CLEANING MY SHINY BRITE ORNAMENTS. I don't want to ruin them.

[elkline50]

I bought a box of old Shiny Brite ornaments and some other glass orn. They are so dirty. Is there a safe way to clean them? I did a board search and couldn't find any specifics. I tried a moist paper towel on a broken piece and it took off the snow AND the paint. Can you please help me?

[shastadasi]

This is a long shot, would a swiffer work? The things you dust with? shastadasi

[e_doe19]

Wow, I just found a treasure of Shiny Brites in my dad's attic. I'm glad I came here to check out the experts' advice before trying to clean them, because I was planning to try just water on a Qtip for starters! Thanks to the retired chemist for the information. 🙂 I'm really excited to clean these up and set them out for the season!

[amtheqco]

I have found that dry cotton balls and cotton q-tips work well. I carefully polish the glass with a cotton ball. This dose not work when you have glitter, mica or 'snow' on the ornament as these materials pick up fibres from the cotton. On the ornaments that have delicate or difficult to clean surfaces the q-tips come into play. I carefully clean around the delicate and irregular areas.
You might consider investing in acid free tissue or cotton for storage. Some of the original boxes had cardboard die cut ornament that fit too tight. Some of these die cut boxes can scratch the ornaments and should be evaluated closely. Went I find a box that is too tight, I store in another container and retain the old box.
Avoid high heat(no attic), high humidity(no basement), and direct sun light. Heat will damage the water based colors, humidity will cause damage to silvering, direct sun light will fade colors.
Good Luck, John

[modmcgee]

Hi, 3+ years after the original question, I have had my first run-in with Shiny Bright ornaments. Mine have no snow, glitter or other embellishments and I had great results with a micro-fiber towel. I held the towel open in my hand and placed the ornament in the center so it could be held by the towel without actually touching the ornament. Then grabbed a corner or edge of the towel with the other hand to rub the dirt off and actually buff a shine back into them. Works Great!

[pembroke22]

I have tons of ornaments german poland shiny brite
I have not listed those because I don't have the right boxes. Any ideas how to"make" boxes??

[missneos*shoppe]

I gues if your really creative you can make boxes, or you could maybe find some boxes on ebay, however you can sell them without the boxes, they will still sell and depending on the style maybe very well...nows the best time to list, when friends are visiting, and family and say hey' where did you get those from??

[missneos*shoppe]

and pembroke i wrote a guide on how to pack without boxes if thats a concern of yours, hopefully it will help you;)

[wedowee14]

Try covering the ornament with cornstarch and then gently brushing the cornstarch off.

[imriepwi]

Anyone have the history on the actual paint used in the manufacture? If one has an ornament where the paint is essentially lost, seems like they could easily be repainted to bring them back to life. If one could duplicate the paint, you could go from junk to mint? Also what is the modern day equivalent to the Mica used, is there an identical product one can use that is currently on the market? Why not bring these back to life if possible, they are not that complex.

[illuvtennis]

I have found this thread very interesting and I will try some of these ideas for cleaning the shiny brites. I should have read this first because I just used a paper towel and spit to clean about a dozen I just bought of mostly Made in USA and Shiny Brites. All but one did well with gentle damp cleaning. It took off the grime and made them shine.
I am interested in the question about paints to restore bulbs. They must have been spray painted. It sure would be nice to experiment with restoring or remaking the ones that are too trashy to be pretty anymore. Or will someone look back again and say what were we thinking? Paint the inside?

[cherry-pie-and-roses]

Not an expert (not even a collector) but we did have occasion last year to need some asbestos testing done on our house.

The asbestos expert told me about some not-widely known items which have asbestos on or in them - the snow trim on Shiny Brites is one of them.

If that's correct (and he had no reason to fabricate), I would think an acrylic spray mentioned earlier in this thread would contain the asbestos fibers.

[rdes8390]

Hello all, I know this discussion is years old, but I've scoured the internet for any serious information on care/preservation/restoration of shiny brites, and this seems to be my best bet on the matter. I'm pretty much in the same boat many others are in the sense that a good 60% of all my ornaments are down to plain silver undercoating. The big deal is that mine are family heirlooms... these were my great-grandparents, and the last several generations (myself included) grew up with them! They are very dear to me, and I'm looking to seriously and properly restore them to something near their original state. Now, over the years one thing or another has happened, be it tree sap, scratches, etc. and like I said they are down to plain silver in some cases. What I'm REALLY looking for is a good paint to redo them with... I know they have stained glass paints, but I'm not sure any of them will work and still allow the "shine" through. I might give it a go if nothing else, also- I DO have an airbrush! So I'm thinking that might help... That was just my two cents on the matter, but I'd still love to hear if anyone else had success repainting these (and what paint/technique to use) as it would be a godsend of info to me! Thanks, -Ronny

[is_it_yesterday_again]

Ronny:  I have hundreds of vintage ornaments, some in not-so-great condition.  I have never heard of anyone restoring ornaments so would love you to keep us up-to-date with your progress.

The best advise to prevent further deterioration, is to wrap each ornie individually and store in room temperature conditions - not to hot and not too cold.

Good luck!

And never use water to clean them.

[slightlady]

Try a soft makeup brush, any liquid will take the finish off. Sometimes you just can't get them clean. 

[twoweeksam]

If you decide to do a test list, I would be interested to see how your auction ended, if the added protection hurt or helped.