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Why Silver Articles Get Tarnished?

Silver tarnishing is when the shiny silver loses its shine and colour. This discolouration of silver articles happens majorly due to two reasons – corrosion and metallic abrasion:

  • Corrosion: Corrosion is usually caused under humid and wet conditions that deteriorates the metal. The corrosion of silver articles also occurs due to sweat left on them after use, combined with warmth.

  • Metallic Abrasion: Cosmetic products and other chemicals that come in contact with a silver article tend to cause tarnish and leave black spots on it. When a stronger chemical compound comes in contact with a silver article, it leads to metallic abrasion.

How to Store Your Silver Articles?

  • Low Humidity: Always store silver in a cool and dry place to ensure that it stays shiny, preferably store it in an airtight container in a dry place. The humidity of the storage space must be low. Exposure to heat or humidity leads to tarnishing.

  • Use Anti-Tarnish Cloth or Paper: Storing a silver article in a muslin cloth/soft cloth helps keep the article shiny and maintain its colour. Tissue paper or anti-tarnish paper are also good options to store silver articles. Do not wrap silver in a newspaper.

  • Keep the Silver Articles Separately: Silver articles are soft and are prone to scratches and scuffs due to unnecessary contact. Keeping silver articles along with other items or jewellery is not a good idea, as it leads to unnecessary contact and scratches. Keep the silver articles separately in a dedicated box wrapped in cotton or muslin cloth or tissue paper.

  • Hand-Wash Each Article: Using a dishwasher to wash silver articles is appealing, but it causes a lot of harm to them. The tough detergents leave black spots on silverware, so always hand-wash them softly. Also use a clean soft cloth to wipe them and avoid using an old cloth.

10 Best Ways to Clean Silver Articles

If your silver articles are oxidized, darkened and clouded then there are several home remedies to lift the tarnish and make them sparkly new with a beautiful shine. However, before using these remedies, we suggest to buy a soft cloth, like suede or a silver cleaning cloth and a toothbrush. A toothbrush comes in handy when you need to clean hard-to-reach spots. Use these DIY solutions to bring back the shine to your silver articles:

1. Aluminium Foil and Baking Soda:

Cleaning silver with aluminium foil and baking soda is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to remove tarnish and retain its shine. Irrespective of the type of silver articles you want to clean be it cutlery, jewellery, or pooja items, using aluminium foil and baking soda is one of the most preferred ways, as it restores the original shine of the metal.

Things You Will Need:

  • Aluminium foil
  • Baking soda
  • A large bowl to hold the silver articles
  • Hot water

How to Clean:

  • Line the bowl with foil and fill it with hot water.
  • Add baking soda to the water (1 tbsp baking soda for 1 cup of hot water).
  • Add the silver articles into the liquid. Make sure that the articles touch the aluminium foil for the chemical reaction to occur.
  • Leave the items in the water for 10 minutes.
  • Remove the silver articles and buff them with a microfiber cloth.

2. Laundry Detergent:

This is another convenient way to get rid of tarnish from silver articles.

Things You Will Need:

  • Aluminium foil
  • Laundry detergent
  • A large bowl
  • Hot water

How to Clean:

  • Line the large bowl with the foil.
  • Add laundry detergent (1 tbsp for 2 cups of water). Let the detergent dissolve completely.
  • Add silver articles in the solution. Ensure that they are touching the foil.
  • Let them sit for 5 minutes.
  • Remove the articles from the detergent solution. Rinse with water and air dry.
  • Although this method does not completely remove tarnish, it cleans the gunk and dirt and lifts the darkness from the items.

3. Lime Juice:

You all know that lemons are an effective way to remove bad smell and hence often used to clean ovens. Lemons also come in handy while cleaning silver items.

Things You Will Need:

  • Lemon
  • Salt
  • Hot water
  • A large bowl

How to Clean:

  • Squeeze lemon juice in the bowl.
  • Add hot water and 3 tbsp of salt to it.
  • Place the tarnished silver items in the lemon and salt bath.
  • Allow them to rest for 5 minutes.
  • Remove and dry the articles with a silver cleaning cloth.
  • A silver cleaning cloth is more efficient than a regular cloth to rub the articles after removing from the solution.

4. Ketchup:

Here's a surprising yet effective hack to clean tarnished silver using something from your kitchen!

Things You Will Need:

  • Ketchup
  • A bowl

How to Clean:

  • Fill the bowl with ketchup.
  • Place the silver items in the ketchup for a few minutes.
  • Use a toothbrush to gently rub on the tiny crevices, if any, on the items to remove the dirt.
  • Wash the articles with water. Dry them with a soft clean cloth.

Tip: – Make sure to work faster so as to not allow the ketchup to dry on the items.

5. Vinegar:

Silver items tend to tarnish quickly. However, there are some effective ways to clean them that will bring back their bright shine. One of the cleaning recipes that is often used is vinegar, which takes minimal efforts to remove the tarnish and it is safe as well.

Vinegar is acidic like lemon juice, which makes it ideal for cleaning silver. Combining vinegar with other ingredients will only make it a better cleaning agent. There are several ways to use vinegar for this purpose:

  • Vinegar Soak – Pour 1 cup white vinegar in a nonreactive container like an enamel bowl. Soak the silver articles in it. Make sure the items are completely immersed in the vinegar solution. Let them rest for 15 minutes. Rinse with warm water and dry using a soft cloth.

  • Baking Soda and Vinegar – Pour 1 cup white vinegar in a non-reactive bowl. Add 4 tbsp baking soda to the vinegar. Be careful while adding the baking soda as it might overflow due to the chemical reaction. Place the silver articles in the solution and leave for 2 hours. Rinse with water and dry.

  • Vinegar, Baking Soda and Tea Tree Oil – Pour vinegar in a container. Add a few drops of tea tree oil to it. Soak the silver articles in the solution for about 8 hours. Remove the items from the mixture and coat them with baking soda. The long soak will loosen the residue while gently scrubbing with baking soda will clean the articles. Rinse with warm water. Dry with a soft cloth.

6. Corn-Starch:

Using a corn-starch paste will bring back the shine to your silver items with just a few wipes.

Things You Will Need:

  • Corn starch
  • Water
  • Bowl
  • Soft cloth

How to Clean:

  • Combine corn-starch and water in the ratio 1:3 to make a paste.
  • Apply this paste on the tarnished silver articles.
  • Once the paste dries up, use a mildly abrasive cloth to rub the articles.
  • Cream of tartar will be an ideal substitute if you don’t have corn-starch.

7. Toothpaste:

Toothpaste will not just clean your pearly whites, but your silverware too. The minty fresh fragrance will be an added bonus. However make sure to spot test a small part of the silver item before using it. The ingredients in the toothpaste might be slightly abrasive, so you will need to pick the toothpaste carefully to clean the silver items. A solid-coloured and plain toothpaste that has ingredients to control tartar works best for this purpose. However, a gel-based toothpaste is not very effective in removing tarnish.

Things You Will Need:

  • Toothpaste
  • Microfibre cloth

How to Clean:

  • Squeeze the toothpaste onto the microfibre cloth.
  • Rub the silver items gently with the toothpaste until the tarnish is gone.
  • Rinse with water.
  • Dry with a soft cloth.

8. Beer:

Beer is an effective solution to clean oxidized silver jewellery. Cola is also an alternative, if you do not have beer at home.

Things You Will Need:

  • Beer
  • Large Bowl
  • Clean cloth

How to Clean:

  • Fill the beer in a container. Leave the silver articles in it overnight.
  • Next morning, remove and rinse them well.
  • Although the results are not perfect, it does lift the tarnish slightly.

9. Ultrasonic Jewellery Cleaner:

Besides cleaning other things, ultrasonic cleaning is also used to clean jewellery. The ultrasound waves emitted in the device get rid of the dirt and tarnish on the jewellery item. These ultrasonic cleaners are compatible for use with most of the precious metals including silverware. They are great to clean silver items and are safe too.

Water is the best solvent to use in the ultrasonic machine, but for best results, you can go for a cleaning agent. However, as you are using it to clean a precious metal, you must avoid regular cleaning agents. The cleaning solution must be potent, but at the same time delicate enough not to damage the item. So, purchase only those cleaning solutions that are designed exclusively to clean jewellery and can be used in an ultrasonic device.

Ultrasonic cleaners are a quick and easy way to clean your silver jewellery. If you have a huge collection of precious metal jewellery items, then investing in this device is a great idea. They are reasonably priced and will last long.

Things You Will Need:

  • Water
  • Measuring jug
  • Silver articles you want to clean
  • Gloves
  • Cleaning solution (dishwashing liquid or water-based detergent)
  • Ultrasonic basket
  • Ultrasonic jewellery cleaner

How to Clean:

  • Fill the tank of the device with water. Wear protective gloves and add the cleaning solution to the ultrasonic tank.
  • Run the device for 5 minutes for the water and cleaning solution to mix well. Set the time and temperature. The timing varies from 1-20 minutes depending on how tarnished the items are.
  • Place the silver items in the basket. Avoid adding too many items at a time to prevent scratches. Refer the instruction manual for complete directions.
  • Run the device. When the timer goes off, let the silver articles sit for 5-10 minutes.
  • Rinse the silverware in clean water and dry with a cloth.

10. Dish Soap:

Oxidation is a common occurrence when silver articles are exposed to air. This will not only make the items look dull, but also cause discolouration. Cleaning silver articles regularly with hot soapy water will take care of the tarnish.

Things You Will Need:

  • Dish soap
  • Microfibre cloth
  • Large bowl
  • Warm water

How to Clean:

  • Mix dish soap in warm water.
  • Dip the microfibre cloth in the liquid and rub the silverware with this soapy cloth.
  • Rinse with water and dry with a clean and soft towel.
  • For buffing, use a cloth that is exclusively made for silver items.

Tip: – Do not soak the silver items in the dish soap water.

4 Products That Come in Handy to Keep Your Silver Items Looking Like New

Source interceptjewelrycare.com

  • Anti-Tarnish Paper:

    Anti-tarnish paper is the best item to use for your silver articles in order to keep them looking like new and retain their shine. These tarnish papers last for up to 6 months and if used for longer periods, they may not be as effective. So, change them once every 6 months.

  • Tarnish Prevention Bags:

    Tarnish prevention bags are true life-savers especially if you are a frequent traveller as they help to retain the shine and store your silver jewellery securely even while travelling. They are composed of a unique polymer which contain no oils, volatile chemicals or charcoal. They prevent the silver articles from gases that cause tarnishing and corrosion.

  • Anti-Tarnish Jewellery Storage:

    Anti-tarnish jewellery storage boxes are the best and safest option to store silver articles. They use anti-corrosion and anti-tarnish technology, which keeps your silver articles shiny and tarnish free. They are a good investment and are also affordable.

  • Ziploc Bags:

    Ziploc bags are effective in slowing down tarnish rate and keep your silver articles shiny. It is a good practice to store each piece in a separate bag as this helps to keep them detangled. They are easy to carry around and best for travelling as well.
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Malathi
Malathi is a freelance content writer offering blogging, ghost-writing, and copywriting services. In addition to developing digital marketing content, she maintains niche websites related to kids, parenting, and pregnancy. Malathi's works have been featured on several prominent blogs and websites. When she is not writing, you will find her exploring exotic locales on our beautiful planet.

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Silver Articles Need Extra Care

You need to give a little extra care to your silver articles to minimise tarnishing and keep them shining like new. We hope this BP Guide would have helped you understand how easily you can clean silverware using materials commonly available in most households and retain their shine and attraction. Stay connected with us for more such engaging content.