Fragile, delicate, tarnished brass necklace. How to clean it?

September 25, 2013 5:43 AM

I bought a beautiful necklace a couple of years ago, and it tarnished almost immediately. How do I clean it?

It's a bit hard to explain, but imagine it's a bunch of these interlinked one with the other, only thinner wire. The store where I got it had no cleaning instructions, but indicated it came from these artisans in India. (That's the store i bought it from, too.) It's so delicate that instructions I have read about how to clean brass are very difficult to follow, because they expect you to be able to rub and polish it. Maybe there's a dip I can let it sit in?

posted by Stewriffic to Grab Bag (3 answers total)

Response by poster: Well, I may have jumped the gun on this question, because I just called the store and I happened to have the item number. They're going to be calling me back.
posted by Stewriffic at 5:48 AM on September 25, 2013

Looks like an ammonium bath is suggested, but I would google around a bit more. Keywords: brass cleaning dip.

Most importantly, I would first confirm that the tarnished material is indeed brass.
posted by oceanjesse at 8:07 AM on September 25, 2013

Response by poster: Poop. That link says to check if a magnet attracts it, and it does. Not pure brass. Don't know if it could look much worse, though. Maybe I'll dip it anyway.
posted by Stewriffic at 1:06 PM on September 25, 2013