It requires utmost care to keep jewellery looking it’s best. Silver, copper and bronze jewellery loses it’s original shine and look over time.
There are various commercial jewellery cleaning products available but you can do it at home using common household items.
Useful household ingredients to clean jewellery at home:
- Hot Water
- Salt
- Tin Foil
- Toothpaste
- Baking Soda
- Lemon
How to clean silver jewellery at home:
To clean tarnished silver at home you need a little time and few ingredients. You can use commercially available jewellery polish or mix up some ingredients to make a cleaner by yourself.
Soaking your silver in hot water mixed with salt is a great way to clean tarnished silver. Just soak, and rub with a clean cloth!
If it is heavily tarnished, you can add strips of aluminium foil to the hot water and salt mix. The combination of aluminium and salt works wonders. Rinse the jewellery with plain water to clear off the salt and repeat in a few days if needed.
Toothpaste and baking soda are other ingredients that can be used to clean tarnished silver. They can be rubbed directly onto the silver with a soft damp cloth. Using toothpaste or baking soda is a more abrasive method so be careful not to damage your jewellery.
To avoid future tarnishing always store jewellery wrapped in tissue paper and sealed in a zip lock bag.
How to clean copper jewellery at home:
If you are wondering how to clean copper jewellery or how to clean bronze jewellery, the answers are in your house too!
For copper jewellery, all you need is a lemon and some salt. Rubbing the piece of copper jewellery with lemon juice brings back the shine. For heavily tarnished copper jewellery, mix lemon juice with salt and place the jewellery in it for some time before rubbing with a cloth and finally rinsing with clean water. For bronze jewellery mix the lemon juice with baking soda to form a paste and rub it on the bronze surface. Use a cloth to rub gently and finally rinse with plain water.
These DIY tips and tricks work great for our handmade silver and copper jewellery. Going to a high street jeweller for jewellery cleaning can be expensive and only required if the piece of jewellery is heavily damaged or tarnished.