Sterling Silver Cleaning Tips
Sterling Silver Cleaning Tips
Our Sterling Silver cleaning tips will help you keep your heirloom items in good condition. The same tips apply to sterling-silver-filled items.
Sterling Silver Cleaning Tips
Using a rosary case helps prevent tarnishing.
What Causes Tarnishing?
Sterling silver gradually tarnishes with exposure to air, moisture, and chemicals, including those found in moisturizers and hand sanitizers.
How to Minimize Tarnishing
To minimize tarnishing, it is best to store your rosary in a closed container between uses. Adding an anti-tarnish paper, chalk, or a silica gel pack will help prevent tarnishing. Silica gel packets are often found with new shoes or purses. However, it is poisonous.
At-Home Cleaning
You can safely clean your rosary at home. You will need an anti-tarnish silver polishing cloth and disposable gloves. Everyday items are a soft, dry toothbrush and a piece of lint-free T-shirt fabric or something similar.
- Once the gloves are on, rub the surface of the rosary metals with the polishing cloth. The removed tarnish shows up as black marks on the material.
- The next step is to clean it thoroughly with a dry toothbrush in the crevices.
- Finally, you can give it one last cleanup with a soft, dry cloth.
TIP
We DO NOT RECOMMEND DIP CLEANERS because they could cause permanent damage. They can cause the metal to be prone to future tarnishing. Some of them will corrode the metal and the beads. Even immersing a rosary in a gentle cleaner can leave moisture trapped inside the bead holes next to the wire. As a rule, the wire should be kept dry.
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CREDITS
The LOGO image of Our Lady of Grace is original artwork by Martin Lariviere in 2009. We have the artist’s permission (my son). It is our exclusive trademark logo image.
A beautifully photographed sky by Donald Tong inspired the website’s colour scheme. Cropped portions of it are the background for the footer Bible verse. He shared it as a free download on pexels.com.
Raphael painted The Sistine Madonna circa (1513-1514). We made circular cut-outs from the original image.
Our information is from general knowledge, experience, and shared internet resources. We’d like you to use it as a starting point for your research so that you can verify facts and build a reference list.
IN REVIEW
You can safely clean your sterling silver rosary at home. You will need an anti-tarnish silver polishing cloth and disposable gloves. Everyday items are a soft, dry toothbrush and a piece of cloth, like a t-shirt.
- With the gloves on, rub the surface of the rosary with the polishing cloth. The removed tarnish shows up as black marks on the material.
- The next step is to clean it thoroughly with a dry toothbrush in the crevices.
- Finally, you can give it one last cleanup with a soft, dry cloth.