Homemade Tarnish Remover

Yesterday I did something not-so-smart. Well, I'm fairly certain this is not uncommon for me...I do not smart things all the time. Be that as it may, I did something not-so-smart that I hoped was reversible. I put my shiny silver chip and dip platter in the dishwasher. *GASP* I had no idea that it would come out all black and tarry looking. My lovely, elegant platter that I rarely used because, honestly, how often do I need my chip and dip platter, was...grungy. Straight to Pinterest I went. "Help me, people of Pinterest! Is there someway to remove the tarnish without going out and buying something???" Short answer...."eh, kinda." To see how, check out this blog and this blog.

I wish I could show you the loveliness that was my platter before my laziness of not washing it by hand occurred, but, alas, I don't have one.

But, here it is after the dreaded wash. I wiped it down as best I could so that the black wouldn't smear on my hands anymore, so it's not quite as dark as it had been before that.

The first thing I tried was putting foil in my sink and laying baking soda down and then filling the sink with hot water.

Pre-hot water

This proved to be slightly successful, but I am pretty sure the water needed to be hotter, so I then started the whole process over and boiled the water instead. That seemed to be slightly more successful, but still it doesn't look shiny and new like I had hoped it would. It kinda looks like a fancy, old fashioned platter now.

Anyway, next I tried toothpaste, again to no avail. The difference was so very small that it wasn't even worth taking a picture of.

Consensus: If you are in need of a good tarnish remover and can find some Tarn-X, get it. That stuff works wonderfully; stinks horribly; but it works. My mom has used it for years. If you can't find that, this is an ok alternative...though, it certainly didn't give me back my beautiful platter like I would've liked. My next step is to try out Tarn-X again. Oh how I hope that will work!