Silver jewellery becomes less shiny over time and you may be looking to get it sparkly again, well, a simple process involving three household items you probably already have works a treat. The chemistry of mixing a few everyday things creates a reaction that makes your silver necklaces, bracelets or earrings look like new again without any harsh products – and there’s very little effort to this simple cleaning hack.
All you need to do is gather the silver items that need a new lease of life, along with a plastic food container or something similar, along with three other everyday household items. You’ll need kitchen foil, basic white vinegar and bicarbonate of soda to get the tarnished dullness off of your silver jewellery – and it only takes 20 minutes to achieve a result. The electrochemical reaction lifts the dull look from your favourite pieces leaving it looking shiny and new again with this easy method.
First, line your container with the aluminium foil, making sure the shiny side of the foil is facing upwards, then simply place your dull-looking silver jewellery onto the foil.
Be careful if you are doing a few necklaces at once as they can become tangled up, as the next step involves a fizzing reaction that can cause the jewellery to shift about slightly.
Once the container is lined with aluminium foil, shiny side up, and the silver is on the base of the container, make sure the silver is touching the foil.
Now, add up to four to five tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda until the white powder covers the silver necklace, earrings or other items you wish to clean.
You can also add a tablespoon of salt if you wish, although the bicarbonate of soda, vinegar and foil are the main reactives for this cleaning process.
Once the bicarbonate of soda is covering the jewellery on the base of the pot lined by foil, pour over a generous splash of vinegar – and the whole mixture will fizz and bubble.
Then you just need to leave it for 20 minutes, although the tarnish will lift more or less immediately, leaving it submerged for a while will enable the chemical reaction to clean any folds in the silver.
Once 20 minutes has passed, simply remove the jewellery from the mixture, give it a quick rinse with some water and then gently rub it dry with a kitchen towel – and your shiny jewellery is ready to wear and looking its very best again.
You can simply dispose of the used mixture down the sink – and repeat the process again whenever you need to with any other silver jewellery items.