I love my Alex and Ani bracelets.  I have been collecting them for a few years now and I get two or three new ones as gifts every year.  Each of one them means so much to me and they make me so happy.  They always look good, whether I stack lots of them on one arm or whether I just wear one alone.  I am not precious with them, I wear them a ton and maybe I do not treat them as well as I should.

Recently when I was doing a little jewelry clean up and organization, I was a little taken aback to see how some of my bracelets had gotten really worn and tarnished.  As you can see in the picture below, they needed some love.  The bad light (my photography) makes then look a little darker than they actually were, but they were still pretty bad.  These are the worst ones from my collection and I decided to give them a proper clean but I was not sure of the exact procedure.

I went to my reliable buddy Google, but it was not really that helpful.  Mostly I found ways to clean them with some mild detergent and an old toothbrush.  There is a cloth from the company that you can purchase but I am in Korea and I do not have that kind of time to order and wait the requisite three weeks it takes to get anything in the mail.  I am an instant gratification kind of girl.

Off I went to the supermarket, they had one bottle of metal polish……Tarn-X.  I am an avid polisher of antique silver, but I had not heard of Tarn-X.  I bought it anyway.

Now this is my disclaimer: This is not a recommended way to clean your Alex and Ani bracelets. The company does not recommend it in anyway shape of form.  I was doing this at my own risk and I started on a bracelet with the least amount of tarnish, in an inconspicuous spot.  After my test run I decided it was worth the risk. Please be careful if you decide to use any kind of metal polish on your own jewelry.

This is what I did:

My supplies:  A rubber glove, a soft microfiber cloth, an old toothbrush and some paper towels.  Some Ivory dish-soap, a bowl and the Tarn-X.   I filled the bowl with warm water and a little bit of Ivory.  Then I placed the bracelets in the bowl to soak; you cannot see them,  but trust me they are in there.

After a few minutes I took out one bracelet and gave it a little scrub with the toothbrush, concentrating on the little nooks and crannies.  Unfortunately, this was just not enough to get rid of the tarnish, so I wiped it down with the soft cloth, put on the little glove and used the Tarn-X.  It is a liquid formula, which surprised me.  I soaked some into a paper towel and rubbed very gently and very lightly on the parts of the bracelet that required it.  I did not rub hard or rub down the whole piece, I was afraid of the power of this product.  After I used the Tarn-X on the bracelet I then put it back into the soapy water. When I was done with all the bracelets, I rinsed them all in clean water and polished them up with a soft, clean and dry cloth.

As you can see, it worked really well.  This was one of my most tarnished pieces.  The charm was not quite as dark as it appears in the “before” picture but it was very tarnished.  I proceeded to clean all of my bracelets in the same way, with great success, until I came to my beaded Love bracelet.  The Tarn-X took the brass finish off the beads.  This normally would have upset me greatly, but honestly I did not mind too much.  The bracelet was already so tarnished and looked so bad before I started this experiment.  It actually looks better now.

Overall I am glad I took the risk and decided to clean my bracelets this way.  Are they perfect now? No.  Some of the tarnish still remains, and they have a lot of dings and scratches in them, which comes from wearing them together.  But they still look great and I still love them.

I did learn that I really should look after these bracelets a little better.  I really do love them, as I said each one is special to me.  I will make a better effort with them in the future. But these pieces are not supposed to look flawless and shiny, they are rustic and simple.  They are perfectly imperfect and that is what appealed to me about them in the first place

♥Criona

Disclaimer #2:  This is in no way a sponsored post.  I bought the Tarn-X with my own money because it was the only kind of polish that they have at our little supermarket (have I mentioned we are in Korea and at the mercy of the US Army as to what products are available to us???)  All of the Alex and Ani bracelets are also my own, but if they would like to sponsor me, that would be fantastic!