How to Clean Your Silver or Copper Jewelry

Solid Silver and Copper Jewelry without Stones: 

For everyday cleaning, gently rub the metal with a jewelry polishing cloth. This is the safest and easiest way to brighten your jewelry without using liquids or chemicals.

For more in-depth cleaning, please follow the directions below depending on the type of metal that needs cleaning:

For Silver:
1. Take a piece of aluminum foil and loosely crinkle it up and place it in a ceramic bowl.
2. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of baking powder over the surface of the foil.
3. Boil enough hot water to mostly cover the foil and pour it into the bowl.
4. Place your silver jewelry pieces into the bowl, making sure that each piece is laying on top of the foil.
5. Wait 5-10 minutes. You will see that the tarnish has moved from the jewelry to the surface of the foil.
6. Take out the jewelry, rinse, and dry.
7. For added brightness, you can finish the cleaning with a silver polishing cloth.

For Copper:
1. Add about a tablespoon of salt to a bowl and enough vinegar to make a wet paste.
2. Using a soft toothbrush, gently scrub the paste on the copper wire until the patina fades. You can allow the chain or pendant to sit in the solution for about 10-15 minutes to remove the tarnish.
3. Rinse well with water and dry thoroughly.
4. For extra shine, finish with a jewelry polishing cloth.

Jewelry with Stones: 

Pendants with Celestite, Moonstone, Aquamarine, & Garnet: Use a gentle jewelry polishing cloth only.

Pendants with Quartz, Herkimer Diamond, Amethyst, & Chalceldony: These stones can likely tolerate the aluminum foil/baking soda method of silver cleaning, but use only hot, but not boiling water, and soak only for 5 minutes. For copper pendants, you can soak them in the vinegar/salt solution for 5 minutes. However, it is still safer just to use a jewelry polishing cloth. 

Note about Electroformed Pendants: Using the vinegar/salt method is not recommended, as it will likely destroy the natural patina, which gives the pendant its unique character.