JEWELLERY 101;  How to Clean Your Copper Jewellery

   Do you love Copper Jewellery?

Greek Key Bracelet

Well, I do; I love the organic warmth and earthiness of Copper Jewellery, and I love to use Copper in my jewellery designs, especailly paired with the coolness of Sterling Silver.

I will sometimes give my Copper creations a Patina, either antique, or a flame painted Patina.  Other times, I prefer, as in the examples you see here, to keep them bright and shiny, like a new penny.  The only problem with that is, Copper, like all metal, will oxidise when exposed to the air…what to do?  How to keep your shiny Copper shiny, without covering it in a lacquer or similar coating, which will chip in time?

Copper and Silver Cuff

Today, I would like to show you how to keep your shiny copper jewellery bright and shiny, without  smelly chemicals, rubbing or polishing.

Copper and Turquoise Purse Clip

You Will Need;

One small container
One Lemon
A bit of Water

 And the jewellery to be cleaned.

   That's it!  No chemicals,
No rags, brushes or scouring materials.

Squeeze the juice from half the lemon into the bowl, and then add enough water to cover the jewellery you wish to clean.

Here are the earrings I wish to clean.  You can see how oxidised they have become.  I will put only one of the earrings into the lemon bath…

 You only need to leave the jewellery in the lemon bath a short time…unless it has accrued ages of oxidation, in which case you may have to leave it longer, or even do more then one bath.

Here I have added a whole handful of new pieces which need cleaning.  In only minutes, it comes out like this;

Penny bright and shiny!  Now all that is needed is to rinse really well and dry completely.



So…how did the earring come out?  Well, see for yourself, here it is next to the one which didn't get the bath.

The earring was in the lemon bath less then 5 minutes!  Isn't that amazing?  To keep your copper jewellery from oxidising, you should wipe it with a soft cloth after wearing it, and keep it stored in a dry closed space.  Anti-tarnish plastic zip bags are available, or, just take those little bags of silicone which sometimes come in the shoe box, when you buy new shoes, and put those in your jewellery box.



I hope that you enjoyed this posting and found it useful.  I would love to hear from you if you did.  Also, I will be  posting another Jewelery101 on how to clean Sterling Silver…without smelly toxic chemicals…stay tuned!