After gold, silver is among the most valuable materials and is used extensively in jewellery making, as it has, among its characteristics, that of being particularly ductile and reflective.
Silver jewellery has, since ancient times, aroused fascination and admiration: for this reason, many companies like to use it in the making of their jewellery.
However, anyone who owns at least one piece of silver jewellery will have noticed, probably not without some displeasure, that after some time these objects tend to blacken.
The process during which silver loses its lustre is called oxidation.
In general, to keep jewellery as shiny as it was when you bought it, you should store it in the right way and clean it carefully. But how to clean blackened silver?
There are many natural remedies that can help, let’s see them together.
How to clean blackened silver?
As mentioned above, silver jewellery can oxidise, i.e. blacken, over time.
There are many causes why this happens, such as contact with perfume, deodorant or prolonged exposure to the sun, but also sweating which, especially in summer, produces an acid ph.
But don’t worry: the famous ‘grandma’s remedies’ can do the trick, to make them shiny again, just like when we bought them!
There are many methods for cleaning silver jewellery, but in this case we will mainly review the easiest ones. In particular, we will see how to clean silver in a natural way, explaining step by step methods and procedures to make our jewellery shine again. And then we will also discover how Ellius helps its customers to keep the natural beauty of each product alive.
How to clean silver naturally
To clean silver naturally, we can use common products that we all keep in our homes. Let’s see what they are.
Cleaning silver jewellery with bicarbonate of soda
This is, without a doubt, the easiest method to use: just take water and bicarbonate of soda and you are done. The procedure is really very simple, explained below.
We heat 1 litre of water and dissolve 50 g of bicarbonate of soda in it. When the water becomes lukewarm – not hot, mind you – we put our jewellery in.
After a few minutes we rinse and wipe with a dry cloth.
Cleaning silver jewellery with potato water
It sounds bizarre, but potato water is one of the most popular methods for cleaning silver jewellery. Potatoes, in fact, release substances into the cooking water that reduce oxidation and rust.
Here’s how to do it: we take the potato cooking water (we can also add a tablespoon of vinegar) and immerse our jewellery in it. We wait a few minutes and then rinse with mild soap and water.
Cleaning silver jewellery with toothpaste
Toothpaste, which we all keep at home, can also be useful for polishing our silver jewellery.
Here’s how to do it: take a toothbrush with soft bristles, add toothpaste and scrub. Be sure to scrub gently so as not to leave scratches.
Cleaning silver jewellery with lemon juice
Removing silver oxidation with lemon juice is very easy.
Just squeeze lemon juice on our jewellery and wipe with a soft cloth. If we see a green colour on the cloth, we should not panic: it is the oxidation we are removing from our silver jewellery.
Afterwards, we must remember to rinse it with water and dry it well.
Cleaning silver jewellery with coarse salt and aluminium
Salt and aluminium can also be used to remove oxidation from silver jewellery.
There are two methods, let’s see both.
- We fill an aluminium container (oven safe is also fine) with warm water and a couple of teaspoons of salt. We stir well and immerse our jewellery.
- If we do not have the aluminium container, we can fill a cup with hot water, dissolve a couple of teaspoons of salt and stir well until the salt dissolves. Next, we cut strips of aluminium foil (the kind used for food) and insert them into the cup.
In both cases, we wait 5 minutes, rinse with water and dry well with a dry cloth.
Basically, these two solutions both use the chemical reaction that occurs between salt and aluminium.
When cleaning our silver jewellery, remember to use these methods only in the absence of precious stones.
If there are, however, we should visit our trusted jeweller to avoid compromising its integrity.
The Ellius jewellery tip
All Ellius jewellery is made of 925 silver and can blacken over time.
To preserve their brilliance for a long time, we recommend that you always store them carefully and only wear them after putting on your perfume (especially for bracelets and earrings).
However, if you notice some oxidation after some time, visit our sales outlets: our jewellers will be on hand to help you make your jewellery shiny again, as if you had just bought it.