My mother passed along this tip — which my sister pointed out was actually her tip after reading this post — when she spotted my tarnished silver champagne flutes …
For reasons that escape me, this method of polishing silver has attracted its fair share of controversy online. Turns out, some people don’t want their sterling quite so polished; they prefer some patina and tarnish in the detail work. Me. I like things shiny. I grew up in Jersey after all.
All you need is baking soda, tin foil, a non-metallic bowl or container, and boiling hot water.
Oh, and your piece must be sterling. This doesn’t work on silver plate.
Line your non-metallic container with tin foil, shiny side up. Put your sterling piece(s) in and sprinkle with about a cup of baking soda.
Fill the container with boiling water, covering the silver. You’ll hear, smell and see an immediate reaction — as long as your silver pieces are in direct contact with the foil.
I left my champagne flute in the water until it cooled, washed with dish detergent, and put it back up for display.
No scrubbing, polishing or elbow grease required. That’s my kind of cleaning job.
That’s a great tip, but your container looks metallic – what is it?
To Anonymous: It’s actually a corning dish that I put the tin foil in and then place in the sink. Sorry if the picture is confusing.
Linda @ it all started with paint
This is brilliant! No pun intended — just in time for me to polish up my goodies. Thanks for the tip!
Great tip, I also like my silver all shiny and pretty. How long does this last? I feel like every time I get around to polishing the silver, I put it up and then it’s tarnished again.
Would this work on jewelry?
Pat, this kinda works on Sterling. It made mine look 95% better …
Wow, and for years I polished gobs of my Grandma-ma’s silver by hand. Who knew?
By the way, I was SO happy to see your wreath featured at Whisperwood Cottage!
Baking soda is a miracle worker around the house. I once dropped a bottle of shoe dye next to my brand new dresser. Of course it spattered all over the dresser. I got a wet spounge and baking soda and started scrubbing. Believe it or not it all came off and left the finish good as new. When in cleaning doubt, grab the baking soda.
Looks great – wish I could find a similar solution for polishing a large Brass Bed – any suggestions?
Thank you so very much for posting this Linda – your homepage is so beautiful and the flutes are so stunning – what name of brand are they and where can I order some?
The flutes were a wedding gift and I honestly don’t know the brand (they’re packed away somewhere in my basement!). I found this set on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Jq6jrq
And I found some similar looking vintage silver flutes on Etsy. Here’s the results page from my search of vintage silver champagne flutes: https://www.etsy.com/search/vintage?q=silver+champagne+flutes&use_mmx=1&vintage_rewrite=vintage+silver+champagne+flutes&original_query=2&orig_facet=
I have a silver painted frame in my master bathroom that has tarnished. Do you have any idea how to remove the tarnish without removing the paint?
I really don’t know! I would just clean it and then give it a new coat of silver paint. I recommend spray paint. Good luck! 🙂