Jewelry Care: Important Tips On Maintaining Your Jewelry
Whether you have antique or contemporary jewelry it is important that you take proper care of it. If you follow a few simple guidelines you can often prevent costly damage to your beautiful pieces of jewelry. Consider the following jewelry care tips when it comes to properly caring for your jewelry.
Periodically examine your jewelry closely to make sure the stones are secure and the mountings and clasps are intact. Ideally you should do this each time before cleaning any piece of jewelry.
Make sure the drain is plugged before cleaning jewelry, especially if you will be cleaning them near the sink. Be sure to only clean one piece of jewelry at a time since even hard stones such as diamonds can be scratched. After cleaning and performing jewelry care, make sure each piece of jewelry is completely dry before returning to storage.
Each piece of jewelry should be stored individually. A commercial jewelry cleaner or a homemade solution of one cup warm water to two tablespoons dishwashing liquid and one teaspoon of ammonia can be used to clean diamonds and other hard stones such as rubies, sapphires, topazes, amethysts and quartz. Soak the jewelry for at least fifteen seconds and then scrub with a soft toothbrush and dry with a soft, lint free cloth. For hard stones you also have the option of using an ultrasonic cleaner.
If you have pearls you should wipe them with a soft, dry cloth after each time you wear them. Pearls should never be placed in an ultrasonic cleaner and you should also avoid using hair spray or perfume around pearls. It is best to have pearls professionally cleaned and periodically restrung to avoid a risk of the cord breaking.
If you have jewelry that doesn’t have stones you can use a commercial jewelry care store cleaner and polish. Gold, silver and platinum jewelry that aren’t fragile can also be cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner. Fragile jewelry will require more careful cleaning.
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