Is there any way to....

....restore the beauty of silver-lined glass beads when the lining has
tarnished? On the darker colors it doesn't matter so much, and
sometimes the tarnish adds just the bit of antique color a project
needs, but otherwise it's so unattractive...

I keep asking this question everywhere, but no one's had an answer yet.

Monique in TX
owner of a *lot* of old silver lined crystal beads that are just too
ugly now for words.

Coming out of lurkdom to say:
I have not tried this, and it may even ruin the beads. If you have a few
extra beads, have you thought about soaking them in a liquid silver or
jewelry cleaner?
Marilyn
"monique" wrote in message
...
...restore the beauty of silver-lined glass beads when the lining has
tarnished? On the darker colors it doesn't matter so much, and sometimes
the tarnish adds just the bit of antique color a project needs, but
otherwise it's so unattractive...

I keep asking this question everywhere, but no one's had an answer yet.

Monique in TX
owner of a *lot* of old silver lined crystal beads that are just too ugly
now for words.

I find that a little baking soda and vinegar will usually clean silver
tarnish - let them soak in it. I am not sure about silver lined beads,
though - it might not work. But it might be worth a try.

--
Kandice Seeber
www.lampwork.net
Vote for my site!
http://tinyurl.com/bbcon
"monique" wrote in message
...
...restore the beauty of silver-lined glass beads when the lining has
tarnished? On the darker colors it doesn't matter so much, and sometimes
the tarnish adds just the bit of antique color a project needs, but
otherwise it's so unattractive...

I keep asking this question everywhere, but no one's had an answer yet.

Monique in TX
owner of a *lot* of old silver lined crystal beads that are just too ugly
now for words.

Hi Monique...

Are you referring to silver-lined seed beads? If so, my experience with
getting them wet was that the silver lining eventually broke down and
disappeared. Leaving me with clear/transparent seed beads.

Anna W. in Tx


"monique" wrote in message
...
...restore the beauty of silver-lined glass beads when the lining has
tarnished? On the darker colors it doesn't matter so much, and sometimes
the tarnish adds just the bit of antique color a project needs, but
otherwise it's so unattractive...

I keep asking this question everywhere, but no one's had an answer yet.

Monique in TX
owner of a *lot* of old silver lined crystal beads that are just too ugly
now for words.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. The tin foil/baking soda/salt method
is definitely something to try. It might not be good on AB beads or
other beads with a surface finish, but maybe it works on plain
transparent ones. It certainly shouldn't hurt nylon beading thread. It
amazes me that since these silver lined beads have been around for so
long and get so ugly so quickly that no one has found a definitive way
to deal with the problem or that the manufacturers haven't found
something just as shiny but non-tarnishing to line the beads with.

Monique in TX
who, at age 4, got a big trinket full of silver-lined rocailles from a
gumball machine in Germany, and who has neaver been the same since.

In message , monique
writes
Thanks for all of the suggestions. The tin foil/baking soda/salt method
is definitely something to try. It might not be good on AB beads or
other beads with a surface finish, but maybe it works on plain
transparent ones. It certainly shouldn't hurt nylon beading thread. It
amazes me that since these silver lined beads have been around for so
long and get so ugly so quickly that no one has found a definitive way
to deal with the problem or that the manufacturers haven't found
something just as shiny but non-tarnishing to line the beads with.

Monique in TX
who, at age 4, got a big trinket full of silver-lined rocailles from a
gumball machine in Germany, and who has neaver been the same since.

When I have dismantled my antique find crystal necklaces I have found
that the stringing threads have got very dirty also.
Natural skin secretions and perfume etc. will discolour them.
Shirley
--
Shirley Shone

http://www.allcrafts.demon.co.uk

Monique -- I know exactly what you speak of, and my crappy solution is
this -- restring it with new beads. I do it all the time. Love silver
lined seeds, but they turn goldish and it ruins the look for me.

Becki

Actually, I've decided to quit hating the tarnished beads and just
enjoy/use whatever funny color they turn. One lot of silver lined
yellow now reads as a funny silvery-chrome-yellow which just happened to
fit *perfectly* with all the other colors in a necklace for my sister,
and an old tube of silver-lined crystals is communing with some opaque
black seed beads in a spiral stitch choker. They're great in there--not
quite crystal, not quite silver, just smoky and antique-looking. I've
got a tube of tarnished clear AB--ugly by themselves--which will be just
right for an upcoming strand which has silver, teal, and iridescent
abalone shell beads. If the silver falls out of all these boogers,
they'll still look great where they are, too, even if it's uneven.

I might still play with "untarnishing," if only because tarnished SL
bugles look mighty awful when only the ends are tarnished. I've got a
few things I want to try and will let y'all know if I have any luck.

Monique in TX
who, as an embroiderer and hand quilter, really enjoys doing beading
projects whose completion times are measured in hours or evenings and
not YEARS!

Beckibead wrote:
Monique -- I know exactly what you speak of, and my crappy solution is
this -- restring it with new beads. I do it all the time. Love silver
lined seeds, but they turn goldish and it ruins the look for me.

Becki