Is there a pearl-safe detarnisher?

[sleight]

Does anyone have any advice as to how to safety clean a silver & pearl piece of jewelry? I figure since pearls can be placed in something as strong as Attack without damage, there must be something that can remove tarnish from silver without damaging pearls.

By the way, I appreciate all I've learned on this site. Thanks everyone!

 

[jshepherd]

I would be very careful using anything to remove the tarnish around the pearls. Pearls are indeed safe in attack, but most other chemicals will damage the nacre.
Does anyone else work with silver here? I have only used 14k, personally. There must be something that would work, because silver is popular with pearls, of course.

 

[Caitlin]

One can use toothpaste and a tiny brush to remove tarnish from silver without getting much, if any, on the pearls.

I use a cheat for my silverplated teapot. I get a plastic dishpan and put a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom, cover it with water to depth of teaopot and a tablespoon or more of baking soda. I dip the pot in and the varnish disappears instantly. I do not have a clue what the chemistry of this combination would do to pearls. I don't use it for polishing my sterling tableware as it takes the black out of the cracks too.

What is Attack? I tried Attack Cleaner on Google and got a photo chemical tank cleaner...

 

[jshepherd]

Attack in an epoxy remover. Before Terry's microwave trick it was the only think that safely and quickly removed pearls from findings (that we knew of).

 

[sleight]

I'll have to try the baking soda trick. Does it matter what temperature the water is?

Let me explain what I'm trying to accomplish. I design and sell a line of jewelry primarily to fashion-forward boutiques. While their customers don't mind shelling out $200+ for jeans, they generally balk at paying such "outlandish" prices for jewelry. I love pearls and would work with gold if these boutiques would buy it, but silver is more accomodating to their price points, especially now with today's gold market. Unfortunately, I've discovered that people just don't know much about how to care for pearls and some of my customers have accidently ruined their pieces by dipping them in Tarnex, etc. I thought everyone grew up with "pearls are the last thing you put on and the first thing you take off", but not so! So I've decided to include a tag that lists what the jewelry is made of and how to care for it. Problem is, I'm not even sure how to care for silver and pearls!!!

I usually try to work with oxidized silver to make cleaning not so essential, but I'm having more and more requests for shiny silver. I've experimented some with argentium silver, which is supposed to be tarnish-free. Oddly enough, the pieces I first made with argentium silver have not tarnished, yet my spools of argentium wire in my studio have tarnished worse than my spools of sterling silver! So now I'm not sure that that's the answer to my dilemma.

So my problem is that I'm going out of my mind trying to figure out how to educate a customer base that I don't have direct contact with on how to not ruin the silver and pearl jewelry I spend my life making for them! Any ideas?

 

[jshepherd]

Unless someone here works with silver and pearls on a regular basis and has a practiced method, maybe an experiment would be the best way to determine what may work.
How many methods are there for removing tarnish? Why not take each method and use it in a low-end fw pearl to determine what damage may occur if any. Maybe even soaking it overnight would be the right way to go - the equivalent of years of cleaning. Just a thought...

Btw, good news about the gold. It has been dropping lately!

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Sleight
I am going to research this a little deeper on the silver cleaner sites and get back to this thread later, if someone hasn't answered, first. I want to know what chemical thing happens and what it would do to pearls.....
The temp of the water- faucet temp is what I use, but in Tucson that is cool to luke warm. If you have solid silver pieces, try it if you want shiny with no oxidization, you'll get it. Again, don't try this with pearls -unless you intend to conduct a scientific experiment.

 

[pearltime]

I have wondered the same thing. How can silver and pearl jewelry be cleaned? Perhaps the answer is to treat the silver before it's paired with pearls.I have seen a product invented by a housewife on one of the shopping networks. I have also seen her product advertised in magazines but I have never used it.

Here is a link.

http://www.maasinc.com/about_us.asp

also there is a different product which is a cloth for polishing silver

http://www.wehug.com/sunshine-polish-cloth.html

 

[Caitlin]

Here's a link to the inventor of the soda aluminum tarnish remover idea. He's now a prof at Johns Hopkins. He explains what happens chemiclally; the combination removes the sulpher that causes the tarnish.
http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/home98/dec98/foil.html
Everyone says boiling wter. I haven't tried that. I'm still researching what it does to pearls before I start experimenting with them. I do not want to put pearls in boiling water.

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Sleight
I think the water has to be hot. I forgot that part. I tried it on some tarnished sterling and the tarnish is slower to come off when the water is cool. Some did come off though.
I put a big black dyed and 5 5mm white CFWP pearl in the dish with the aluminum foil and baking soda and left them all to soak. I did not use hot water. The baking soda was really alkaline feeling on my hands. I think pearls are alkaline so an alkaline solution might not hurt the pearls. It might take off any wax coatings or metal vapor depositions though! After several hours, I couldn't see any difference. I hardly think this counts for a scientific experiment, though.
Hi Pearltime
I agree. I think treating the silver first is the trick. Otherwise let it tarnish and just use a rouge cloth or a silver cleaner and tiny soft brush and don't get the silver cleaner on the pearls, is the best way to go.

 

[sleight]

Thanks for all the response Caitlin! It's very helpful and I am going to start conducting some experiments with the soda aluminum method as well. It's funny - I've spent so much time researching jewelry cleaning products and equipment - and turns out the best method may already reside in my kitchen!

Also thanks for the maas link pearltime. I am going to order some and check that out too.

I do agree that treating the silver prior may be the best approach. Rio sells a product called Midas Tarnish Shield that I'm also going to experiment with.

 

[Caitlin]

Maybe this is way too off-topic, but I was just thinking of those horrible false teeth ads where they drop a strand of pearls in the bar-b-que sauce and then clean them in some false teeth cleaner to "prove" how good the cleaner its! <shudders>

I think the the false teeth cleaner will not only NOT get the sauce stains out of the pearls, it will kill them altogether.

 

[pattye]

Hi All--I have a plate (no doubt aluminum) for cleaning silver--it specifies hot water, and only washing soda, not baking soda, for some reason. Then a cool water rinse and buff with dry clean cloth. It does say NOT for opals, pearls, painted and enamel pieces, or marcasite.
Having lots of silver jewelry, both oxidized and hiigh polish, have started using the anti-tarnish lined jewelry rolls and boxes. As long as I put the item back in the anti-tarnish container when I remove it, it doesnt seem to change. There is also fabric yardage available. I Googled anti-tarnish fabric for silver and there is quite a lot of information. I am just getting started making pearl, gemstone and silver jewelry, and will store in anti-tarnish, maybe make some small bags to give with the pieces. Polishing silver is definitely not a hobby of mine! I look forward to more of your energy saving ideas----
Patricia Saab

 

[pearltime]

While looking around on the web I found a silver which is suppose to resist tarnishing for a few years. Here is some info on it. The name is, "Argentium Sterling®"

www.gsgold.com
(sells findings made of this silver)

http://www.silversmithing.com/1argentium.htm
http://www.gsgold.com/cart/idxargentiumssmillproductsandfindings.asp

 

[PearlsAndJade.com]

To clean tarnished silver clasps on a strand of pearls, I use a Branson 200 Ultrasonic Cleaner. It's time consuming because I have to physically hold the strand carefully so only the clasp is in the cleaner. I don't have to do this often, but I've never damaged a pearl.

The Branson 200 costs around $120, which is worth it for me just to clean my wifes jewelry periodically.

It seems to be a good unit for consumers; Also for professionals who have a small amount of cleaning to do. Since it is more of a consumer unit, it is not a unit for a demanding professional who must clean a lot of jewelry.

To slow down the tarnishing of silver, I recommend storing them in a dark place with anti-tarnishing strips. This works well for me.


Bill

 

[mrsz]

I'm rehashing an old thread because I have the same question as the original poster. I have some vintage Mikimoto pieces in silver with pearls and I don't know how to get the tarnish off the silver without damaging the pearls. I don't think I'd like to experiment with the baking soda method and in at least one piece it is impossible to clean the silver without touching the pearls. I was thinking about trying a silver polishing cloth but does anyone have any other ideas? Help is really appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Caitlin]

I think a silver polishing cloth would work, but why not restring them? If the silver is tarnished, the silk is possibly weak. Take it apart, clean the silver- and the pearls separately, restring it.

 

[knotty panda]

Hagerty has an ultrasonic cleaner suitable for pearls. http://hagertyusa.com/jewelry/products/sonic_jewelry_cleaner_battery.htm

 

[mrsz]

I really wish the answer was as easy as restringing. The pearls are set in silver brooches/pendants. One brooch is a seahorse with a belly full of pearls and a pearl eye. It is hard to clean the silver without touching the pearls. I'll check out that ultrasonic cleaner though. Thanks!

 

[WallaceL]

I browsed through the old topics before I joined and found this interesting. Has anyone ever try tomato sauce (ketchup) to remove tarnish on silver? tomato sauce should be more gentle compared to soda. just brush some ketchup with soft toothbrush onto the affected area and leave it for 10-15 minutes before brushing and rinsing it gently under running water. try to minimize the contact of ketchup and pearls as much as possible though. The weak acid in tomato sauce will remove the oxide (tarnish) from the silver. as long as you are not immersing the pearl into the ketchup, I feel that this is not a bad way to try!