Sterling Silver Chains
How to Clean Sterling Silver Chains And Jewelry
However, to keep the shine and glitter of the sterling silver chains and jewellery, you need to take good care of it. The most common problem with sterling silver is that, it gets tarnished easily. This is mainly caused due to the oxidation of silver. Silver when comes in contact with the open air, turns into Silver Oxide, which in turn creates to black patina on your jewellery piece. The black colour is also caused when the silver piece comes in contact with water or perfumes and hair sprays. While some people feel that the black patina, built up in the fine details of the jewellery gives it an antique and unique look, others believe it makes their sterling silver ornaments look dull and non-glamorous. Fortunately, you can avoid having such black marks on your silver ornaments in simple ways.
Like they say, prevention is always better than cure. You can prevent damage of your silver jewelleries by storing them in an air-tight container lined with something soft. This ensures that they are exposed to lesser air, which slows the oxidation process. The soft lining, on the other hand, avoid scratches. Keeping them in a cool, dry place also helps.
For cleaning sterling silver, polishing it with warm water, cotton swabs or soft cloth and mild soaps is the best way. Some sterling silver ornaments may be coated with Rhodium to give them a platinum-like finish as well as to make them tarnish-resistant. For such pieces, it is important that you clean them with a soft polishing rag or a very fine cleaner. Also, avoid using silver dip for such jewelleries, as that may cause damage to the Rhodium finish as well as cause damage to the gemstones on them.
Using toothpaste to clean sterling silver, though had been probably a traditional method, it is no more advisable today. Toothpaste may contain small abrasive granules, which may in turn scratch the jewellery piece. There are chemical cleaners available in the markets as well. However, using them may lead to discolouration. Hence, use them sparingly and only when all other methods fail.
If these few simple points are kept in mind while using sterling silver, they are sure to last you a lifetime, without losing an iota of their shine and glamour.
About the Author
I am a bead jewelry artist, love beads and jewelry. Hope to provide with information related to jewelry making products.
Dumb question but is it alright to wear a gold pendant with a sterling silver chain?
Is this a fashion faux paus? (sp?) Or, is it not good to mix metals? Or, does it not matter and I should just wear what I want? 
Sorry…meant to say white gold pendant with diamond with a sterling silver necklace.
Also, I’m a stay at home mom who doesn’t work so I don’t have anywhere to really wear it to. I just wanted to know in general.
depends…on the shade of silver and gold and wat the pendant is like…but sometimes it does go together nicely
I love shopping for sterling silver jewelry at ‘America’s favorite sterling silver store”
