Question: Have you used argentium silver, and what do you think of it? I am so tired of trying to keep my silver clean.
Answer: Yes, I’ve used Argentium sterling silver wire. It’s just a little bit harder to work with than sterling silver, so at least as far as wire goes, you may want to go one gauge smaller, or use a softer temper than you would with sterling silver wire.
As for cleaning, I definitely see a big difference in tarnish resistance on my jewelry that incorporates Argentium vs. the ones that have regular sterling silver.
However, it’s important to make the distinction that Argentium Silver is tarnish-resistant, but not tarnish-proof. It will tarnish far more slowly than sterling silver, but it will still eventually need to be cleaned.
For any metal jewelry, here’s my method for reducing how often you have to clean it and remove tarnish:
- Store all jewelry and metal jewelry components by covering them with anti-tarnish cloth (sometimes also called “pacific cloth”), available by the yard at most fabric stores.
- Toss in a few anti-tarnish strips (available at most jewelry suppliers) for good measure; change to fresh strips every three months (mark it on your calendar).
- At shows or wherever your jewelry is sitting out, exposed to the air and other environmental elements, keep a Sunshine cloth or jewelry polishing cloth (available at jewelry suppliers) handy. Give each piece of jewelry a quick wipe with it at least once each day of the show, to remove pollutants, body oils from people’s fingers, and other elements that cause tarnish.
If you’re interested in learning more about Argentium Silver, I highly recommend visiting the Working with Argentium Sterling Silver blog. It’s a fascinating and fantastic resource!
