Hey everybody,

Any natural ideas for getting rid of silver tarnish?

Anais

Lots of 'em.  Generally, if you wear silver constantly against your skin, it will not tarnish.  If you want a natural way to remove tarnish, line a sink with aluminum foil and add a few tablespoons of baking soda.  Fill it with hot water and throw your silver in.  Be forewarned tho, this will also clean out the "details" of intentionally antiqued silver.  Buff it to dry and polish it.  The best thing to use is a silver polishing cloth, or some jeweler's rouge on a soft cloth.  Never use anything like Tarn-X on your silver and never put silver flatware in the dishwasher with stainless steel... it will discolor.

oooh, the details, the details... I've been wearing a silver pendant for years and it has lots of raised detailing that could be called "intentionally antiqued". Perhaps I could um, 'spot-clean' :P

Toothpaste (not the gel kind) does an ok job. I use it for emergency touch-ups on my silver earrings. Just coat it on and let it dry, then rub it around (I just use my fingers) and rinse under hot water.

/Kate

I tried both of your ideas, Kate and Rapunzel. They worked sooo well! ;D ;D First I did a scrub with baking soda toothpaste, then a baking soda paste (since Rapunzel you did mention that antiquing would disappear with the foil method). I scrubbed and scrubbed with the tips of my fingers, as if massaging the scalp. It worked great, and I wish I could post a pic! lol

Anais Satin

Actually, I'd be careful about using straight baking soda, you might scratch your silver.  The aluminum foil/baking soda soak thingy works because of a chemical reaction.

It occurs to me that you could have killed two birds with one stone by using baking soda toothpaste, LOL!