How to Clean Sterling Silver Beads

Sterling silver beads are popular for use in crafts and making jewelry. Because of the variety of finishes and sizes of sterling silver beads, care should be taken when cleaning the beads to avoid damaging them. Roxanna Olsen of Jewels of Bastet recommends using a silver cleaning cloth for cleaning and polishing loose silver beads. If the sterling silver beads are strung together, a silver cleaning cloth may not be able to clean between the beads and you may have to resort to using a liquid silver cleaner.

Things You'll Need

• Silver cleaning cloth
• Glass or plastic container with lid
• Small glass or plastic bowl
• Liquid silver cleaner
• Fork
• Soft cloth
• Zip-top plastic bag

Instructions

Loose Beads

1. Lay several beads, depending on size, on the cleaning side of the silver cleaning cloth.

2. Fold the cloth over and rub the beads until the tarnish is removed.

3. Remove the beads and turn the silver cleaning cloth over to the polishing side. Lay the beads on the polishing cloth.

4. Fold the cloth over and rub the beads until they are polished.

5. Place the clean, polished beads into a glass or plastic container with a tight-fitting lid. This will prevent moisture from tarnishing the beads.

Strung Beads

1. Clean the strung sterling silver beads with the silver cleaning cloth. Rub the strung beads with the cleaning side of the cloth, and then finish with the polishing side of the cloth.

2. Examine the strung beads for any tarnish that remains in between the beads. If there is still excessive tarnish, you may need to clean the strung beads with liquid silver cleaner.

3. Place the strung beads in a small glass or plastic bowl. Pour in enough liquid silver cleaner to cover the beads.

4. Remove the strung beads immediately, using a fork. Rinse them with clean water.

5. Inspect the strung beads. If there is still excessive tarnish, dip the strung beads in the liquid cleaner again. Remove them immediately and rinse them with clean water.

6. Dry the strung beads with a soft, clean cloth and store them in an air-tight container such as a zip-top plastic bag.

Tips & Warnings

• If you need to clean large quantities of loose sterling silver beads, you can fold the silver cleaning cloth in half and sew the sides closed, creating a pocket. This enables you to clean larger quantities of beads at one time, and keeps the silver beads from rolling out of the cloth while they are being cleaned.

• Liquid silver cleaners can remove the distinctive antiquing that is applied to some varieties of sterling silver beads. Use liquid cleaners with care, and only use them as a last resort.

• Never leave sterling silver beads in a liquid silver cleaner for more than a moment. This can permanently damage the beads. Use only a dip-and-rinse process when using liquid silver cleaner.

References

• Roxanna Olsen; Owner, Jewels of Bastet; Jacksonville, Florida
• Cleaning and Caring For Your Sterling Silver Jewelry