Is there a way to clean tarnish off delicate silver wire?

Question

My friend lent me a tiara and it's a little tarnished.. i'd like to return it to her looking gleaming but theres no way i could clean the wires with a cloth because they are all twisted together with beads

Answer 1

The Jewellers method is to  take a bowl of warm water and place in some WASHING SODA.

then crumple up some ALUMINIUM FOIL put it it the bottom of the bowl then place the tiara on top and the tarnish will be removed without affecting the silver.

This works as the aluminium is eaten in an electrical reaction which is the opposite of what caused the tarnish.

This causes no damage to the silver or the stones (if paste stones rather than zirconia) wash off immediately otherwise they can soften.

Answer 2

use a mixture of bicarbonate of soda (1tspn) and white vinegar (4-5 drops) in some warm water .... allow to soak (assuming there are no stones) then rinse and polish with a soft cloth.....

If it's not easy to soak this item then gently clean with this solution with a soft toothbrush - again rinse and polish.....

Answer 3

try silver dip. nowadays its not so harsh on silver so should be ok for beads. It does say on the container what beads stones etc shouldnt be soaked along with your silver.

Answer 4

Be very careful of immersing anything with rhinestones (the kind that have silver backing on them), or real pearls.  Many cleaning liquids will wreck both of them.  Swarovski crystals are okay to dunk.

A silver polishing cloth (available at department stores or jewelry stores) might be a better option if the metal needs a cleaning.  There are also bags made of a special cloth that the tiara should be stored in to prevent tarnish;  giving it back to your friend in one of those pouches might be a nice way of thanking her for lending it to you.