Tarnish – Jewellery Enemy

Why does Jewellery Tarnish?

 

Very often we heard people asking this question “Will my jewellery turn black?”

‘Turn black’ or tarnish, we always wonder how does jewellery ‘turn black’ and what results it?         And of course if we can prevent it, we can save ourselves a lot of time and effort in cleaning our jewellery before we wear.

 

Tarnish or “Turn Black”

 

What exactly is tarnish and what causes it?

Tarnish is a layer of corrosion that develops on many metals as they undergo oxidation.

Tarnish is somewhat like rust, but with a slower rate of occurrence.  It is mainly caused by chemicals in the air and sweat, and jewellery tarnishes much faster if it’s left out in the open than if it’s stored away in an acid-free, closed container.

 

Solutions

 

Precious Metals as Solution
A solution is to use precious metals, usually silver and gold.

 

Plating as a Low Cost Solution
One low cost solution to deal with tarnishing is through plating, a thin coat of more attractive looking metal applied to another base metal. Plating varies widely in materials and quality. One drawback is that they will likely wear off through wear and tear. The good ones can last surprisingly long though.

When the plating wears off, the base metal beneath is thereafter exposed. Base metals may be dark coloured or they may tarnish badly as their protection is gone. Again, in this instance, it has ‘turned black’.

 

Tarnish Prevention

  

Here are 5 ways to prevent your jewelleries from tarnish:

 

1. Closed Plastic Bags – keep individual pieces of jewellery in sealed zip locked bag.

 

2. No-Tarnish Strips – put no-tarnish strips in with your jewelleries and change the strips every two to three months.

 

3. Chalk – another substitute of no-tarnish strips is Chalk.  Put a few pieces of chalkboard chalk in with your jewellery. The chalk works similarly to the strips, absorbing the airborne substances that cause tarnish. Chalk should also be changed every couple of months.

 

4. Silver Tarnish Cloth – wrap your jewellery with Silver Tarnish Cloth, also known as Pacific Cloth, which is available at any fabric stores.  It also works well too if you cut pieces of it to fit inside the drawers or compartment of your jewellery box.

 

5. Quick Wipedown – give each piece of jewellery a quick wipe with a Sunshine cloth or other jewelry cleaning/polishing cloth after wearing it. This will help remove dirt/things that settled on the surface of your jewellery while it was out of its closed storage, and this will help prevent tarnish from forming.