Get your silver to sparkle and shine.

THIS DIWALI, GIVE YOUR GOLD-PLATED, SILVER, BRASS AND COPPER OBJECTS OF DECOR SOME GLITTER

Come Diwali and diyas and silver, brass and copper vessels are cleaned till they glitter and shine bright. Here are some useful tips to clean your utensils and ornaments.

Silver
Silver ornaments and utensils can be made shiny white by washing in potato boiled water and then coating them with lime. Silverware can be cleaned by polishing with ordinary dry ash and alternatively by polishing with common salt. Boil silver ornaments in water mixed with common salt and baking soda in equal measure for a few minutes and rinse off with cold running water for that extra sparkle. For a quick cleaning of silverware make a solution of boiling water and washing soda. Put an aluminum piece in the solution and put the silver articles in it. A mixture of milk and water makes an excellent silver cleaner. For that extra sparkle of silver ornaments rub with henna powder and a few drops of lemon juice.

Brass
Clean brass items with metal polish and sprinkle a few drops of kerosene on a clean cloth to give a final polish. Wash brass vessels in hot soap suds and then rinse and dry thoroughly. For a shining look of brassware scrub it vigorously with dry ash and remove the ash with a piece of paper. To make brass objects retain brightness for a longer period wash it with a mixture of tamarind and fine brick powder. To polish brass, add some cooking vinegar to fine ash and use as polish.

Copper
Utmost care should be given while cleaning copper objects as the tinning may get worn out. Copper gets well-cleaned with lemon rind. Leftover sour idli batter or a tamarind and salt mixture is ideal for cleaning copper items. Lemon juice mixed with Spanish White will give a wonderful shine to copper fittings and vessels. Small and difficult to clean articles can be boiled in a mixture of salt and vinegar or tamarind. Come Diwali and the house is made spic and span, and cleaning of utensils, ornaments and jewellery gets underway so that the goddess deems it fit to be her abode.