Cleaning Iron and Crystal Chandeliers

The thought of cleaning your iron and crystal chandeliers is making you cringe. They can be time consuming and nerve wracking, especially if they are dripping with a lot of excess ornamentation. However, there are a lot of ways to make the task a little easier. Cleaning items that are made of two very different types of material can be interesting because what works well for the first material can actually be a problem to the second. While iron is a pretty tough material to deal with, some of the products that you can use on it with no problem at all can cause serious problems for your crystal and can even cause it to look cloudy or can scratch the surfaces. With crystal, you also have to take great care that you don’t change the temperature very suddenly or it will crack.

The amount of cleaning that you have to do may depend on the location of your chandelier and the room it is in. one that hangs in a seldom used and closed off dining room, for instance, may only need a bit of dusting off with a soft brush or a special vacuum cleaner attachment, but if the dining room is directly off of the kitchen, there might be a need to remove built up grease and grungy film. If you feel like you have to do some scrubbing, it is better to remove the crystals from the chandelier if that is possible. If you cannot, then work to minimize the amount of cleanser that is getting on them as well as the amount of bumps they sustain.

For a really intricate design, a small toothbrush may come in handy. You can also use a clean paint brush to brush away some of the dust and dirt that can get trapped in the nooks and crannies. If you do use your vacuum, make sure that you protect the crystals from getting sucked down the tube and destroyed in the process. You can do that by stretching a little bit of nylon over the end of the tube which does not interfere with the cleaning.

If it is the crystals that need to be cleaned, you can use a soft cloth and buff them to a lovely shine, however, if you are convinced that you need to do further cleaning, use a product that is gentle and labeled for crystal. Keeping your iron and crystal chandeliers clean does not have to be an all day long process as long as you know a few tricks and tips.