Keeping your jewelry clean is essential for keeping it a bright and sparkly as the day you picked it up; but it’s also important for the longevity of your pieces. Dirt and grease can be abrasive, both to softer gemstones and to the metal your jewelry is made of; designs with moving parts – bracelets, pendants, earrings – are especially at risk from abrasion as those parts move and gritty grease only makes that friction and abrasion worse.
We are happy to professionally clean your jewelry any time you’d like; we never charge for cleaning and inspecting and we have tools like a steamer and a tumbler that you may not have at home. But you can also clean your jewelry at home very effectively!
We generally make our own cleaning solution ; it’s a base of 99% warm water with a splash of a de – greasing agent – Mr. Clean or Dawn work just fine. The oils from our skin, lotions, shampoos trap dirt and grime and need to be broken down, so the degreasing agent is essential. And we like to use a new, clean toothbrush to really get in and under all the nooks and crannies.
- Soak your jewelry in the solution for 10 minutes
- Use the toothbrush to get some suds going and break up any buildup
- Repeat as necessary until it’s shiny and sparkly once again!
This method, especially if used often, will take care of most of your daily buildup and be safe for most daily jewelry, but there are exceptions that need to be discussed:
Don’t:
- Use an ultrasonic cleaner or industrial steam cleaner for emeralds, opals, or settings with lots of tiny diamonds. These stones and settings need to be cleaned gently, by hand only.
- Use a de-greasing agent that contains ammonia with silver or anything organic, i.e. coral, amber, or pearls
- Use toothpaste! Some toothpaste contains silica as an abrasive and it will abrade your jewelry!
Do:
- Clean your jewelry often! It will look better and last longer
- Soak it as long as you need to break up the grease
- Rinse thoroughly in clean water so the cleaning agents don’t irritate your skin
There are home sized ultrasonic cleaners available that do a nice job and they are readily available at all your regular online shopping spots. If you’d like one step above that for your home cleaning, we would be happy to get you a small sales floor model from one of our suppliers.
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