tarnished

so i'm not the type of person who accessorizes very much. at some point a year or two ago i decided that i needed to start wearing a necklace that i could just leave on at all times just to be adorned with something. i bought this little necklace from a stand at a festival in Japantown and have only really taken it off a few times during long runs (because even though it's light, when it sits up high on my neck while running, i feel like i'm not breathing quite the same. i know it's all in my head but whatever).  

so over the past year or so it became tarnished (caused by moisture). i wanted to clean it using a house supplies and tried the baking soda/aluminum foil method. to my surprise, it actually worked to some degree, though it's definitely lost any shine and isn't nearly as clean as i'd like it to be. i couldn't imagine it to work too well though because this little pendant you see is really small and has a lot of nooks and crannies. what you see above is the cleaned version, which doesn't look great. so i'm thinking it's time to look for a new necklace. 

but if you'd like to try this with utensils, other jewelry, or larger items...be my guest. here are the steps...

1) line a glass dish of some sort with crumpled aluminum foil

2) place item(s) in dish

3) cover items in an ample amount of baking soda

4) pour boiling water over items to cover

5) the baking soda/water mixture should react with the tarnished silver. you should see little bubbles forming. this is releasing sulfuric acid.

6) gentle move the items around making sure that each part touches the aluminum foil

7) remove from dish, rinse under tap water

8) with a soft cloth, dry and buff

gross! this is from countless showers and cardio sessions.

hmm you can't really see it but bubbles were forming

this is the after shot. cleaner, but not completely. and definitely not shiny. in fact, i think it may have become more textured due to rubbing it against the foil. 

yep. time for a new necklace.