What is the best way to remove gunk from earrings?

I often wear the same earrings day in and day out for months on end. Because I shower with them in, a lot of build-up occurs.
What is the best way to remove this? My mom's always said to soak them in hydrogen peroxide but I thought that was just a disinfectant? Plus, one time I soaked all of my earrings and it ruined a lot of them. Why would that be?

Electrolytic Cleaning Solution:

Ingredients:
¼ cup baking soda
¼ cup salt
¼ cup liquid dish soap
½ gallon of water

Equipment:
Large pot
Aluminum foil
Plastic spoon
Stove top
colander or strainer
towel

Take a large pot, such as a spaghetti pot, and line the inside with aluminum foil. Pour all of the ingredients into the pot and stir with your plastic spoon. Collect the sterling silver jewelry you want to clean and count each item so you know the total number you put into the pot. Place them into the solution. Bring this to a low boil for a few minutes. Then turn off the burner and let it sit for another couple of minutes. Then using the colander or strainer, pour out the solution. Rinse with cold water. Count your items as you place them on a towel to dry. Make sure you’ve account for all your jewelry before you throw away the aluminum. It will be dirty because the oxides on your jewelry were transferred to it. Your sterling silver jewelry should now look like new.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 2:21 pm and is filed under how to make earrings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “What is the best way to remove gunk from earrings?”

  1. harlequinromance345 Says:
    April 30th, 2009 at 7:31 pm

    I use a cotton bud dipped in tea tree oil and just go around the post of the earring to get the stuff off. tea tree is good cos its antibacterial and cleans well =]
    References :

  2. Imamoeba Says:
    April 30th, 2009 at 7:55 pm

    Electrolytic Cleaning Solution:

    Ingredients:
    ¼ cup baking soda
    ¼ cup salt
    ¼ cup liquid dish soap
    ½ gallon of water

    Equipment:
    Large pot
    Aluminum foil
    Plastic spoon
    Stove top
    colander or strainer
    towel

    Take a large pot, such as a spaghetti pot, and line the inside with aluminum foil. Pour all of the ingredients into the pot and stir with your plastic spoon. Collect the sterling silver jewelry you want to clean and count each item so you know the total number you put into the pot. Place them into the solution. Bring this to a low boil for a few minutes. Then turn off the burner and let it sit for another couple of minutes. Then using the colander or strainer, pour out the solution. Rinse with cold water. Count your items as you place them on a towel to dry. Make sure you’ve account for all your jewelry before you throw away the aluminum. It will be dirty because the oxides on your jewelry were transferred to it. Your sterling silver jewelry should now look like new.
    References :
    http://jewelrymaking.about.com/library/blclean.htm