The jewelry and accessories we create for you at MADE WITH YOUR ART are sterling silver plated, and may tarnish over time. My preferred method for cleaning jewelry and restoring it to its shiny new state is a polishing cloth. We like to include, with each MADE WITH YOUR ART piece, a silver polishing cloth. You can use this polishing cloth to rub out any smudges. In the video below, I demonstrate how best to do this.
For any darker stains, the best way to remove them is to lay the cloth on a table and rub your piece against the cloth. You’ll need to hold down the cloth with your thumb and index finger and use the other hand to rub back and forth. The idea here is to create a bit of friction. The more friction you create, the cleaner your jewelry will become. You’ll notice that it will get hot in your hands. That’s a good sign. That means the stains are coming off.
Polishing cloths can be found at department stores as well as jewelry supply places, like beading stores. If you don’t have a polishing cloth, then you can also use baking soda and water. With this method, you will need to create a paste. You can do this by putting a couple of tablespoons of water in a bowl and adding to it enough baking soda to create the paste. Next, take a very soft toothbrush and gently rub the paste onto your jewelry. This works best for sterling silver and silver-plated pieces. I would not recommend it for gold as you risk scratching it. Nor would I recommend this for our MADE WITH YOUR ART pieces as you risk scratching the front surface of your custom piece.
There is an alternative method for cleaning silver that I found out about a few years ago at a gallery opening. The owner and I were admiring some silverware by the famed Danish silversmith, Georg Jensen. She told me that he used Crest toothpaste to keep the silver shiny and new. I couldn’t believe it! This was something that apparently George Jensen was known for. As soon as I got home, I looked it up online and sure enough the Crest toothpaste method wasn’t a fallacy! I decided to try it. What you need is plain old Crest toothpaste, not the gel kind, not the whitening kind, just the traditional light blue coloured Crest toothpaste. Take generous amounts of Crest and rub it all over your silverware. Leave it on overnight and the next morning the tarnishing stains will be gone. It worked! Was it enough of a miracle worker to replace my polishing cloths? No, but still… it’s good to know there are other options out there.