You can keep your jewelry looking clean and bright right at home with a few simple steps. With a little foresight, you can keep professional cleanings to a minimum.
Cleaning Tips
Most jewelry can be cleaned in very warm water with a little dish washing liquid. Use a soft toothbrush to reach crevices and details.
For heavily grimed pieces like rings, which take the most abuse and store the most debris, a long soak in a hot, soapy solution prior to hand cleaning is recommended. If soaking and brushing doesn't seem to have an effect, see your local jeweler to have the piece professionally cleaned.
Gold Jewelry
To clean gold, first soak it in a little warm sudsy water and then brush carefully around any stones with a small makeup brush.
You should never soak pearl or coral, which may have water-soluble fittings.
When you have cleaned the jewelry, rinse it in cold water and dry in a soft cloth.
Special jewelry cleaning solutions are available which can be purchased from any good jeweler.
Put your jewelry away in a jewelry box, which has special compartments for the different items or keep them in their individual boxes until you need them again. Typically, these boxes prevent more breakage than pouches because they can resist pressure from any objects placed above them.
Diamond Jewelry
Do not wear your diamond ring when doing rough jobs such as cleaning or gardening. Catching in things can damage prongs and settings. Diamonds, even though the hardest of stones, can be chipped by a hard knock.
Check the prongs of your rings regularly as they can catch in your clothes when you are dressing. The damage caused to the prong may lead you to lose your diamond. You can sometimes tell if damage has been done if the ring keeps catching in your clothes and on close examination, you can see the prong is either missing or raised from the stone.
If a prong is found to be damaged or missing, the item should be taken to a qualified jeweler for repair and should not be worn before then.
You can clean your diamond ring by first soaking it in warm water. Brush carefully with a small brush around the diamonds as the area under the stones can become very dirty. This can cause your stones to appear dull as no light can pass through from underneath. Rinse in cold water and dry with a soft cloth.
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