Homemade Jewelry Cleaner

My husband (ahem) got a bargain when he married me. Yes, yes, he already knows he married someone who keeps him well fed and he does show his appreciation. The bargain he got, with me, is that I'm not really obsessed wth needing a lot of bling jewelry. I love my wedding ring, and that's really all I wear on my hands. Around my neck, I have a cross necklace that I haven't removed in years.  (Every so often, I'll slip on my pearl necklace that my mother gave me a long time ago.) I wear earrings, but that's really about it-- and earrings are about the only jewelry that I'll buy.

That's why Craig raised his eyebrows, more in surprise, when I bought this sterling silver bracelet with semi-precious stones, at a local crafts fair.   I loved all the different colored stones, and how they would match a lot of my work outfits. Score!

A few months later, it became really tarnished and I didn't want to wear it like that. How in the world was I going to get it clean?

 
I was organizing my cookbooks, and a sheet of paper fell out of one. It was a recipe I had printed for homemade jewelry cleaner, and had forgotten about.  Perfect timing! All I needed was a bowl, foil, salt, baking soda and dish detergent. Why not? I decided to give it a try.

 It worked!

I inherited a few nice pieces of jewelry from my mother, and they are cherished treasures, like this coin necklace.

I have no idea where my mother got it, but it hangs on a very long silver chain. It looks great with turtle neck sweaters, but it began to turn very black with tarnish. Hmmmm, would this cleaner work on this, too?

Not bad!  Not perfect, but it looks a whole lot better than it did before.  I kind of like that there is still some tarnish-- kind of adds to the antique effect, yes?

I thought this was a cool idea, and I wanted to share it with all of you.  Do you have some jewelry that's looking a bit dull and tarnished?  Give it a try!

DISCLAIMER: I can't promise you that this is fool-proof.  I would hesitate to use this on gold or silver plate... one reviewer said it ruined the patina on her jewelry. I'll stick with using this on gold or silver only.  There were lots of reviewers who said they loved it, so it's worth trying.  Best of all, it's non-toxic and you can make it at home. There ya go!

A printable recipe card is at the end of this post, or you can view it on the original recipe site here.