Today we see a lot of beautiful brass and silver decor adding real statements in the households. But how do you actually look after them? Below is all you need to know in order to take care of your metals in your home. It's probably easier than you think.
Brass
Brass is extremely durable material which is able to last for hundreds of years. Amazingly, the versatile metal can always be polished and regain its original shine.
If you like your brass to have a shiny look, use some good brass polish along with a non-abrasive clean cloth. A quick polish once a month is more than plenty.
If you however prefer a more ‘aged’ look then give your item a more gentle polish less frequently. There are further tricks to this though. If you were to apply pressure on only raised surfaces then this will cause the rest of the item to darken, resulting in a more defined and well worn appearance.
If you however skip polishing the brass altogether, it will dull done with time and depending on the level of copper it contains, it might even take on a greenish tinge. Brass will never rust and you can polish it right back to a shiny item at any point of time. It might just take a bit of effort!
Silver
Just like brass, silver needs regular maintenance in order not to darken or miscolour. Well maintained, silver too can easily last for generations.
Polish silver with a soft and non-abrasive clean cloth. If you can’t remove the irregularities with just a cloth, look for a mild and suitable silver polish.
If you don’t have any polish at home, then toothpaste or ketchup might also do the trick! Toothpaste contains polish for the teeth which also works on silver while ketchup has sour acids that reacts with the chemical component silver sulfide and removes any coats on the silver.
How to do it:
Put a small amount of ketchup or toothpaste on a clean cloth and rub it onto the silver. Apply more pressure on areas hard to clean. Rinse thereafter the silver and polish with a dry cleaning cloth.
