Cleaning Vintage Silverplate

Every single week I MUST do some thrifting. Garage sales, thrift shops, auctions. I write about these adventures all the time. People ask what I'm looking for. The honest answer is that I'm seldom looking for anything specific. It's more like "I'll know it when I see it".

But there are things that always trip my trigger. Aprons, vintage bed linens, books, AND -- I am a sucker for an elegant, beautiful, round soup spoon. I started collecting them 15 years ago when my sisters and I went to Ireland.  Finding one is always a thrill for me...and finding a matching set?? Well...you can just about imagine!!

I have A LOT OF old silverplate...and it gets very tarnished.

Unlike Seabass -- nobody wants a blackened spoon.

For me, one of the thrills of finding vintage linens is washing them and bringing them back into my normal homemaking rotation.  And I feel the same way about my vintage silverplate....I have tried many products over the years...most of them very time-consuming.

Then, of course, in the new world we live in -- PINTEREST showed me a better way....

Here it is:  De-tarnish ALL your silver at once... line your sink with aluminum foil, add 1/2 c table salt, 1/2 c. baking soda, fill with hot water, then dump in all your silver! Let sit for about 30 min. The tarnish all transfers to the foil! 

Hey -- I HAVE ALL THOSE THOSE THINGS.  LET'S DO IT!!

 

Instead of using my sink -- I used a cake pan.

And I did exactly what Pinterest told me to do...

Pretty impressive, eh?

And -- oh -- I also collect unique spooners...

For me -- many things qualify as a spooner....it can be a vase, or a large mug...I think this was actually intended to BE a spooner...every now and then, it's important to do something conventional and expected...