How do you clean your tarnished bracelets?

[nancewbl]

xx

[Janetlee]

Be careful with the TarnX it will etch your silver!!!

[Sherry]

I typically just toss them into the tumbler, but then I don't know if all of your bracelet components are tumbler friendly.

Works for me, though, for just lampwork and silver.

[Elizabeth Beads]

Please say more about what "tumbler friendly" means - I am thinking I need a tumbler.

[Sherry]

Hmmm. To be honest, I'm not totally sure, because I don't use anything but silver and lampwork when I (rarely) make jewelry.

I'm sure that I've read about pearls being a problem....but hopefully someone else will step in here with more details.

[Sue in Maine]

I use STAINLESS STEEL shot as it doesn't rust as quickly as regular steel shot will. (I would not use any kind of grits for polishing but I think that's a given, right?)

I think I've read/heard you want to be careful with some of the silver glasses or fumed?

I used dish detergent, water and set the Harbor Freight dual tumbler on a towel in the bathtub and let'er go. (It's a small house... and I've read that some HF tumblers leak. Mine never has but just in case, I set mine in the tub on a towel. The towel is to protect the re-finished porcelain glaze I've had the tub redone in. So what if it leaks. It's in the tub with a drain! lol... but it's never leaked so I protect the tub finish! Definitely a Virgo, aren't I?

Sue

[laurel991]

Originally Posted by nancewbl

Since I use crystals, pearls and silver glasses....maybe a tumbler isnt the best option for me. Any other secrets or clever ideas?

Thanks,

Nancy

I tumble crystals and pearls in my tumbler all the time. I use a Lortone 3A with mixed stainless steel shot, a bit of water and a squirt of Dawn. I don't know about the silvered glasses. The softer gemstones like turquoise are not tumbler friendly. Neither is hematite... I've had it rust.

Hope this helps.

And yes, I've had Tarnex etch silver stuff and turn it an odd yellowy kind of color.

Laurie

[oftenred]

Not sure if it will work for you, but I use a ultrasonic cleaner and it works great for brightening up jewelery. The one I have is from Harbor Freight, I think it was about $39. It also works great for cleaning bead release out of newly made beads!!!

[Elizabeth Beads]

I was mostly planning to use it for tarnished silver, so I should be good. But another question - does it etch the beads? I know sometimes you want to etch your beads but most of the time I don't.

[Sue in Maine]

I have not noticed a problem with my swarovski crystals being tumbled, although I do remember someone saying the AB finish may not take tumbling for a long time.

Sue

[cakelady]

I heard this on DIY.To clean silver mix Baking soda and a little water put in an tin, throw away, pie pan and let soak. This will work on silver. I clean my copper with Ketcup. Yeah ketcup! I have tried both and it works great. Good luck hope it works for you.

[jamie lynne]

i just thought i'd throw my 2 cents in... i put a set of beads into my tumbler cause i was feeling lazy and didn't feel like cleaning the holes, they all looks ok when i took them out and they were wet, but #1 it didn't clean my holes (dang it), and once i got them dried off i noticed scratches from my shot, they were small, slight and barely noticable, but there none the less! ekkkkkkk! i wouldn't recommend tumbling glass. that being said, i also thru in some silver that was tarnished and it cleaned right up after about 30 minutes with just a drop of dish soap my shot and some water.

[katinn]

I have found it hard to clean badly tarnished jewelry that I have made. If it's not badly tarnished I can usually get bracelets clean with mild dish washing liquid soap and dry completely. What works better for me is to as soon as I have made a "new" bracelet I store them in a little ziplock baggy and keep them stored in a dark place like a closet. I have taken bracelet out after months and no tarnish...hope that helps....Kathy

[teachertracey]

Plain old regular white toothpaste sometimes works. Gotta use a little elbow grease, but it's harmless.

[Vitesse6]

If you make a paste with baking soda and water & lightly scrub with soft (or old) tooth brush. Just get the brush wet, dip it in the baking soda and your ready to go. You can even use a damp paper towel with the baking soda. The bonus it that it rinses clean with water unlike the tooth paste which can really gum up filigree work. Just rinse it really well with water so white powder isn't dusting your black displays

[precious baubles]

May I chime in here and ask how to clean tarnished SS jewelry with pearls? does anybody use SS wire and peals ie: knitted or crochet?
I have just a ton of ss wire dead soft that I want to crochet with and I would like to incorporate pearls - but I am not sure what to tell the buyers - how to keep and maintain them...
thanks
Paulette

[lunamoonshadow]

If you store your stuff in airtight zippybags (the food grade kind--not from the grocery store--but the kind you buy @ a good craft shop, or @ a package supplier) when it's not in use/on display it won't tarnish NEARLY as fast.
There's also special cloth you can buy ($$$) to put in your jewelry box that prevents tarnishing & paper anti-tarnish strips (less $$) to add to storage containers. Really it's about keeping moisture/air OUT of wherever the stuff is stored!

That said--aside from stones/pearls, I *do* love & use tarn-X brand liquid on about everything sterling, swarovski beads & 95% of the lampwork stuff I make--I put the stuff I want to clean in a container, add tarn-x, shake/swirl, & remove QUICKLY--then it goes RIGHT INTO HOT CLEAN WATER...then to a SECOND rinse of warm water & onto a towel to dry....that method seems to keep the silver & other stuff from discoloring, & the excess tarn-x gets poured back in the bottle. If I need to I dip with pliers, or something (I've got pieces with pearls where I've only dipped "just the clasp" & they're fine after 5 years of multiple quick-dips before shows--silver shows no etching, it's never in there long enough to even remove the "blackening" in the bali-stlye background--just shines up the front parts perfectly--only the clasp gets dipped in a little cup of dip, then right in two rinses of hot water & dried off...perfect!)

~luna

[LisaF-R]

Luna,

That's exactly what I do. I've made a number of bracelets using only SS beads and have not put them away after a show (long story) only to have them black by the next show. Quick dip in and out of TarnX and then hot water rinse under running water. Dry thoroughly.
I've also heard of using the little packets of silica gel that come in practically everything you buy. Put it in the baggie with your silver and it will absorb the moisture that causes tarnishing. I haven't tried that yet.

Lisa

[Janetlee]

You can use sand too clean silver. I keep a large coffee can at my work table to clean it. Just run it thru the sand. It works.If its badly tarnish you may have to do it several times. Try a scrape piece of silver first.
Just a old time silversmith trick.

[framerak]

I just put a dab of toothpaste in my palm with a few drops of water and swirl the jewelry around in it, or use a soft toothbrush to rub the jewelry. I use the same brush when I rinse it to get the toothpste out of the crevices and filagreed parts.

[CreativeSpirit]

I use to tumble my bracelets, but they just never came out as clean as I wanted them to be, so I bought some tarnex after reading a post here and I clean EVERYTHING!!!!! in it! the only thing I wouldn't put in it would be AB crystals or real pearls. I have cleaned bracelets several times and have not had any issues so far.

Peace Wendy

[honey*bee]

Originally Posted by teachertracey

Plain old regular white toothpaste sometimes works. Gotta use a little elbow grease, but it's harmless.

Yep, toothpaste! I have always used it for my silver and diamonds, it really make em' sparkle!

[cadia]

Tumbling etched beads will un~etch them, someone said.
Also I recently heard of storing silver with camphor ( following safety precautions) to prevent tarnishing, if I can find the link again I will post it here.
Artbeads.com has the anti tarnish strips
Just coming back from polishing earrings I finally resorted to using my Wrights silver cream after trying a few other things, it comes with a very soft sponge, I got the sponge sudzy with a little a water and gave them a sponge bath a quick rinse and dried them ~ they really sparkled with hardly any effort, I got the Wrights at the grocery store and use it for all my silver