Cleaning Silver - an off-topic tutorial

I lost my cloth I've used to clean silver - you know, a flannel cloth that has some kind of chemical that you can use to wipe tarnish off of small things.  It's vanished from my bathroom - no one seems to know what happened.  Maybe elves took it.

So I took it upon myself to figure out some other way to do this without resorting to the same polish I use for my table silver.  I had heard of a method using aluminum foil, and I thought I'd try.  And guess what, it works!

Here's how to do it:

Take a saucepan - I recommend a very clean glass one, as it's non-reactive.  At least a quart size is good.
A square of aluminum foil about 12" by 12", folded up and put into the bottom of the saucepan.
A teaspoon of table salt
A teaspoon of baking soda

Fill the saucepan about half full of water and put everything in it.  Bring the water to a good boil - and drop your silver in it.  If your water has boiled, you should see a difference almost immediately.  Take the silver out and polish it with a soft cloth. 

I don't recommend you use this with silver that has things glued to it, or if the silver has soft gemstones in it, like pearls, turquoise, or emeralds.

Before - all tarnishy and nasty and black.  You can't tell that pin is a dragonfly.

During.  Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble.

After.  All bright and shiny.

The aluminum was all icky and nasty afterwards.  I won't show you that.

Crazy tatting tip du jour

Here's my favorite tatting tip - hiding thread ends using a variation on the Magic Thread Trick.

Lots of folks have shown you how to do the Magic Thread Trick (MTT). It's the best thing since sliced bread. But my version is even better, I promise!

Here's my secret: I don't use thread at all for this - I use Floss Threaders! A floss threader can be used over and over again, and it's a cinch to tat over, because it's stiff. (Thread is floppy.) Plus, they come in this nifty little container and they're CHEAP. You can buy them at the drug store, about 25 in a package.





When tatting a ring using floss threaders, always skip the half of the double stitch that's next to the close of the ring. When I'm starting a project & using a floss threader for MTT, I start the ring with a regular half stitch, than tat over the floss threader for the second half. If I need the MTT to come out on the back end of the ring, just don't tat over the second half of the last double stitch. the one that finished the ring. Here I'm starting a ring - I slip the tail into the second half of the double stitch.





And continue tatting over the floss threader's tail.....





Until I'm at least 5 DS in. I usually stop tatting over the floss threader at a picot. Then finish the ring...

And pull tight. Pull the floss threader's tail so that just a bit of the loop sticks out, about 1/2 inch. (I need to pull the tail in a bit here.) Make sure the loop sticks out the bottom of the ring!

Leave the floss threader in. When you are almost finished tatting your project, put a floss threader in your last ring or chain and finish. (FYI - for a chain, don't skip the half stitch, just do all DS.) Then knot the thread ends together, and put each thread end into one of the floss threader's loops. Then pull out the threader and trim the thread ends. Voila - you're done! Cool, huh?

I reuse my floss threaders over and over. You can use floss threaders for other things too. Yarnplayer has a great tutorial on adding beads with them.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled broadcast.