Monday, December 08, 2008

You Probably Had to Be There - Sunday 11/7/2008


This is the before shot.

This is supposed to be an astounding example of how well the environmentally safe method of cleaning silver with a damp cloth and some toothpaste works.



Trust me, it works really really well, even though it's not as obvious in these before and after photos as it was in real life.

The tarnish starts coming off as soon as you start rubbing it on the metal. Use a white tooth paste, not a gel.

I discovered that the souvenir spoon on the right--which is from Hydra's family--wasn't as badly tarnished as I thought. It actually was gold--or maybe copper?--plate over silver. The underlying silver shined up pretty well.

Cool Thing: Borax. This is another environmentally friendly thing to use to boost your laundry (brighten it) and to soften your water. It can also be used to gently clean china and porcelain, deodorize things, and preserve dried flowers, and to make candle wicks! Check it out on the website.
Publish Post


I also like it because it's the famous 20 Mule Team Borax, and it's dug out of the ground about 60 miles from us, in Boron, CA.

2 comments:

fingerstothebone said...

Doesn't that make you wonder what you're putting in your mouth every day? When my sister was here, she cleaned all the tea stains off our favorite cups by rubbing toothpaste on it, and it worked like a charm. I thought, omg, I'm never going to use toothpaste again.

Sundry said...

Fingers - Yeah, I am always amazed when I see that other people don't rinse their mouths with water after brushing. I always did, since being a kid. You're not supposed to swallow that stuff! Yet many of the bathrooms I visit don't have water cups or glasses in them. Ick. There's melamine in that stuff.