Another popular belief: cold metal is an indicator of human health, and as soon as the owner becomes ill physically or spiritually, it darkens. This is only partly true. Silver jewelry does not have any magical properties. But illness or stress provoke changes in hormonal levels, sweating may increase, and body temperature may rise. The composition of secretions also changes, the amount of salt in sweat and hydrogen sulfide increases. And this directly affects the speed of the chemical reaction, and plaque forms much faster.
In addition, other factors influence the reaction: playing sports, as they provoke increased sweating and body temperature. Stress, which also affects the secretion of the skin glands and, as a result, increased sweat production. High ambient temperatures (for example, during the hot season, staying in a bathhouse or sauna) accelerate oxidation.
Chemicals, including household chemicals, also negatively affect jewelry. Sea water contains almost the entire periodic table, and, of course, affects metals. The process is also enhanced by air humidity.
- Cleaning
How to clean sofa upholstery at home
How to clean silver: popular methods
You want to wear your favorite jewelry 24 hours a day and not take it off, but silver items begin to darken over time. This can occur under the influence of soap, skin care products, or simply high humidity. Cleaning silver jewelry at home will save your favorite rings and bracelets and return them to their original appearance.
The procedure does not take much time, and the number of options is extensive. Liquid for cleaning silver can be bought in a store, or prepared from improvised means. Some of them are already in your home, while others will have to run to the store. Professional cleaning products cost money, but at the same time they guarantee almost 100% results. After this, you just need to take care of the jewelry, preventing history from repeating itself.
To remove blackness from 925 silver, you don’t have to go to a jewelry store; you can use soda, ammonia, peroxide, vinegar and similar products. Citric acid, toothpaste and even Coca-Cola will help clean a silver chain, bracelet, ring or cross!
Cleaning with foil and baking soda
You can clean silver using baking soda and foil in a few minutes. This recipe is considered one of the fastest and most effective. First of all, you need to boil water, add soda to it (50 g/1 liter of water). After boiling, pour the solution over the darkened decoration. Due to the chemical reaction of silver sulfide with soda and aluminum, the blackness will disappear in a couple of minutes. After this, all you have to do is wipe the jewelry dry. This is the most effective silver cleaner. It is important to remember that you should never use dry soda, it will only ruin the metal.
Ammonia
Another way to restore your jewelry to its former shine is to wash the silver with a solution of ammonia and water. Ammonia is considered an excellent solvent; it will help to better clean silver from plaque or dirt without damaging the product itself.
Pour water into a small container, add ammonia in a ratio of 1 to 10, put in the decorations and leave them for 30 minutes. If after half an hour it was not possible to return the shine to silver, you need to keep it longer in the solution. After the procedure, all that remains is to wipe the rings, chains or bracelet dry. Cleaning silver with ammonia at home is very simple and quick.
Hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide also cleans silver well, but its use can lead to unexpected results. The fact is that the substance can both oxidize and reduce compounds. In one case, when using peroxide, you will get a brightened product, in another - jewelry with plaque or stains. It all depends on the amount of impurities in the silver product. You can clean silver from blackness using peroxide with the addition of ammonia, but even in this case you need to act with extreme caution. It would be best to test the product on a small area of the product; if it becomes lighter, the procedure can be continued.
Vinegar
If you soak tarnished silver items in vinegar, you are unlikely to achieve a good result. 6% vinegar should be preheated, but you are unlikely to like the smell. If you decide to wash old silver that has turned black, yellowed or oxidized using this folk method, bring the liquid to a temperature of 50 degrees. You can whiten silverware in 15-20 minutes. After the procedure, all items should be thoroughly rinsed and wiped with a dry cloth.
Lemon acid
Citric acid will help to effectively clean silver. It is diluted with water in a ratio of 100g/0.5l of water. You need to boil the jewelry in this solution for half an hour, and then rinse it thoroughly with water.
Toothpaste
Someone manages to clean silver with tooth powder. This is not the worst way, but it is very time-consuming. You will have to lighten the jewelry manually, armed with a brush. Toothpaste for cleaning silver is suitable if there are no more effective products at hand. The advantage of this method is that it allows you to very quickly remove dirt and plaque from small items.
Coca Cola
Cleaning silver with Coca-Cola is one of the most exotic and radical methods. The drink is considered a good solvent and absorbent. You need to boil the cola and boil the contaminated products in it for 5-7 minutes. You can simply throw the jewelry into a glass of cold cola and leave it for a few hours, this method should also work. After this, the silver must be washed with water and wiped.
Paste GOI
You can clean silver with GOI paste, but remember that this is a very troublesome and dangerous method. This is a special product for polishing silver jewelry; it can be purchased in specialized stores. GOI paste is applied to a piece of cloth moistened with gasoline (this is done so as not to scratch the surface of the product). Silver is processed very carefully and patiently. It takes a lot of time, but the result is worth the effort.
Why does silver on the body turn black, what does this mean?
Most often, silver has a light shade. Thanks to this feature of the metal, the color was isolated. It began to be mentioned separately from jewelry. Today there is a silver color for objects, coatings, etc. In order for the metal to always have its original external characteristics, it is necessary to ensure that the jewelry is cared for. The exception is blackened silver. The darkening is removed from all other products. To prevent it from returning, the cause of this phenomenon is also eliminated:
- composition: silver is an alloy containing a significant proportion of valuable metal, as well as several additional components; it is an alloy that improves the properties of the original material, but upon contact with other substances (for example, in human sweat), they change properties, a chemical reaction occurs, as a result of which silver sulfide is formed, the chain with a cross turns black, but these changes are reversible;
- chemistry: darkening on silver items can also be the result of exposure to substances contained in detergents and cosmetics; for this reason, it is better not to wear silver jewelry when you plan to take a shower, bath, wash dishes, or apply cream to the body, hands, in addition , metal oxidation occurs even under the influence of sea air;
- folk interpretation and esotericism: previously, ancestors believed that a change in the color of silver from light to black is a consequence of fatigue, this is how a decrease in energy is manifested, in addition, there is also the opinion of esotericists who believe that a silver cross provides protection to the owner if it turns black, This means that a person was negatively impacted using magic (damaged).
How to clean silver with stones
You can clean silver rings with stones in a jewelry store or at home. You should focus on the density of the stones. Aquamarine, emerald and sapphire can be cleaned with washing powder; laundry soap will help remove grease and dirt from malachite, moonstone, opal and turquoise. Silver earrings with ruby or garnet stones should not be immersed in hot water. It is important to clean jewelry with inserts very carefully and carefully: do not damage the insert itself or loosen the fastenings. Products containing amber, coral or pearls should be washed with lukewarm water and soap. Aggressive cleaning agents can destroy the structure of the stone.
Relevance of the problem
Silver can be found in almost every home, especially in families where they care about healthy eating, and, therefore, purchase silverware: full-fledged sets or individual cutlery.
Quite quickly after purchase and use, silver items begin to tarnish, turn black and even acquire a greenish tint.
The latter can be noticed even with the most careful handling of these products. The intensity of their use after purchase does not in any way affect their attractive appearance.
Thus, the frequency of use does not affect the degree of blackness of the product surface. The main determining factor in this matter is the metal alloy.
How to clean rhodium plated silver
Rhodium is a noble platinum group metal that is sometimes used to coat silver jewelry, giving it shine and durability. You can clean rhodium-plated silver at home with special liquids for cleaning jewelry, napkins or a velvet rag soaked in warm water. A bath of soapy water helps remove stains from rhodium-plated silver; the jewelry is immersed in water for a few minutes. Some people prefer to wipe such products with cotton swabs soaked in glycerin. If all of the above methods do not help, it is better to take the jewelry to a jewelry workshop. Specialists will restore the rhodium-plated coating using the galvanic method.
Prohibited tricks
Regardless of the composition or coating methods of silver crosses, cleaning methods that involve deep penetration should be avoided. These include:
- caustic chemical compounds;
- hard bristle brushes;
- or abrasive powders.
Even the smallest scratch on a glossy surface will be an insurmountable obstacle the next time you clean it. As a result, such damage can only be repaired in a workshop with professional equipment.
Cleaning blackened silver at home
Blackened silver is rarely found in jewelry stores, but it is plentiful at flea markets and in grandma's chests. A touch of antiquity will give the product nobility, but a touch of dirt and dust - not so much. You can clean black silver with soda and salt and a cleaning agent, a regular school eraser, or ammonia with crushed chalk. There is no guarantee that the product will regain its original shine, but it will look much fresher and cleaner.
Baking soda and aluminum foil
Boil the same half-liter saucepan with 2 tablespoons of soda. Place a strip of food foil in the pan - you can even tear it off the chocolate packaging. Then lower the silver and leave the miracle mixture for 15-20 minutes.
As with copper, the reaction of silver with aluminum is important here, which helps remove any blackness. At the same time, you will forget about cloudiness and layers. The shine will be as good as new! It’s not for nothing that this recipe is the most effective. But it is better to avoid dry soda for cleaning - it is too aggressive an abrasive for soft and delicate silver.
Photo: domstrousam.ru
Jeweler's tips for cleaning silver
You can properly clean tarnished silver at home without difficulty if the jewelry is not inlaid with stones or other inserts. An incorrectly selected cleaning agent can destroy the structure of the stone and damage the fastenings. You can rub the silver so that it shines like new with a velvet cloth or special napkins, usually sold in jewelry workshops. There, the master will help restore the appearance of silver jewelry, if this cannot be done on your own. With the help of special equipment and clean products, this will take no more than an hour. Polishing silver items is not difficult, but it will be pointless if you do not take care of the jewelry in the future.
Why does silver jewelry darken?
All my jewelry is made from silver, which tarnishes over time. On the website of the Jewelers Guild they write that this is due to sulfur, which is contained in the air and is also part of sweat. It reacts with silver and causes it to darken. Affects the color of jewelry and humidity. I allow myself to wash my hands in rings, swim in the sea with them - and this affects their appearance.
Photo before cleaning: Since I took this photo while the sun was shining, it seems like the jewelry looks neat.
But that's not true. To keep your jewelry looking neat, it needs to be cleaned. This doesn’t have to be done in a jewelry store; you can do it at home. A simple search in a search engine, YouTube and TikTok gave me a lot of ways to do this. I chose the three most popular ones and tried them out on my rings and earrings.
How to care for silver
Silver is loved for its nobility at an affordable price. Products made from this metal can serve their owner for many years, but caring for silver jewelry requires care and patience. Silver is most often subject to deformation due to its softness; it becomes covered with scratches, can bend and turn black. To prevent silver from tarnishing, it should be cleaned regularly. You can do this on your own and with improvised means that are present in every person’s household, or you can take it to a master. The latter option costs money, but you will receive the jewelry back intact, like new.
Source
How to save the result
To do this, follow the recommendations for caring for silver:
- Store the cross only in a box and in a room without high humidity.
- Do not place products containing sulfur nearby.
- Use only proven cleaning methods.
- Be sure to remove the silver cross before intense physical activity.
- Do not allow the cross to interact with cosmetics.
- After the product gets wet, be sure to rinse it with clean water and dry with a napkin.
Taking good care of your silver cross will allow you to preserve its purity, shine and beauty for a long time.
How to clean a silver cross: effective methods
Only a person far from the Christian religion can consider a pectoral cross to be an ordinary decoration. This is a symbol of faith, dear to every truly Christian soul. The cross is worn constantly, without taking it off even to sleep and while taking water procedures.
Although this is a symbol, it has a completely material embodiment. And, like any decoration, the cross needs care. Even more than any other, because they wear it all the time. The symbol of faith, more than other jewelry, is exposed to aggressive environments, including human sweat.
Types and causes of contamination of the cross
Damage, evil eye, loss of strength, curse... All this is attributed to a darkened silver cross. I won't argue. Let everyone believe what they want. I'll come from the other side. A silver cross can oxidize under the influence of sulfur, its derivatives and chlorine.
Over time, a patina appears on the cross - a coating that gradually darkens, turning into black. Sulfur compounds are released into the air from the combustion of gasoline and coal. Chlorine is often added to water to disinfect it. That, in fact, is all the curses are.
Preparing the product for cleaning
Fortunately, you can clean a silver cross on your own, using quite affordable means that are likely to be found in the arsenal of every self-respecting housewife.
First, you should first prepare the product for cleaning:
- Remove the cross from the chain. If the cross hangs on a chain, you should remove it, but manipulations are allowed with both elements of the decoration. The gaitan cord, of course, will not withstand such treatment, so it must be processed separately.
- Soak the decoration in soapy water. We prepare a soap solution based on laundry soap, shower gel, dishwashing liquid, and so on. You can select the proportions yourself, because you can’t really harm the silver with such means, but the solution should really lather well.
- We wash off the main contaminants. After the cross and chain have thoroughly soaked (after 20-40 minutes), you can treat them with a sponge or a very delicate toothbrush, removing the main contaminants.
- Rinse under running water. Wash the decoration elements simply under the tap. But if you are afraid of losing them down the drain, you can fill any container with cool water and use it to wash off the remaining dirt and soap solution from the cross.
- We carefully dry the decoration. Dry silver items carefully, naturally, carefully removing water with a soft cloth or flannel cloth. No high temperatures or blowing with a hairdryer!
If the contamination is very large, you can resort to professional cleaning. Jewelry workshops have special devices for ultrasonic cleaning of jewelry.
Category: question-answer
How to clean a cross with a stone?
Expert opinion
Pribrezhny Gennady Valentinovich
Jeweler 6th category
The most suitable and safe option is to have the product professionally cleaned. At the same time, there will be a guarantee of the correct selection of the product and removal of blackness without consequences. It is prohibited to use dry powders and other abrasive substances or objects. Among all available methods, the most suitable is the use of ammonia. It is used in pure form or an aqueous solution is prepared (1:1).
How to cleanse a cross from negative energy?
Expert opinion
Querbo Margarita
Esotericist, tarot reader, astrologer
If there are suspicions that the cross has absorbed negative energy after certain events or the old jewelry has a new owner, you can cleanse the product of black energy. To do this, use simple methods:
- solar energy: the cross is left in the sun, after a few hours it can be worn;
- salt water: the decoration is lowered into a container with liquid, sea salt is poured on top, the negative is not removed as quickly as in the previous case, it will take 3 days.
Why does the cross turn black, according to the church?
Expert opinion
Father Dmitry
Clergyman
The clergy do not recommend attributing the blackening of silver to damage or the evil eye. Such assumptions are from the evil one. In addition, it is not necessary to wear only items made of precious metals; both iron and wooden crosses are allowed. But they should have the inscription “Save and Preserve.” You should purchase a religious attribute in a church store, since a cross purchased in a store must be additionally consecrated.
Blackened silver cross
How to clean a silver cross at home
There are a lot of simple ways to clean a silver cross from blackness without resorting to professional means like special sprays for jewelry. You don’t even have to use a brush and GOI paste: everything you need can be found in your medicine cabinet or kitchen.
The simplest thing is to clean a silver chain and cross without inserts: you can use any means suitable for cleaning silver. However, it must be borne in mind that some stones and organics (including pearls and amber) are not very hard and resistant to abrasives, high temperatures and aggressive chemicals.
You should not try to clean a silver cross at home if it has any kind of coating: rhodium plating, blackening or gilding. Careless actions can damage the decorative coating. Naturally, after this the cross will not cease to be a symbol of faith and its spiritual content will remain unchanged, but external aesthetics may suffer greatly.
There is a popular belief: if a silver cross turns black, it means that its owner has been damaged. But here the point is pure physiology: the sweat of a not entirely healthy person contains more sulfur compounds, therefore, has a more pronounced effect on the silver in contact with the body.
Vinegar
As cheaply and safely as possible, you can clean a silver cross from blackness (naturally, not decorative blackening, but a dark layer of silver sulfide) using ordinary table vinegar. You should not use all kinds of exotic varieties of vinegar (apple, balsamic and others like them) for this purpose. If you have vinegar essence at your disposal, it must be diluted to a concentration of about 8-10%, otherwise the environment will be very aggressive.
Rules for wearing, caring for and storing silver items
In order not to resort to dubious and dangerous methods of restoring silver, it is recommended to be careful when wearing and storing it. In this case, the risk of metal blackening is significantly reduced.
We recommend adhering to the following rules:
- do not store silver, gold or other metals in the same box;
- remove jewelry before visiting water procedures (sauna, steam bath, swimming in the sea);
- before sports activities, put jewelry in a locker or bag and wear it only when showering;
- apply cosmetics and perfume to your skin before taking jewelry;
- Avoid wearing silver while cleaning around the house.
Storage rules
The pectoral cross is intended for constant wear. But if for some reason you do not wear a symbol of faith all the time, it is better to store it in a separate box or a personal compartment of a common jewelry box.
Try to avoid significant changes in temperature, protect the symbol of faith from dampness, direct sunlight, and mechanical impact. Keep the box away from heat sources (for example, radiators).
A pectoral cross is not a simple decoration: it should be treated with due respect, not forgetting the need for regular care.
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Useful tips
When choosing means to effectively clean the surface of silver amulets, it is necessary to take into account the structure and composition of the source material. When it comes to matte surfaces, then special care should be taken when taking preventive actions. After all, the external resistance of the rough layer increases significantly.
In addition, in some cases, crucifixes on crosses are distinguished by filigree precision, conveying in detail the 3D structure of the frescoes. It is important to consider here that the effects on the outer surface of the image should not be linear.
Recommendations
Hydrogen peroxide fumes are harmful to the respiratory system, so it is advisable to clean them in a well-ventilated area or in the air, for example, on a balcony. The same applies to ammonia, which has an extremely pungent and unpleasant odor.
To prepare solutions, you must use a glass or plastic rod, and never use your bare hands. It is better to manipulate the product in solution with tweezers.
After the described cleaning procedure, the jewelry will again acquire its shine and its inherent matte shine. And with a gentle wear regime, which implies minimal contact of silver with cosmetics, household chemicals, hot water, etc., the next cleaning will not be needed soon.
Advantages and disadvantages
Due to the fact that peroxide does an excellent job of cleaning silver items from plaque and dirt, even jewelers use this product. After washing, the light shade, shine and brightness return.
Pros:
- high efficiency;
- ease of use;
- safety at work;
- low cost of the product.
Minuses:
- requires accuracy;
- can ruin an item with a low standard;
- with frequent use of the product, the silver will darken even more;
- If jewelry or cutlery is damaged, the quality of the metal cannot be restored.
Before using any product, to avoid negative consequences, you should test it in an inconspicuous area. For example, on the inside of a ring or a lock on a chain.
