How To Clean Sterling Silver Earrings
silver in general becomes dirty with time, use and moisture.
In order for your sterling silver earrings to keep their beauty and shine they must be properly cleaned and polished. In order to do this you must have the proper knowledge and tools to do so.
There are a couple of methods that can be used to clean your jewelry. First you can have it cleaned by a professional, or you can attempt to clean it at home.
The first of the two methods is to have your sterling silver earrings cleaned by a professional. Cleanings usually cost depending on how much jewelry you give them. It usually takes them only a couple of hours to do this at the most, it just all depends on how much work they have. If you have special requests or a certain earrings that need special attention it might take up to a couple of weeks to do the full restorations.
The other type of cleaning that you can do for your sterling silver earrings is to a at home method. I have gathered as many different home methods that I could find, and will be adding to more to this list.
One of the most widely used methods is to use aluminum foil and baking soda.
The things that you will need for this are:
-Baking soda- one tablespoon
-Aluminum foil- enough to cover a plastic bowl
-Plastic bowl- if you must use a metal bowl, be warned that there might be a chemical reaction that might discolor your sterling silver clip on earrings.
-One cup of warm water
-A soft bristle brush or a soft cloth
After you have gathered all of these items together. The first step is to cover the plastic bowl with the aluminum bowl. The next step is to place the jewelry in the bowl. * Special note* be careful if you have sterling silver earrings with gemstones in them. Certain solutions and harsh abrasives, read about how to care for them before using this solution, can harm gemstones. After you have placed the sterling silver earring into the bowl, mix one-cup warm water and one-teaspoon baking soda together in a separate container and pour it over the jewelry. Make sure to cover all of the parts of the jewelry. If you are cleaning more than one piece of jewelry double the mixture. Let the mixture sit for a little bit. You should start to see black specs collecting in the bottom of the bowl after a minute or two. Once the earrings have sat for a while take them out and gently rub them with the brush or rag on stubborn spots. Do not rub to hard on the jewelry or you will run the risk of scratching it. This should be adequate to clean your sterling silver stud earrings.
-The next method is for very lightly tarnished sterling silver earrings and jewelry. It can also be used on flatware as well. Light tarnish is light yellow and barely seen unless you hold it against a white object such as paper or napkin. A hand sanitizer that is unscented will usually take of the tarnish before it turns black and becomes hard to take off. This method only works on light tarnish. Be sure not to rub to hard on the jewelry. If tarnish will not come off with this method then try one of the ones mentioned below.
-There are many different sterling silver polishes on the market today that work very well when used as directed. Just be sure to read all of the instructions on the product bottle.
-Difference between tarnish and firestain.
Tarnish occurs when your sterling silver hoop earrings come into contact with hydrogen sulfide, which is found in the air. Other ways that jewelry gets tarnished is by wool, some foods, felt. Activities that make jewelry tarnished are working out, cleaning with jewelry on, and getting in the pool or hot tube with it on.