I put a popular homemade jewelry cleaner recipe that I found on PInterest to the test against my old trusty stand-by, Wright's Silver Cream. The homemade recipe called for heated water, baking soda, salt and aluminum foil. The chemical reaction smell gave me a headache all night.
1. Vase 1 is the 'before' image for the group. They all looked like this before the experiment began. Shameful, I know.
2. Vase 2 was left to soak the BOTTOM HALF ONLY in the Homemade Jewelry Cleaner (HJC) for 10 minutes.
3. Vase 3 was cleaned with Wright's Silver Cream 100% and didn't touch the HJC
4. Vase 4 was soaked completely in the HJC for 10 minutes and rinsed with clean water.
5. Vase 5 was soaked completely in the HJC for 10 minutes and then scrubbed with Wright's Silver Cream.
I think you can see a clear winner here. The one that I polished by hand with the Silver Cream is gleaming and beautiful.
It was likely a silver plated piece, but I didn't know that before I gave it a chemical bath. These vases were a memento from my
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wedding in 2004, so I can't replace them.
The moral here? BEWARE of homemade pinterest recipes on heirloom, mementos or expensive items like jewelry... It might not work exactly like you'd hope.
But I will say that I have used this method for years and never had a problem.
I have never ever smelt any chemicals and my silver is always sparkling.
Your water should be boiling- I use tongs, do not rinse it off just give it a good rub with an old towel and any marks left on it will come off with a rub with your finger and damp bi-carb soda, ...»
Hope that helps.