How to Clean Silver Jewelry With Aluminum Foil

By: Amy Davidson

Comstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images

Silver jewelry, though beautiful, can fall victim to tarnish and dulling. When cleaning silver jewelry, you can use another silvery item to fight off tarnish and grime: aluminum foil. Thanks to the transfer of ions that occurs between silver and aluminum, tarnish comes right off of jewelry. Head to your kitchen and grab some foil to clean jewelry with an easy, chemical-free method.

Step 1

Tear off a piece of aluminum foil slightly larger than the bottom of your casserole dish. Crumple up the foil gently, then un-crumple it so that it is wrinkled and ridged, and place it in the bottom of your casserole dish.

Step 2

Set your jewelry pieces over the sheet of foil, then dust the jewelry with baking soda. You want a light layer atop the jewelry, not a pile of it covering your pieces.

Step 3

Place a quart of water in a pot on the stove and boil it on medium heat for 5 minutes. Slowly transfer hot water into the casserole dish so that your jewelry is covered in the hot liquid. Let jewelry sit in dish until you see all grime and tarnish removed. If needed, turn jewelry over a few times to make contact on all sides with the aluminum.

Step 4

Strain out the jewelry using a strainer or pick out the jewelry with your hands and run it under cool water for a couple of minutes to clean the baking soda off. Dry and polish the jewelry with a clean, lint-free washcloth.