Make your silver sparkle! How to clean and care for your treasured silver at home...
So I try to polish all of my silver twice a year, once before it all comes out for the festive season and once in the Spring as part of my Spring cleaning!
Mum was very keen on me helping when cleaning silver and as always I am so grateful to have picked up these tips from her! Let me introduce you to my absolute favourite products to use and how.
Goddards Silver Polish Foam
This is my absolute favourite! It is so easy to use as long as you don’t mind your items getting wet.
Get yourself a damp sponge, dip said sponge into the pot, and apply all over. At this point, I like to move onto another piece and leave that first item for a little while for the foam to work it’s magic!
Give it a good rinse, grab a tea towel and dry it all off - it should be gleaming!
The best thing is one of these little pots lasts years! It’s such a fantastic product.
Silvo
Break a bit of the wadding off and rub it all over. You can see the dirt coming off as you rub!
Buff off with a Spontex cloth (my favourite for lots of household uses!) and give a good polish! I much prefer using microfibre cloths for these kind of jobs as I find dusters leave little bits of fluff, which is particularly annoying!
Tableau Silver Cleaning Cloth
These are fantastic for quick polishes in between the times when you have given your items a good clean. One quick wipe over with one of these cloths gives them a great shine ready for the table.
A few more tips for when cleaning your silver. Do not rub too hard or vigorously around the hallmark. This is the maker’s print and it shows where, when and by whom the piece was made. It is always such a shame to see the history erased by heavy-handed cleaning over the hallmark! I tend to just lightly rub the cleaning product over the area, and lightly buff away.
If you are cleaning a silver piece that also features any green baize, do not damage it by getting it wet! I tend to use Silvo on these pieces as it doesn’t require rinsing.
Wear gloves and an apron! Silver cleaning is a messy business. I also like to protect the area I am working on with some old newspaper.
Try to enjoy the process! It is do actually find it very soothing - I get all the silver together, sit down and pop on a good film or podcast. It can take quite a while to blitz through, so try and enjoy the process! The gleaming rewards at the end are spectacular too!
Do you have any questions regarding polishing your silver? If so do ask below!
Love,