A day doesn’t go by where I’m not wearing silver jewels (that probably doesn’t surprise you), but constant wear and exposure to the elements causes sterling silver to tarnish over time, and lose its beautiful shine and lustre. Tarnish is a darkening of the silver’s surface, caused by a reaction between the silver and sulphur molecules in the air, and while it doesn’t damage the silver, it makes it look a bit old and tired! Luckily, this tarnish is super easy (and satisfying) to clean off, revealing your silver jewellery’s sparkly surface once more and making it look as good as new!

You can buy ready-made silver polish in a bottle, however it’s usually quite expensive and filled with all manner of toxic nasties and noxious ingredients, harmful to both your skin and the environment. Instead, I suggest trying the method below, which is super cheap, non-toxic and is made from things you’ll probably have knocking about at home!

You’ll need:

Bowl

Bicarbonate of soda

Aluminium foil (old re-used foil is fine, and better for the planet too!)

Hot water

Soft cloth

Toothbrush (if you have pieces with ornate detailing)

Please note ~ this method isn’t really suitable for silver with glued-in stones, as the hot water can melt the glue holding stones in place and cause them to fall out. 

Line your bowl with the aluminium foil, making sure the shiny side is facing up. Then place your silver jewellery onto the foil (making sure the pieces don’t overlap), and sprinkle with a fine layer of bicarbonate of soda. Cover with boiling / very hot water – there should be a fizzing reaction in the bowl – and leave to soak for a few minutes or so, or until the water has cooled enough to remove the pieces. Then rinse them off with cold water and dry with a soft cloth, and use the cloth to buff the pieces until they’re shiny again! If you have any tricky ornate areas that are tarnished, you can make a paste with bicarbonate of soda and a little water, then use a toothbrush to brush it into the gaps. Rinse off and viola! 

This magic happens because the sulphur atoms which adhere to the silver and make it look dark and tarnished, are carried by the solution and then transferred to the aluminium foil, leaving your silver sparkling! 

Bicarbonate of soda is easy to find in zero-waste bulk shops (so you can buy as little as you like without any packaging), and the aluminium foil can be used multiple times and then recycled when you’re finished with it, making this a great zero waste cleaning method!