A Silver State of Mind

 I do live in the Silver State actually.  But this isn't about that.

I'm in the market to update my style so I was laying out necklaces, trying to decide what length I liked and what style.  Before I knew it, I was possessed by a wild hare, grabbed those tarnished strands and ran downstairs to restore them to their silvery white sparkle.

Soon I was playing around with various methods of cleaning tarnished silver like a kid who needed a science fair project.  

I used baking soda, vinegar, salt and boiling water in an aluminum pie tin first.  Which worked. Then I grabbed my almost empty jar of Wright's Silver Creme.  That worked too.  Both required some scrubbing/polishing to fully shine the various bits I'd gathered though.

 Sparkly fresh and lovely silver now resides at our cottage.  Even it it is just plate, it's still pretty.

Chemistry was my least favorite class in high school.  I just never "got" it. But just like that science fair kid, I had to know why such a simple group of kitchen essentials worked so well.

I bravely googled "silver baking soda aluminum equation" though.  I do know about oxidation and reduction processes from years of firing pottery, so it made sense after a bit of reading.  I'm now smarter than I was when I woke up this morning.

I also now have a new way of cleaning my silverware--because I do use silverware because I like it so much more than stainless--that will be less tedious than polishing them individually.

My necklaces look lovely and fresh.  I decided I really like the twenty inch length.  

Coincidentally, I can report that metal around my neck gets REALLY cold when you are shoveling snow in a denim jacket instead of a winter coat!

Our sunny weather is causing the icicles come crashing off the roof onto the snow below.  In other random news, an icicle is hanging from a branch of the sugar maple.  I can't think of anytime I've never seen an icicle on a tree (other than our blown glass icicles on our Christmas tree). I can only speculate that a bit of snow on the branch gradually melted and the temps were just cold enough to refreeze it. Who knows?!

Hang in there.  Spring is almost almost almost here!