How to Clean Tarnished Silver with Baking Soda and Tin Foil

Sterling silver contains copper and so it will naturally tarnish over time. Some jewelry and silver look best oxidized. Other pieces are better used highly polished. While there are many chemical methods to polish silver, this tutorial will show you how you can clean tarnished silver with relatively environmentally friendly baking soda, hot water and tin foil.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• baking soda
• bowl
• hot water

1. Line a vessel large enough to hold your tarnished silver with tin foil. You can use a dish or a porcelain sink.

2. Place the tarnished sterling silver on top of the foil. Sprinkle baking soda over the sterling silver (whether it is jewelry, flatware, serving piece or other item). Pour boiling water into the vessel.

3. Allow the sterling silver to soak for a while until the tarnish begins to float off the piece.

4. Turn the piece over so that the foil touches multiple sides. Soak again.

5. When you are pleased with the polish, rinse the baking soda off in fresh water.

Tips & Warnings

• The sterling silver needs to touch the foil for this process to work most effectively.
• All oxidation will be removed when using this process, including patina needed to highlight intricate designs. For very old pieces, it may be better to hand polish rather then dip the sterling silver in a baking soda and tin foil solution. Removing oxidation that highlights detail may decrease the value of older pieces.

Resources

• GeltDesigns
• List of Jewelry Making, Glass Fusing and Craft Tutorials by Topic
• eHow Home and Garden Topic Guide
• Books on Green Cleaning

[bluemoongoddess]

on 9/11/2009 Good tips for cleaning silver jewelry.

[FranticMommy]

on 6/18/2009 This is great! i like this iead better than harsh OTC cleaners. Good job!