Trying to be more Eco-Friendly

I’ve always hated the use of toxic chemicals in my studio and always try to limit what I use to the bare minimum, but when it comes to removing fire stain from silver, a pickle solution of some sort is required.

I just went with the default Pickling Powder that’s available when I first started out – I’ve hardly used up any of the huge tub of granules that I have and have often wondered if there was an eco friendly alternative. Now that Milo is getting about on his feet and even though he’s never allowed in my studio, I really don’t like having a tub of acid in granular form sitting on a shelf, alongside other toxic chemicals.

So with my newly revived interest in Pinterest, I was really chuffed to come across a solution quite quickly. I found this link to a blog post on the I Dream I Can Fly blog that uses a solution of salt and vinegar and thought it was worth a try.

I’ve been working on some earrings lately – using the heart and leaf shapes that are cut out from my lovely spoon pendants…

So I mixed up the required amount of salt and vinegar in a jar with a lid (very important) and heated it up in the microwave. And yes my studio started smelling like the local fish and chip shop, but after dropping my firestained earrings into the solution and putting the lid on the jar (to avoid inhaling further fishy/chippy smells)…

Hey presto – they’ve come out white as they should!

Superb!