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Tips for cleaning tarnished sterling silver jewelry

By Tina Wojtkielo Snyder

As more designers and manufacturers continue to turn to silver as an attractive precious metal option, the amount of silver jewelry in retailers’ cases is growing. And with that added silver inventory is the added issue of dealing with its inevitable tendency to tarnish over time.

Designer Peggy Li of Peggy Li Creations in San Francisco shares a quick and easy method for removing tarnish from sterling silver jewelry that anyone—from makers to retailers to consumers—can use to rid their silver of unwanted black. Simply grab a plastic or Tupperware dish large enough to hold the jewelry items you are cleaning and place a piece of aluminum foil inside to completely cover the bottom of the dish. Place the silver jewelry atop the foil and add two or three tablespoons of baking soda. (This amount is ideal for a quart-size container, you’ll need to up the amount of baking soda accordingly. Trial and error is best to determine proper amounts.) Heat some water to almost boiling and pour it over the jewelry just to cover it. The mixture will begin to bubble and foam as the chemical reaction binds the aluminum to the sulfur oxides. Swirl the jewelry around in the mixture for a few minutes, or let it soak for longer if the tarnish is significant. Rinse the pieces and they should look as good as new. For jewelry with heavier tarnish, you may need to repeat the process a few times to remove the blackening completely.

Li cautions that when performing this process on gem-set jewelry, keep the gems out of the water, as the heat could potentially cause damage.

Even tarnish-resistant silver alloys eventually tarnish. For those working with Argentium, Ronda Coryell of Jewelry Studios International in Austin, Texas, has found a fast way to remove tarnish from both high polish and blackened Argentium pieces that start to exhibit brownish or tan tones: She applies Windex to any tarnished spots, lets it sit for a few minutes, and then rubs it off with a cotton cloth. Now that’s something you didn’t see in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."