First I would like to say, sterling silver is easy to care for if you follow a few simple steps, so don't be afraid to cover yourself in silver. You will love the look!

In this article you will find easy ways to keep your sterling silver clean with a minimum amount of time and effort. Sterling silver really is not that difficult to take care of whether it is your precious sterling silver jewelry or fine tableware. Keeping sterling silver tarnish free and sparkling is really pretty easy.

Though this article is mainly about cleaning your sterling silver jewelry, it applies to all sterling silver. All the products mentioned here are products that our silversmith's use and recommend for cleaning sterling silver jewelry. They are available through most reputable jewelers or can be purchased through this website by contacting us.

If you wish to purchase any product mentioned here and you don't see it available below, please contact us and we will assist you in locating it.

You will learn how to do the following:

• Recommendations for storing sterling silver jewelry
• Clean sterling silver jewelry with minimal effort
• Clean silver-plated jewelry
• If you clean your silver jewelry in an ultrasonic cleaner Learn more about the cleaning products suggested in this article
• How to use the Hagerty's products to clean ative American jewelry with gemstones

Cleaning your sterling silver jewelry

Type of cloth to use:
Clean your sterling silver jewelry with a soft 100% cotton (nub free) cloth or flannel cloth and gently rub off any excess makeup. Remember silver is a very soft metal and you can scratch it if you aren't careful so don't rub it too briskly.

Never use anything but a clean 100% cotton or a special sterling silver cleaning cloth or very soft bristle brush, like a babies tooth brush or a horsehair silver brush. Paper, polyester, and coarse fabrics often contain wood fibers or synthetics, that can cause tiny scratches in the surface of your fine sterling silver jewelry. Dirt left over from previous cleanings can scratch the surface as well.

Types of cleaners to use:

For light cleanings:
To remove light dirt, fingerprints or makeup just use a small amount of mild liquid detergent to a 1/2 cup of warm water and rinse thoroughly with clean fresh water. (Remember, be careful because too harsh of a cleanser could damage the polish on the stones.) Dry it completely before storing it in an air tight zip lock bag. I usually clean my sterling silver jewelry with little effort using the Sunshine Polishing Cloth. Then just polish it up with a soft cotton cloth, an old cotton t-shirt works well. Do not use the polishing cloth on your gemstones!

Should you have a great deal of tarnish and need more cleaning than a polishing cloth can do, you will probably have to do a deeper cleaning using a silver paste cleaner or a silver polish spray, we recommend Hagerty's Silversmith's Spray Polish or Hagerty Silversmiths' Wash and Hagerty Delicate Jewel Clean. Be careful silver paste cleaners can damage gemstones like turquoise, so be sure to try and keep it off of your gemstones when cleaning your sterling silver.

For deep cleaning sterling silver jewelry with gemstones:
When thoroughly cleaning sterling silver jewelry a couple of factors need to be taken into consideration. If the pieces have gemstones, this requires just a little bit more care. So we have divided this section into two categories, cleaning those with gemstones and cleaning those without.

Not all paste cleaners are recommended for soft, porous gemstones, so care must be taken to use the appropriate polish or cleanser that will not harm your gemstones. We recommend the following: Hagerty's Silversmith's Wash and Hagerty Delicate Jewelry Clean. Hagerty's Wash is easy and quick and has a chemical retardant to put a protective barrier to help slow tarnish and really makes it shine! It is ideal for cleaning intricate patterns work. You use it with a sponge, soft cloth or soft bristle brush.

Whether you use Haggerty's paste cleaner or another brand, take care to keep it off the gemstones. With Haggerty's you can get it on the gemstone and it won't cause any immediate damage to your stone, however, over a period of time it can cause a dulling to the polished finish of your gemstones.

The only dip cleaner that we recommend using would be Hagerty Delicate Jewel Clean, because it is specifically made for cleaning delicate and porous gemstones, including cultured pearls. This does not clean sterling silver or gold, it is a jewel cleaner only, but it will not harm your sterling silver or other precious metal. This is why we recommend it's use with the Hagerty Silversmiths' Wash. We recommend Hagerty's products because we use and trust them to clean our sterling silver and precious gemstone jewelry.

For deeper cleaning sterling silver without gemstones:
To clean away excessive tarnish, clean with a soft cloth and a non-abrasive brand name liquid or paste silver polish to remove tarnish. Our silversmiths use and recommend Hagerty Silversmiths' Spray Polish because it is economical, non-abrasive, super easy to use, retards tarnish for months and really makes it shine! Using dip polish cleaners or pastes on sterling silver without gemstones is safe and will not harm your sterling silver.

How to clean:

Now that we have recommended what cleaners to use, there is a method that is recommended for using these cleansers. Make sure you remove any trace of the polish from gemstones and rinse thoroughly with clean water.

Rub with a lengthwise motion, never clean in a circular motion because this may cause scratches. Many will leave the tarnish in the deep crevices to enhance the look of the piece. However, if you want to remove the tarnish to hard to reach areas, use a very soft brush like a child's tooth brush or a jewelry horse hair silver brush. A mushroom brush works well for this and can be found at most grocery stores. After cleaning with a silver polish, use a clean cloth to remove any residual cleaner from your jewelry.

Remember that all metal cleaners have some type of small abrasive particles that help them to clean and will inevitably cause some form of fine scratches. These are not that obvious and after a time will blend with the fine scratches just from wearing the piece and are not that obvious. They will still have a beautiful soft sheen that is prized by many.

Don't feel that you have to get every bit of tarnish from lines and crevices. Leaving some of the tarnish in hard to reach areas just adds definition and an antique look. In fact, many of our pieces are oxidized to give it that look.

If you wear your sterling silver jewelry regularly, your body oils help to keep the tarnishing down and cleaning to a minimum.

Be careful not to scratch the surface:

The polished sheen was produced by the skilled hands of silversmiths that spent time filing, sanding and buffing the sterling silver piece to a perfectly flat surface. It is the light reflecting off this flat surface that gives it the shine. If you put tiny scratches into the surface you diminish the sheen because the light isn't able to bounce off the surface as well as it once did. So do protect your sterling silver jewelry from excessive scratches. If you have pieces that have been abused and are terribly scratched, you should consult a bench jeweler to see if they can be re-polished to remove them and return it to it's original or close to original luster.

Please use soft cotton cloth, soft sponges or soft bristle brushes to clean your sterling silver, if in doubt, test a small area in an area that isn't obvious and clean that area, and wipe dry. Inspect it under a strong light to see if the brush you have chosen, left any scratches or not.

Using a spray polish:
Use a soft bristle brush, like a child's soft tooth brush, a mushroom brush, or jewelry horse hair brush, and a little mild soap like Dove. Clean well and then spray on the Hagerty's Polishing Spray or other spray polish. Let it dry for a couple of minutes then rub off with a 100% cotton, soft cloth, like an old tee shirt. If there is turquoise or other soft porous gemstones in the jewelry, be careful to keep the spray off the gemstones. We would recommend spraying the cleaner directly on the cloth and rubbing the area around the gemstone with the cloth and cleanser to avoid spraying the gemstone. Polish it to a shine with the soft brush or soft cotton cloth and buff to a shine. This is quick and easy!

Using the a Silver Wash cleaner:
Simply apply the wash to a soft sponge or directly to the item with your fingers and wash it like you would a fragile dish. I use a circular motion, which seems to work best for me. It only takes seconds, it will work up into a foam, then when you feel you have removed the tarnish, rinse in cool water and polish to a shine with a soft cotton cloth. It is really easy and quick. This is my preferred method. If it has jewels, you may want to clean afterwards with the Hagerty Delicate Jewel Clean, dry with the soft cotton cloth.

Using a sterling silver paste or liquid cleaner:
Always follow manufacturers directions, but basically you just apply it to all silver areas, avoiding gemstones, let it dry and thenpolish clean with a soft cotton cloth. You may have to rinse it with cool water to help remove all the cleaner.

To use baking soda or toothpaste or not:
Using toothpaste or baking soda seems to be controversial. I have been researching this and some say yes and others say NO! The argument is that the baking soda and toothpaste are too abrasive. Use at your own risk. I say if in doubt . . . don't. Therefore, I recommend against using them. Stick to a trusted silver cleaner. You would hate to have to have your pieces professionally buffed and refinished. I, however, have found that it dulls and scratches the finish in my tests, so I don't use it. Our preference is the Sunshine Polishing Cloth and Hagerty's Spray Polish or Wash Foam Cleanser.

However, if you wish to use backing soda here is what you should do: Barely moisten your sterling silver jewelry with water. Place in the palm of your hand and pour a liberal amount of baking soda over your jewelry and rub gently with your fingertips. Continue doing this until you remove all the tarnish. Rinse with cool water and dry.

Toothpaste is mainly recommended for gold, not silver. Use an old soft toothbrush, dampen and scrub lengthwise as recommended to reduce the chance for scratches and marring the surface. Rinse in cool water. Remember that toothpaste has abrasive material in it.

Remember that we do not recommend the use of baking soda or toothpaste methods, but many respected jewelers see no problem with it, so be cautious should you decide to try this method.

Cleaning sterling silver plated jewelry:

To remove tarnish from silver plate, use the same techniques or solutions that you would with solid sterling silver items. However use the least amount of polishing (or shortest exposure time needed to liquid dips) as necessary because any process that removes tarnish also removes minute amounts of silver on the surface. Over time the plate will eventually wear, some plates are thicker than others so a heavy plate will most likely last a lifetime with proper care.

To advise which is better using a chemical dip tarnish remover or a polishing cloth. I would first say that depends on the item. If there is porous stones (Turquoise, Lapis, Malachite, etc. or pearls) in your jewelry do not use the liquid dips. I prefer these dips Tarn-X in particular for quick removal of a heavy tarnish as it will remove all blackness within seconds. I do not leave parts in any longer than necessary. Then a light rub with a polishing cloth puts on a nice shine as the chemical dips leave a dull finish. Polishing cloths are my second choice (or first if my jewelry has porous stones), the Sunshine cloths in particular are the best. They are not abrasive and remove tarnish without a lot of pressure and rubbing. A last resort is tarnish removing paste or polish as it is highly abrasive and would remove too much of the plating with each polishing.

My best advice though to extend the life of a plated item is too use techniques that minimize or slow down the build up or exposure to tarnish in between wearing. The less you have to polish the longer life your item will have. Store in plastic air tight zip lock bags with anti tarnish paper, anti-tarnish cloth jewelry bags, or at least in an air tight, low humidity environment. Do not place in a card board box or on paper as they have sulfur producing compounds in them that increase the rate of oxidation.

Cleaning sterling silver with an ultrasonic cleaner:

If its just a silver piece and doesn't have any stones it is ok to use an ultrasonic cleaner, however, if the piece has turquoise or other semi-precious gemstones the stones very likely will crumble away to nothing or will sometimes turn black in the ultrasonic cleaner.

*(This article courtesy of http://www.southwestaffinity.com ).