Make It New: Clean Your Brass Jewelry with Lemon and Baking Soda

One of the goals of my six months, no shopping stint is to learn how to better care for the clothing and accessories I already have. I don't actually own that much jewelry to begin with, and usually rotate among five pairs of earrings, a necklace or two, and a couple of cuff bracelets. This works fine for me, but it does mean that I put a decent amount of wear on each piece. And my brass pieces were starting to get dirrrrty.

So I thought I'd try out a natural brass cleaning technique I've seen all over the place: lemon and baking soda. The process is pretty simple:

• Just squeeze half a lemon into a small bowl filled with 3-4 teaspoons of baking soda and stir.
• This creates a marvelous, science fair-style bubbly paste, which you then apply with an old toothbrush to your brass pieces and scrub away.
• Rinse, making sure the paste is completely removed from all the nooks and crannies, and pat dry.
• Repeat the process if needed to get your brass nice and shiny (I cleaned mine twice).

I was pretty happy with the results; the mixture cleaned and shined my jewelry nicely while still retaining some of the patina that makes brass so charming in the first place. To get all of the stains out, you may need to use a stronger solution (I've heard apple cider vinegar also works well), but I was happy with results that this method achieved. Here's a before and after shot for comparison:

Before...

after!

What are your favorite natural cleaning methods for jewelry, clothing, or other accessories?