I do outdoor craft shows and love working with beads. I purchased small gift boxes with clear lids about 2 x 3 inches. They look good with one pair of silver plated dangle earrings in each box. They tarnish very quickly and it takes 3 times longer to clean a pair than to make a new pair.
What neutralizes silver oxide (the tarnish on my silver)? I am tired of trying to clean in all the tiny, tiny nooks between the beads. Help please. Thanks.
By Carol from Waynesboro, GA
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I sell silver jewelry. I use a silver polishing cloth & sometimes silver polish.
I also make jewelry. I usually store sterling silver in a zip-bag with a 3M anti-tarnish strip. When I present jewelry in a box, I place the small zip bag with an anti-tarnish strip underneath the "cotton." I make sure I tell the recipient about storing the jewelry long-term in the bag with the strip. The strips don't last forever, and when they feel like it needs to be replaced, they can place a plain piece of chalk in the bag.
I've gotten my anti-tarnish strips at artbeads.com, but I see that they're out at the moment. Riogrande.com sells them in larger quantities, but you need to set up an account to use them (might be worthwhile if you have a sales tax license). Right now they have 1000 1-inch strips for about $40. There are also anti-tarnish zip-bags, and anti-tarnish tissue paper.
Also try Fire Mountain Gems for various anti-tarnish items. They also have all the jewelry making items you could ever want to use!
Another great idea is to keep some Tarnex handy. It's literally dip and drip, then dry.
Good luck.
Check out the archives. There are several good recipes for homemade cleaners and lots of recommendations for commercial ones. I have used the baking soda/foil/hot water method, and it is quite satisfactory.
www.jewelryboxdirect.com/
Create an "anti tarnish/ tarnish resistant" storage environment for silver:
1. Tarnish absorbing cloths
Pacific Silver Cloth(Pacific Cloth) or a Silver Tarnish Inhibiting Cloths are great to wrap jewelry in before storing or lay the cloths inside box with jewelry on top or next to the cloth. These cloths have minute particles of silver to attract the sulfur to the cloth. It will become saturated with the sulfur so you will need to change them but, some versions last up to 40 years depending on the amount of silver in the cloth. (Google it) Price average $15/yd.
2. Anti-tarnish strips
Hagerty Silver Strips or 3M Anti-Tarnish Strips absorb the sulfuric gases that cause tarnish. These are Anti Tranish Silver Stripssafe economical way to stay tarnish free. They are paper strips that contain activated charcoal that absorbs the gases. You can just lay them within a drawer or cut them up for compartments or smaller drawers. Jewelry does not need to be laid on them just placed in the drawer.
Follow these simple ideas and guidelines and you'll enjoy your silver with little maintenance for years and still have the jewelry box of your choice.
I have been collecting those little silicon bead envelopes for years from the racks of shoes that are usually displayed in a drug store. They all fall to the bottom shelf where I can just pick them up.
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