buy anything!
So, for you ladies (and gents) that have some pieces of silver jewelry laying around that you’ve been meaning to clean… here’s what you need to do:
Step One: Get Out Your Silver Jewelry
Here is my jewelry that I was polishing. I know it is pretty tough to see the detail (I tried my darndest to get a good picture) – but this is my jewelry BEFORE. If you look ESPECIALLY on the necklace chains on the right, they’re just dark and dull.
Step Two: Get Out Your Silver Polishing Ingredients
Here’s what you need for how to clean your silver jewelry:
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Hot Water (I just put some water in a bowl and heated it in the microwave for a few minutes)
- A bowl / dish / tray
- Aluminum Foil
- Silver / jewelry polishing cloth (a soft towel will suffice if you don’t have one)
Step Three: Prep Your Jewelry
Now, line the bowl / dish / tray (whatever you chose) with the aluminum foil and then evenly space and lay out your jewelry.
I know this picture is kinda dark and tough to see, but you can really see how dark and tarnished some of my jewelry is… especially those circle Tiffany & Co. earrings.
Step Four: Clean!
Now, pour the hot water into the tray / bowl / dish so that it completely covers your jewelry. Then, add as much baking soda as you need to be able to completely cover the jewelry as well. THEN, sprinkle salt all over the jewelry.
Step Five: Wait. Let the jewelry sit for AT LEAST FOUR HOURS.
I actually let mine sit in there for almost six hours. This is one of those things you could do before bed, or maybe before you leave for work, or something. The longer you let it sit, the better… but I guess I would say ideal time frame would be 4-6 hours.
Step Six: Clean and dry!
Remove your jewelry one piece at a time from the dish. Rinse off and dry off each piece. THEN, with a silver polishing cloth, polish that last bit of tarnish off. Now, if you have some REALLY REALLY tarnished pieces, you may need to do this entire process a few times.
For the majority of my jewelry, I was able to get it all SUPER clean and sparkly. However, those silver Tiffany & Co. earrings are SO tarnished, I am going to have to do it a few more times, but there was a HUGE HUGE HUGE improvement.
Here’s my jewelry after:
More after… it’s hard to REALLY see how shiny / clean / sparkly they are… but it’s a HUGE improvement.
A little better example of the before and after… sort of.
I feel like you can see the difference in this before and after below. The jewelry on the left is just dull and dark and on the right it’s just bright and shiny!
So yeah, huge difference. This was SO easy (and cheap to do!) And honestly it worked SO MUCH BETTER than ANY jewelry cleaner I’ve ever bought.
What about you? Have you tried this before? Are you going to give this a shot?
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I did this today, thank you! My Tiffany teardrop earrings are as good as new! They were DISGUSTING, they had been in my drawer for years and I thought there was no hope! THIS WORKS!!! It took just a few minutes to get most of it off!! THANKS SO MUCH!!
you’re welcome!
I cannot wait to try this!!! I have some silver bangles that I’ve been dying to wear but I can’t because they are horrible tarnished. This helps a ton. Thanks for sharing.
http://thriftyandshameless.blogspot.com
yay!! let me know how it goes, girl!
Faulous idea for cleaning all that tarnished stuff I have. I must try this. Thanks so much. And thank you for hosting once again!!
anytime, charlie!
Everyone sounds super happy – did you find any negative results – not that they weren’t clean – but… I am always concerned with how these could harm the jewelry – no bad side effects? – NOT trying to be a buzz kill – have been looking for alternative when one jewelry cleaner turned my sterling silver necklace black. I’ve never been able to reverse it – perhaps this will help. – let me know..
– taf
hey TAF, i didn’t experience any negative results with this… granted i ONLY cleaned my sterling silver jewelry… nothing else using this method. it’s all natural stuff (water, baking soda, and salt), so I can’t imagine it would damage your jewelry at all… i hope that helps!
This was a nice & helpful post. I do have some Silver jewelry to clean.
Hope the last days of Pregnancy are going well for you Molly. Take it easy & get as much sleep as you can. The first 2-3 months are so restless for both Mommy & Baby.
And please stop by my blog to see what’s new with me and the baby girl. Thanks, Ada. =)
Thank you so much, Ada!
SO happy that you posted this, cleaning my silver has been on my to-do list for a while now! Pinning it as a reminder for a weekend project!
Yay!! Let me know how it goes, Marissa!
I really need to do this!!!! So glad you posted this!
xo,
Angela
i hope it works well for you, angela!
Great tips!!! I wrote them down!
hope it works well for you!
Molly this is fabulous! I have so much silver that has gotten tarnished, and i just stopped wearing it basically because I haven’t gone out yet to get jewelry cleaner! I love that I can do this with ingredients that I already have!
yes! totally!! let me know how it goes!!!
Thank you soo much for featuring my Poptart Ice Cream Sandwiches!!!
anytime, parrish!!
HELLO pop tart ice cream sandwiches! Where have you been all my life?
bisous
Suzanne
i know, right?? so yummy!
I have tried this before and it works very well.
xoxo,
Carrie
http://expressive-style.blogspot.com
yes! worked so much better than regular silver polish!
Such a helpful post, I will have to try this soon!
yes! i hope it works well for you!
oh my gosh! look at the change in your jewelry… its INCREDIBLE. i have a tiffany’s pendant that’s so tarnished it’s almost shameful (yet, of course, i wear it anyway LOL.) this post is so helpful! i’m cleaning it tonight!
thanks!!
cynthia
yes – girl i totally know what you mean, i let my jewelry get wayyyyy too tarnished! let me know how it goes!
I was just looking for a way to clean my silver jewelry! I was meant to find your blog, haha! Thanks so much for sharing, I can’t wait to try out your method. Thanks for the link up party too!
anytime! thanks for linking up!
Whoa, it works as well as silver polish!!!
Carly
http://www.lipglossandcrayons.com
yeah! it seriously worked amazingly well!
I can definitely see a difference! I’ll have to try this out on my silver jewelry.
-Sharon
The Tiny Heart
Forever 21 Giveaway!
yess!! let me know how it goes!
What an easy and budget friendly method! I will definitely be trying this out.
yay! let me know how it goes!!
What a smart idea! I am super lazy when it comes to cleaning my jewelry. I haven’t gotten my engagement ring professionally cleaned since I got engaged (whoops….). I’m a big fan of the toothpaste cleaner
hahah yes! i have been lazy about it, too… which is why the tarnishing got so bad, i think :-/
Thanks for sharing! Hope you’re feeling well!!
xo Lulu
simplylulustyle.com
anytime, lulu! thanks!! <3
Awesome post..I am definitely trying this…and those red velvet cupcakes, my husbands fave!
sheree xx
thanks, sheree!! and yes – i am a red velvet fan, too!
are those the tiffany silver ball earrings? mine are so tarnished! i’ll have to try this! also, i went in to a tiffany’s to see what they would recommend for cleaning my wedding band (platinum)-the man said tiffany’s would clean it for the life of the piece, so he took my ring, and put it some cleaning machine and after a few minutes, it looked brand. spanking. new. amazing. i wonder if they’d do that with silver jewelry?
yes!! i have the WORST luck keeping my Tiffany jewelry from tarnishing. i wonder if they would do that with their silver jewelry!! i feel like they should / would!!
Thank you so much for this silver cleaning tutorial! Very useful! I linked up with you today! Susan
yay! thanks for linking up, susan!
Great tips! Thank you for hosting the link up
xo,
Janise
anytime, janise!