How to Clean Sterling Silver

Does Sterling Silver Tarnish?

Silver does not tarnish or form a silver oxide in air or water easily. However, it does react with sulfur compounds in the air and the sweat from our body to form black silver sulfide.

Cleaning sterling silver jewelry is a must to prevent it from tarnishing. To obtain the best result use an ultrasonic cleaner – but as many people don’t have one of these, the next best option is to use a soft sterling silver polishing cloth – which you rub gently against the sterling silver metal. As for black spots, extra rubbing without scratching should work…

Recommendation: All jewelry needs regular cleaning to maintain its beauty.  Clean Sterling Silver jewelry frequently will avoid silver jewelry from becoming blackened.

When storing jewelry, remember that exposing it to the air promotes tarnishing, so use a jewelry bag to protect your silver jewelry from scratches and tarnishing.

Also, avoid storing your sterling silver with other metals, these too cause tarnishing and damage.

Other cleaning methods…

Baking soda : (Only use this method if your jewelry piece is solid Sterling silver and it does not contain any gemstones. Baking soda can damage some stones.)

Sterling silver reacts to moisture which creates a layer of tarnish or oxidation on its surface. Baking soda activated by boiling water in the presence of aluminum, will dislodge the tarnish by making it bind with the aluminum, leaving the sterling silver clean and shiny again. This is the simple, organic way to clean and polish your sterling silver jewelry.

The baking soda method of cleaning is recommended only for jewelry that is all sterling silver and those that incorporate plastic, glass or crystal beads. Some gemstones are affected by the baking soda reaction–for example, turquoise.

It is recommended to open a window, or have fresh air ventilation before pouring water onto baking soda.

Line a glass or plastic dish with a slightly crumpled sheet of aluminum foil. If you have a small aluminum pan that you won’t be using for food preparation anymore, use that instead.

Lay your jewelry pieces directly onto the aluminum, making sure the silver jewelry is touching the aluminum.

Sprinkle a thin layer of baking soda over the silver jewelry.

Pour enough boiling water to immerse the jewelry. Bubbling should occur, giving off a rotten-egg odor (the sulfuric gases released by the cleaning action).

Move the pieces around gentle with a wood or plastic utensil to ensure that all of the silver surfaces come in contact with the aluminum. You will notice that the silver has become bright again.

Rinse the silver jewelry under tap water. To ensure that you don’t lose small earrings or pendants down the drain, place a sieve over the drain to catch any pieces of jewelry that may slip out of your fingers.

Wipe the pieces gently to dry with an absorbent towel, and then polish with a soft cloth.

There are many jewelers who say to NOT use baking soda or any type of tooth paste on any jewelry. Not only does it cause very fine surface scratches it is nearly impossible to remove without professional help. Use any of these recommendations at your own risk.

Silver polish and a toothbrush

Silver polish has a pasty, goopy substance. Coat the necklaces really thoroughly, leave it on for about 5 minutes or so, then scrub it very gently with the toothbrush and rinse under warm tap water.

Caution : Toothbrush bristles — nylon or natural — can scratch soft metals such as sterling.

Denture cleaner:

Use a denture cleaner like “Steradent”. Drop one tablet in to a glass of warm water and add whatever jewels and metals you want cleaned. Let the tablet do all the hard work for you.

After about 30 minutes of silver soaking in denture cleaner, rinse off under warm tap water. You won’t believe how clean and sparkling your sterling silver will be

Use brown vinegar on your silver jewelry; just soak your jewelry in the vinegar over night.

Here are more ways to clean your jewelry at home.

The quickest and easiest way to clean jewelry at home is to use the Silpada® signature polishing cloth cleaner that sells for $5 dollars. This works great on sterling silver jewelry that has mild tarnishing.

(NOTE do not put jewelry with gem stones in to any mild or strong cleaner because it may damage some stones, this would ruin peals very quickly!)

For sterling silver jewelry with gem stones, an option is whitening toothpaste. It will take a little work but this is one of the safest ways to clean your jewelry. Get the tooth paste very bubbly with an old tooth brush, and then leave the tooth paste on your tarnished jewelry for about 5 minutes (some times more if very tarnished). After 5 minutes brush your jewelry till the shine shines through. Rinse with warm water and towel dry with a soft cloth. (repeat is you needed) This works great for most sterling silver jewelry, it also works great on gold and on diamonds.

A sterling silver cleaning cloth is the safest way to avoid scratching and any damage to gem stones. The cleaning cloth will really bring out the shine in your tarnished sterling silver. (also works great on gold).

I hope this helps answer question on, how to clean Sterling Silver jewelry.

One more note, about Antiqued jewelry. If you want your Antiqued sterling silver jewelry to be clean but still look antiqued, clean it with a cleaning cloth because you are more in control how much tarnish you remove.