Cleaning your Jewelry

Cleaning your Jewelry

Jewelry is beautiful, jewelry is sparkly. 

But what happens over time as you wear it? 

As one wears their favorite piece day in and day out, we begin to notice a change. The oils from our skin transfer to the stones and metals. Lotion and creams get stuck between the mountings and caked onto the stones. Causing those special pieces to lose the shimmer that catches everyone's eye. 

So how do we make that piece of jewelry sparkle again? How did we get it back to its attention grabbing state? 

Continue reading and you'll discover the secret! (It's easy stuff, I promise.)

Let's start off with the different ways to clean jewelry....And the different places! 

Jewelry stores offer great machines to deep clean your jewelry and give your pieces that first day from the store sparkle!

Some of the tools you can see at any jewelry store include ultrasonic cleaners, ionic cleaners, and steamers. 

You'd think they would just call them "Jewelry Cleaner" or "Sparkle Bringer Backer", but that's why I'm not in charge of naming things.

Let's start with the Ultrasonic!

This is your most common cleaner and the vibrations from the machine help to break up dirt and grime off the ring. Some even have the ability to heat the solution up to provide better breakdown during the cleaning process. However, some stones are too soft to be heated, so you have to be careful during the process as to not damage more delicate materials.

Some examples of safe stones for the ultrasonic are diamonds, ruby, sapphires, and cubic zirconia. Emerald's are a good example of stones that can go in the ultrasonic, but need extra care due to the fact resin that seals the fractures together can leak out and ruin the stability of the stone. Stones that should never go in an ultrasonic, like opal and turquoise, are unsafe because they are porous stones. 

Now how do we clean these types of stone?

That brings us to Ionic Cleaners!

Ionic cleaners use an electrical current, or a very low current. A special solution is used with this piece of equipment allowing stones, like opals and turquoise, to be safely cleaned. The solution does not harm the jewelry.

It also has the ability to remove tarnish stains from silver and most colored stones are safely cleaned using this method. 

Steamers are used to clean the solution off the item and blow out dirt and oils from hard to reach spaces after a piece of jewelry has been sufficiently cleaned by an Ultrasonic or Ionic Cleaner.

(It also is the fascination of my dog, Charlie, who can be dead asleep and wake up to go play with the Steamer whenever I am using it.)

Now the everyday question..."What can I do at home to clean my jewelry?"

There are jewelry cleaning solutions that you can pick up in most stores or order online.

You need to be careful though, as some of these solutions can be harsh and do more damage to your jewelry.

Or...You can follow my easy three step routine that is effective, cheap, and simple!

All you need is...

1. Toothbrush (preferably clean and one that you won't brush your teeth with).

2. Warm water

3. Dawn dish soap

Mix the warm water and dish soap together, dip the jewelry in the mixture, gently clean it with the toothbrush and rinse it off with more warm water.

And that's it! 

That's all you need to clean your jewelry. 

I told you it was easy.

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