Baking soda & cleaning silver jewellery

In the past I have used baking soda and abit of water to clean silver jewellery. However combinations of pearl and silver might not be good with baking soda. That sodium bicarbonate might be too powerful. Any reasonably priced suggestion without buying a whole tin of silver jewellery cleaner?

A whole tin costs only $5. Wright's Silver polish, the pinkish-gray cream in a plastic container, is best. It lasts forever. When it dries out, you just add a tiny bit of water.

Equal parts water and sudsing ammonia works as a soak to remove light tarnish but not the really heavy tarnish. OK with pearls but not amber or malachite.

The cloths are good too. I personally use Wright's most of the time, though. This is from a jeweler who has probably polished more silver than the rest of the Forum ladies combined!!

When in a hurry, I have used a soft toothbrush and a little toothpaste. This usually happens when I'm ready to go out the door and the earrings I want to wear are tarnished and I don't have time to use my polishing cloth. I wear mostly silver with amethyst or sapphire (my favorite stones) but also have some gold. The toothpaste works well on all of it.

MEredith, I have a silver cloth and love it. I just used it on some ear rings this morning. I can't stand the texture of it though. It's like the nails on a chalkboard for me.

I also have a jar of the liquid jewelry cleaner which wokrs well on stones/gems.

Sometimes, I use an old head from my electric tootbrush, put a little toothpaste on it and use the electric toothbrush. It works great. Just make sure it's a soft brush. (I'm talking on gold and most cut stones, not beads or silver or pearls.)

The toothpaste idea is a great one- I have never thought of that before! I've used the water and baking soda idea when I have had large amounts to polish at once since I have never liked the polish creams. I just think that they have such a weird smell that lingers on my hands for too long.