Ethiopian Pendants and Ingrid's Cleaning Method

Hi Mustafa, these are tested as high silver, my guess is 800. I have copied our dear member Ingrid's method below. This was the first time I tried it, I liked that it is not an abrasive or strong acid (like chemical silver cleaner.)

Here is what Ingrid says,

First boiling it with water, lots of salt and powder soap like Omo. Let it boil to loosen the grime. A good load of water do not let it get dry on the heat..
Pour the water and repeat.
Give it a thorough brush up with a jewellers's brush.
Final boil with again a detergent and cut up a lemon and boil it up again.
Rinse with fresh hot water and dry it up, than lay it to dry for a half or a day in the sunlight to make sure that the inside is properly dried up. (because if it is from Ethiopia and not properly dried you may get some green powdery marks( because of the mixture often with some copper.) If you have got good silver it will shine up beautifully.

Lynn's comments: I did 3 boils with detergent and salt, this and 4 other pieces I haven't posted yet, and then one boil with vinegar instead of lemon as I did not have lemon. They only needed a few minutes on the boil, but the dirt really did not come off until the water was actually at a gentle boil. The water was like mud on the first two boils and there were actually little twigs and plant matter in the jewelry somewhere! I then gently used a rouge cloth.

Comments

Mustafa J. Salem November 29, 2014 at 10:59am

Dear Lynn:

Nice to see the difference between the two pendants.

Is this a high silver content? if so please refer me to the Ingrid's cleaning method.. where can I find the text for that.

Thanks
Lynn Ardent November 29, 2014 at 3:58pm
Hi Mustafa, these are tested as high silver, my guess is 800. I have copied our dear member Ingrid's method below. This was the first time I tried it, I liked that it is not an abrasive or strong acid (like chemical silver cleaner.)

Here is what Ingrid says,
1. First boiling it with water, lots of salt and powder soap like Omo. Let it boil to loosen the grime. A good load of water do not let it get dry on the heat..
2. Pour the water and repeat.
3. Give it a thorough brush up with a jewellers's brush.
4. Final boil with again a detergent and cut up a lemon and boil it up again.
5. Rinse with fresh hot water and dry it up, than lay it to dry for a half or a day in the sunlight to make sure that the inside is properly dried up. (because if it is from Ethiopia and not properly dried you may get some green powdery marks( because of the mixture often with some copper.) If you have got good silver it will shine up beautifully.
Lynn's comments: I did 3 boils with detergent and salt, this and 4 other pieces I haven't posted yet, and then one boil with vinegar instead of lemon as I did not have lemon. They only needed a few minutes on the boil, but the dirt really did not come off until the water was actually at a gentle boil. The water was like mud on the first two boils and there were actually little twigs and plant matter in the jewelry somewhere! I then gently used a rouge cloth.
ingrid Langerak November 29, 2014 at 9:30pm

Good work Lynn you have added your experience to my recommendations like what can be expected p.e. very muddy water. Lets see how @ Mustafa is going to test it.Gr. Ingrid.

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Ethiopian Pendants and Ingrid's Cleaning Method

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