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Silver accessories make elegant, affordable gifting items. They can also be used as home decor pieces to beautify your house on auspicious occasions. Interior and lifestyle accessory designer Shravya Arora lists simple tips on how to safeguard this precious metal accessory.
- As silver is a soft metal, any scratches on it can be easily seen and noticed. To avoid this, cleaning with paper towels and tissues should be avoided. Use a special silver cloth instead. While polishing, use back and forth movement instead of circular motion because the circular motion may further magnify the scratches already present on the accessory. Avoid excessive rubbing of the silver accessory as it can lead to removal of the plating.
- To clean silver accessory, use soap and water. Important thing to note here is that the soap should be free from ammonia and phosphate. Another method is to use a paste of baking soda and water and a clean cloth.
- A thinner consistency paste of baking soda and water can be used to clean the crevices and smaller details of the accessory. After the cleaning process, the accessory should be washed under running water. You could also use a non gel and non-whitening toothpaste. Alternatively you can use olive oil and lemon juice, white vinegar and baking soda or baking soda, salt, aluminium foil and boiling water.
- Ensure that silver accessories should not come in contact with any chemicals, chlorinated water, rubber or any other substances that contain sulphur, which will further cause corrosion and blacken the silver. Also keep silver accessories away from direct sunlight as it starts to tarnish. To remove some basic tarnish, simple polishing can be done.