How to clean gilded silver?

Gilded silver looks very beautiful - whether it’s chic jewelry, spoons or home decoration. However, over time, such products darken, a plaque develops on them, which greatly spoils their appearance. To avoid this, you need to properly care for the products. After reading this article, you will learn how to clean the gilded silver so that it starts to shine again, as on the first day after purchase.

In order not to often have to clean cutlery and jewelry, you need to understand the reason for the darkening on them. The reasons are usually as follows:

• contact with rubber, onions, egg whites, salt, household gas;
• negative effects of cosmetics;
• stay in a room with high humidity;
• contact with sweat (you need to remove jewelry during physical exertion so that the metal does not begin to oxidize);
• contact with medicines, chemicals (gloves are recommended for household chores).

When cleaning gilding, you need to remember certain rules:

• abrasive compounds are not suitable for refining precious metals. Because of them, scratches may appear on the surface;
• before cleaning, dip a soft rag in alcohol and wipe the product with it;
• you can wipe the gilding only with a cotton swab. Suede is also suitable for this.

If you are going to carefully clean the jewelry, you should first remove minor contaminants. It can be:

• spots;
• fat;
• dust.

Moisten the sponge in turpentine or ethyl alcohol and apply the product on the product. After that, it will be possible to begin a more thorough cleaning.

Mix in a container 1 tbsp ammonia and 1 tbsp water. Put the product there and leave for 20 minutes. Some combine ammonia with chalk and apply this mixture to gilding. It is necessary to wait for the paste to dry. Then remove the chalk with running water and wipe the product thoroughly using a soft cloth.

To clean a spoon from silver, you can use a solution of soap and ammonia. Prepare 6 drops of ammonia, 1 tsp of soap (you can use liquid or grate solid), 1 l of warm water. Put the gilt silver item in this solution, leave it there for 30 minutes. Then take it, rinse with water and dry thoroughly. Do not keep the product in solution for too long, otherwise its surface may deteriorate.

To get rid of darkening on silver, another option is also suitable. Take 15 drops of ammonia, mix them with toothpaste. Using a toothbrush, apply the resulting product on silver. Clean it gently, then rinse in clean water and dry. Since ammonia smells unpleasant, it is better to clean it on the balcony or on the street.

This cleaning method is the simplest:

• pre-soak a silver product in soap and water. Then put in 1 liter of water (it should be hot) 50 g of soda. Put silver in the container, wait for the solution to cool. Then the product will need to be removed and dried using a soft cloth;
• you can put baking soda (15 g) in water, put silver in it and wait a few hours. Then the decoration will need to be washed and thoroughly dried;
• if the silver surface has darkened, mix the soda with a few drops of water. You will get gruel, which should be applied to the product.

Use this tool with caution. Peroxide is suitable for silver, but before cleaning, you need to make sure that there are no unexpected results (in the form of reactions). It all depends on the composition of the product.

Beat the egg yolk thoroughly, add the javelin water (1 tbsp) to it, mix them. Dip the sponge in the resulting mixture and wipe the product. Clean it using suede or wool. Thanks to this method, silver will begin to shine again.

Put silver in beer, wait 30 minutes. Then rinse the product, dry it and rub with suede to make it sparkle.

Dilute vinegar (2 tbsp) in 1 liter of water. Put the jewelry there and wait 15 minutes, then dry the product thoroughly. Then rub it with wool or suede to shine.

This product is safe for gilded silver items. It effectively helps to cope with spots and darkening. Dip a cotton swab in wine alcohol, wipe the surface with it, then rub it with suede to make it sparkle.

At present, there are a variety of means by which you can clean jewelry made of silver from black at home. This can be done quickly and easily. Put the product in a cleaning agent, wait a few minutes and you're done. The silver surface with gilding will shine again.

You need to take care of gilded silver items regularly - only in this case they will always look beautiful. Remember that you need to store jewelry in special cases with soft upholstery. When removing the jewelry, immediately wipe it using a flannel material, otherwise spots may appear on the surface due to sweat.

Visual methods for cleaning silver and gold at home, see the video below.