Cleaning Copper Jewelry

Copper does tarnish easily, but luckily it can be cleaned. In fact, it's the component in many metals, such as sterling silver that cause tarnishing. It's a gorgeous metal, though, and surprisingly easy to clean and shine.

One quick, cheap, and easy method for restoring copper to its original glow is the Worcestershire Sauce Method. Let me show you how it works.

The Worcestershire Sauce Method of Copper Jewelry Cleaning
(Sounds all fancy that way, doesn't it? hehehe)

Supplies Required: Worcestershire sauce (I use the generic kind), Plastic Cup (or other non-metal container), Kitchen Sink

Note: This method should not be used with gemstones or pearls that cannot be cleaned with chemical cleaners (see my jewelry care page for notes on them), as the acid in the tomato of the worcestershire may affect more delicate stones.

Here are two copper bracelets that need to be restored to their original shiny copper luster.

Here are my tools, and I'm ready to clean the copper bracelets.

The cup is optional, just don't use a metal container to hold the sauce when cleaning jewelry.

After putting some Worcestershire sauce in the cup, I just take the first bracelet and drop it in. I swish cup a little to make sure the bracelet gets covered with the sauce, and wait about 10 seconds.

It may take longer for more severely tarnished items, but what's a few extra seconds or even minutes? Have a latte while you wait, maybe.

I pull the bracelet out and rinse with cool tap water and voila!

See how well it shined up. Look at the difference between these two bracelets now!

After dunking the second bracelet, it's shiny too.

Including the time taken to get my cleaning supplies (sauce, cup, kitchen sink) together and take photos, the whole process took me about 5 minutes.Too bad I didn't have time for a latte.

If your jewelry still isn't as shiny as you'd like after removing the icky old tarnish, you can use a polishing cloth to make it shine more.

My jewelry care page has more information on cleaning all types of jewelry.

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Cleaning Copper Jewelry

The Worcestershire Sauce Method of Copper Jewelry Cleaning (Sounds all fancy that way, doesn't it? hehehe)

The Worcestershire Sauce Method of Copper Jewelry Cleaning
(Sounds all fancy that way, doesn't it? hehehe)