Homemade: Removing Tarnish From Gold Metal

When you take proper care of your gold, it remains shiny and can almost appear to glow from within. This all changes, however, if you allow tarnish or dirt to build up on the metal. While solid gold does not tarnish, the other metals mixed with most gold jewelry can do so. Having a professional clean your gold metal can be expensive and may take several days. If you want to wear a piece of gold jewelry right away -- or simply would rather save your money for something else -- polish your gold at home instead. You can make a homemade cleaning solution out of common household items.

Instructions

1

Put enough warm water to completely cover the piece of gold in a glass bowl. Add enough liquid dish soap to make the water slightly sudsy. You do not need the water to be extremely soapy.

2

Add a few drops of ammonia to the mixture in the bowl if your piece is badly tarnished.

3

Place the gold into the bowl. Rub it gently with your fingers to clean it and remove the tarnish.

4

Brush the gold very gently with a baby toothbrush if your fingers alone were not enough to remove the tarnish. Do not scrub hard or use a hard toothbrush; doing so may be enough to leave visible scratches in the soft metal.

5

Rinse the gold thoroughly under warm running water.

6

Wipe the gold dry gently with a soft cloth.