How to clean silver jewelry

When new, jewelry is like a white paper: not a single scratch. Later, the atmosphere gives it a patina and the world imprints its marks.

From time to time I like to clean my jewelry but I almost never do it at the workshop. I prefer to give it a home treatment and for that I need:

metal polishing paste, the one you can buy at the supermarket.
a soft tooth brush
hot water
soap, the soap to wash dishes is perfect because it takes grease away.
a towel or soft napkin
a soft cloth, like the special cloths made to polish metals

In one corner of my cloth I put some polishing paste and begin cleaning the jewelry. If there is a textured surface or difficult to reach corners I use a tooth brush with a little polishing paste.

With other corner of the cloth I remove the polishing paste and now I can see how the jewelry begins to shine.

Then I put it in a bowl with hot water and soap. I give it a minute and with a clean tooth brush I go over the surface and the details which still have some polishing paste.

Before rinsing, something really important, be careful, pay attention: COVER THE SIPHON.
Jewelry loves to travel down the drains, and that is very very sad.

Next, I dry the jewelry very well with a soft towel and give it a last polish with a dry, clean corner of my special cloth.

An important suggestion: don't pass jewelry with stones or glass from very hot water to cold water. It shouldn't normally happen, but in case the stone or glass has a hidden fracture the temperature shock could crack it.

This cleaning treatment can be used to clean gold jewelry as well.

Sometimes the home treatment is not enough because some jewelry has very difficult places to reach with a brush. Then the best option is to take it to a jewelry shop and ask for an ultrasonic cleaning.

It is unavoidable for silver jewelry to tarnish; it is in the nature of the metal and it can be beautiful. Keeping jewelry stored in a closed, dry place can help slow down the oxidation process.