You can always clean your silver jewelry with mild dishwashing soap and warm water solution, lemon, and hot water salt bath, or a microfibre polishing cloth. Alternatively, you can hire a professional to clean your pieces.
Silver tarnishes because of a chemical reaction that is caused by other metals that are mixed with silver reacting to moisture and sulfur in the atmosphere.
Pure silver is naturally tarnish-resistant, but it is way too soft to be used in its pure form to make jewelry.
To make silver strong enough to make jewelry, it is mostly mixed with copper that causes it to become easily tarnished.
Silver tarnishes very fast in areas with high humidity and pollution. Some chemicals such as hairspray, deodorants, perfume, body lotion, and even bleach can speed up the tarnishing process.
Keep reading to learn how to clean your custom silver jewelry.
Ways of cleaning your custom silver jewelry
When cleaning custom jewelry, always be sensitive about the kind of jewelry you are cleaning. Silver is a soft, lustrous metal so gentle handling and cleaning are key.
Taking good care of them will prevent your silver pieces from tarnishing.
Use microfibre cloths to polish your silver jewelry to ensure you do not scratch your precious pieces and a soft bristle brush to clean gems to prevent scratching them.
Custom-made jewelry can be cleaned using simple tricks and household ingredients to remove tarnish and restore the shine on either rings, chains, or other custom silver jewelry.
1. Use a polishing cloth
Use a microfiber cloth to carefully polish your pieces while paying lots of attention to the joints since they harbor most of the tarnish. Carefully rinse, pat dry, and polish your pieces.
Invest in a good polishing cloth to help you stay on top of your jewelry hygiene. Preferably, use polishing cloths made out of microfiber.
Microfibre cloths help remove fingerprints, oils, scratches, dirt, tarnish, and dullness from your jewelry pieces. In cases where your silver pieces are finished with gems, a Selvyt cloth can go a long way in shining and buffing, leaving your gems with sparkle.
Remember, silver tends to oxidize with wear, so if you prefer your silver shiny, use a polishing cloth before and after each wear.
Polishing is an effective way to clean and maintain pieces that you wear daily such as those silver earrings you never take off.
These frequently worn pieces seriously need some occasional polish.
How to clean with a microfiber cloth
1. Carefully polish the points where the pieces are joined together since they are the centers that harbor dirt and bacteria.
2. Once all the tarnish is off your silver jewelry, give it a rinse in cold water and dry it to remove any residues.
3. Pat to dry with a microfibre towel, polish, buff, shine, and store in a dry place with a constant temperature.
2. Use warm water and mild dishwashing soap
A mix of water and mild dishwashing soap can do you the justice of getting the tarnish off your jewelry. Use a microfiber towel soaked in soapy water to clean and rinse off your jewelry in cold water.
Your kitchen pantry may have all you need to get your silver shining.
You will need this to deal with rarely worn pieces, pieces that sit in boxes or on trays growing dark from exposure, and lack of use.
Ensure you remain gentle while handling these delicate pieces.
Cleaning with warm water and mild dishwashing soap
1. Have some warm water in a bowl. Add a few drops of mild dishwashing liquid soap and mix thoroughly till bubbles form.
2. Soak your tarnished jewelry in the warm water solution for 5-10 minutes. This will help loosen the dirt and bacteria hence easy washing.
3. With your soft bristle brush, carefully clean the crevices of your pieces. Most preferably, use a toothbrush. This is because your silver jewelry can be easily damaged and scratched by any kind of hard bristles.
4. In another bowl with warm, clean water, thoroughly rinse your jewelry.
5. Rinse again in cold water to help maintain.
6. To dry your jewelry before storage, gently rub it with either a silver cloth or a microfiber towel. Never use paper towels as they can scratch the silver.
You can clean fine silver pieces with diamonds and other precious gems with this method. However, ensure you speak to a jeweler before cleaning high-end valuables.
3. Use a lemon and salt bath
Using hot water in a bowl, add a teaspoon of salt and squeeze lemonwater into the bowl. Gently clean your jewelry after soaking them for at most 5 minutes to loosen the tarnish.
A lemon and salt bath is highly effective in cleaning silver bracelets. Ensure you use a soft silver cloth when cleaning to help make it easier to remove the tarnish.
The white silver cleaning cloth can help lift the tarnish than using a regular cloth, which you need to put too much effort into without getting the perfect results.
How to clean with hot water, lemon, and salt
1. In a bowl with hot water, add a teaspoon of salt. Squeeze lemon into the mixture and thoroughly mix to achieve evenness.
2. Dip silver jewelry into the mixture and let it sit for five minutes at most, then gently clean it using a microfibre towel, polishing gently.
3. Gently pat with a dry microfiber towel to polish and shine because different finishes will always require different polishing methods.
Four factors to consider when cleaning custom silver jewelry
Silver jewelry is very delicate, in this section, we cover some essential aspects to keep in mind when cleaning and also when storing it.
1. Know the type of jewelry you are cleaning
Some cleaning materials and reagents may scratch and wear your jewelry. For instance, Colgate is an abrasive hence it can damage your silver jewelry.
To ensure longevity, know your jewelry material before settling on a cleaning method.
2. Never store dirty jewelry
Remove any kind of tarnish from jewelry that will be in storage formore than a week. Storing dirty jewelry for an extended period can cause it to have excessive and premature tarnishing.
3. When cleaning, do not mix your jewelry
Clean tarnished jewelry separately from untarnished jewelry. This will help to prevent the transfer of dirt and bacteria.
4. Know when to call a professional
Do not go the DIY way if the gems used on your silver custom jewelry are not red, white, or blue. Many gemstones have fickle properties that require specific care.
Additionally, some pieces may be too costly to be damaged by ignorance or even making assumptions.
5. How to prevent silver custom jewelry from tarnishing
Regularly clean your silver jewelry and store them in a dry place to prevent tarnishing. Your sweat and body oils can dim the shine of your silver jewelry. Warm soapy water and a soft-bristle brush or microfiber cloth can get your jewelry shine.
The best storage you can get your silver jewelry pieces is a jewelry box lined with felt. Felt helps absorb excess moisture and prevent premature tarnishing. Moisture is the main factor that speeds up the tarnishing process.
In the case of large silver jewelry pieces, it is best to store them separately inside a felt pouch or, better still, wrap them in a silver polishing cloth to limit exposure to the air and moisture.
Store different types of jewelry separately and ensure the silver pieces do not touch each other in the jewelry box.
In cases where you keep your jewelry out in the open, ensure you lower the relative humidity to prevent easy and fast tarnishing. Keep a constant temperature in your jewelry storage room.
If you have silver pieces with pearls, ensure you keep them inside a wooden box lined with felt. Never store such pieces in a plastic bag or box because when pearls come into contact with pearls, they deteriorate.
If you are sick and tired of your custom jewelry tarnishing, opt for jewelry pieces that are rhodium plated. Rhodium is a metal that nevertarnishes. It only stains once the rhodium plate wears off, and this may take a long while, depending on how well you take care of your jewelry.
Conclusion
You can clean silver custom jewelry using mild dishwashing soap and warm water, or polishing with a microfiber cloth. You can also dip your jewelry in hot water with lemon, then pat dry with a microfiber cloth. If your silver jewelry has gems that are neither red, white or blue, it’s safer to hire a professional.
Whenever you doubt how to take care of your jewelry, just keep your jewelry clean and dry. Moisture and humidity are the lead causes of tarnishing silver jewelry pieces.
Be sure to keep an inventory of your jewelry. Always separate your jewelry. You should always keep fine jewelry from custom jewelry and silver jewelry. This separation will help prevent the metals from tarnishing after interacting with each other.
Some homemade DIY solutions may do more harm to your jewelry than good. For instance, toothpaste is abrasive, but still, people believe it is a good silver jewelry cleaner. In reality, it causes more damage to your pieces.
Do not just use any kind of cleaning method on your jewelry pieces. Have extensive knowledge before you settle on a particular method.
If you’re looking for high-quality custom silver jewelry, be sure to
check out our custom jewelers for the best prices.