Cleaning Silver

A lot of people wonder how to clean silver chains, or more delicate silver jewelry.  When I was in grad school so many years ago, one of my professors, Arline Fisch shared her secret.   Arline specialized (still does)  in textile techniques in metal.  With her woven, knit, and crocheted silver jewelry, she needed a non-chemical cleaning method that would get into all the areas that a polishing cloth can't reach.

She used a product that she got from the Harriet Carter catalog (of all places) called a Maggie Pan.  It's basically a blue plastic pan with a sheet of metal in it.  I don't know the exact alloy of the metal.  I and a number of other students got Maggie Pans of our own.  I still use it - especially with tarnished chains. 

I place my jewelry in the pan, directly onto the metal sheet.  I squirt some dishwashing liquid right onto the jewelry and pan.

The photo looks blue because the metal is reflecting the royal blue walls of the surrounding plastic pan.  The name pendant is just a touch dull, but the chain and the acorn pendant are tarnished to a dull gray dingy color instead of whitish silver.  They look ok in the picture because of the light reflection, but trust me, they weren't good enough for me to wear in public.

I heat up a lot of water nearly to boiling temperature in the microwave and then pour it into the pan, on top of the metal sheet, jewelry, and detergent.  Let it all sit there and steam awhile.

After the water cools down a bit, I use an old toothbrush to move the jewelry around and to scrub any parts that might need it.

The jewelry really is all bright and shiny now, ready to wear.  I couldn't have gotten that chain clean any other way, unless I used some sort of smelly toxic dip. 

This is some sort of electrolytic cleaning, but please don't ask me to repeat any of the scientific explanations. 

I did some Google searching.  It looks like the Maggie Pan is no longer available through Harriet Carter or anywhere else online.  If you search on ebay, there is someone selling another product using a metal alloy sheet, hot water, and washing soda as an activator.  (Washing soda is available in many laundry soap aisles or online.)  I think I'll try washing soda in my own maggie pan next time I need to clean my jewelry.

If you have a similar product,or buy one, and it works, let me know in the comments!