Each house has decorations, cutlery, decorative items and other silver items. It may seem surprising, but for some hosts they have an attractive sheen and light gray color. In other families, silver is called a product of almost black color and with an absolute lack of brilliance. It is possible that in the second case, the owners of this beautiful metal do not know that silver can be cleaned at home, and they do not have enough time to use the services of jewelry workshops. We have gathered in one article information on the many ways in which you can restore the beautiful appearance of silver things.
The fact that this metal loses its luster over time and begins to become covered with a coating of black or blue, is its main drawback. Otherwise, this beautiful and durable material satisfies the tastes of many of its admirers.
Why does silver turn black?
There can be many reasons why silver is getting dark:
- high humidity in the room where it is stored;
- prolonged contact with the skin when natural perspiration affects the metal;
- contact with cosmetic preparations and substances that contain sulfur (we are talking about salt, onions, egg yolks, rubber products, household gas, medicines and some detergents);
- silver can darken when the health of one who constantly wears worsens;
individual skin characteristics may affect color changes.
An interesting fact is that for some people jewelry can change color within a week, while others do not lose it for years. Of course, each family has its own recipes on how to clean silver and how to tidy up silver products and objects that have lost their original beauty. But there are universal ways and recommendations that can be used by those people who, perhaps, have not yet encountered this problem.
Preparing silver for cleaning
First of all, you need to degrease the products you want to clean, as well as remove dirt from them. To do this, you can use any soap (solid or liquid), shampoo or dishwashing liquid diluted with water. Jewelry is washed with one of these products in warm water. During the procedure, dirt and grease are removed from the recesses. You can do this with an old soft toothbrush. A clean surface will subsequently be more effective in perceiving other cleaning solutions. At the end of the product, rinse thoroughly in clean water.
When cleaning silver, you can not use hard brushes, hard sharp objects and substances having rough abrasive properties. Silver refers to a soft metal that is easily scratched. If the product has a silver coating, then after several cleanings it can be completely erased. It is better not to use mechanical types of cleaning silver objects, as this may affect their appearance.
These special silver cleansers can be bought at jewelry stores.
We use traditional methods
If we are talking about standard silver cleaning, you do not need to use any specific silver cleaning agent, which is difficult to obtain from a distribution network. In the fight against this problem, you will not need any unique composition. All that is needed for such a procedure is the use of:
- Baking Soda;
- ammonia;
- hydrogen peroxide;
- alcohol;
- toothpaste.
Any of these products will be able to return the original properties of the darkened silver product. During the cleaning process, only one substance can be used or several at once:
You can take a woolen cloth, pour a small amount of ordinary ammonia on it, and carefully wipe the silver object.
If the product does not have such elements as glued stones or enamel, then it can be cleaned by boiling in a specially prepared solution. To do this, take a glass of water, add a tablespoon of soda to it and put on fire for boiling. When the water boils, a small sheet of foil is lowered into it and a silver thing is placed on it. When the silver begins to lighten, the plate can be turned off. Silver is removed from the dishes and washed in running water. The processed product will become pristine shine!
Many people know how to clean silver with ammonia. A teaspoon of ammonia is added to a glass of water. There you need to drip a small amount of hydrogen peroxide and liquid baby soap. The silver items that you are going to clean are placed in the prepared solution. The holding time will depend on the degree of contamination, but should not be less than 15 minutes. You yourself determine which result will suit you, and take out the silver just when it takes on the desired appearance. After that, you need to wipe it with a cloth made of microfiber.
Picture Credit: congerdesign