PROBLEM :
Even if you haven’t got a medal, what about keeping your silver jewellery from looking tarnished and tired? PRODUCTS: Aluminium foil
Boiled eggs
Cider
Baking Powder
Washing up liquid
Toothpaste METHOD: The first thing we did was to tear up some aluminium foil and place it in the stainless steel sink then poured on some boiling water from the kettle and dropped in a rather black-looking charm bracelet. Next we boiled a couple of eggs, took them out of the pan and dropped a necklace in need of a polish into the hot water. Another liquid suggestion was to use scrumpy cider. We poured some into a bowl and threw in a pendant that had once been shiny. Then we tried sprinkling some baking powder onto a damp cloth and scrubbing an old silver coin. Our next test was to take an old toothbrush and squirt on some washing up liquid and work it onto an old silver coin. The final idea was to scrub a coin with the toothbrush again but this time with its usual partner, toothpaste. RESULTS:
The old coins we scrubbed were instant tests. The toothpaste and washing up liquid certainly cleaned up the coins but only the baking powder really made it gleam. The jewellery we left to soak for a couple of hours. The cider and eggy water did make a positive difference to the necklaces but they were still rather dark and not quite shiny enough to wear. The outright winner had to be the aluminium foil which worked like magic! The charm bracelet was amazingly clean and brought back to a real shiny silver.
The secret of the foil test is electrolysis which coats the silver rather than cleaning it and adding a pinch of salt to the water will produce even better results. | 
