Jewelry Care

Listed below are some recommendations for cleaning and storing your jewelry.  This list is not all inclusive and only provides warnings for some of the most common improper practices used to clean jewelry.  

To keep your jewelry clean and ready to wear, gently wipe off excess make-up and skin oils after each wearing.   Use a nub free, 100% cotton cloth and gently wipe the piece clean using only the soft pads of your fingers.  Store in jeweler's tissue or a soft bag. 

To help retard tarnish on sterling silver, place the wrapped piece inside a plastic zip lock bag and seal.

When cleaning sterling silver remember that it is a very soft metal and can easily be marred by a fingernail or wadded piece of fabric pushed roughly against the metal surface.  For this reason, use one of the following methods to clean heavier soils and tarnish:

To remove fingerprints, light grease or dirt , add a small amount of mild liquid soap to a half cup of warm water, soak 2-3 minutes, rinse thoroughly with clean water and dry completely before storing in an air tight plastic bag.

Be very careful when using any soaking method to clean jewelry that has soft stones such as amber, lapis lazuli, or turquoise.  Extended soaking in any solution may harm the polish on the stone.

To remove excessive tarnish, polish with a 100% cotton cloth and a good non-abrasive metal cleaner.   Be sure to remove any remnants of the cleaner from gemstones and rinse thoroughly with clean water.

Tips for Keeping your Jewelry Looking New and Shiny

Never use anything but 100% cotton as a polishing cloth since paper, polyester, and coarse fabrics often contain wood fibers or synthetics, which impart fine scratches, especially on sterling silver.  A polished appearance is the result of the metalsmith’s effort to file, sand and buff the metal to a perfectly flat surface.  When even minor scratches occur, as seen under a microscope, the surface looks like the ragged edge of a saw blade and light is bounced in and around those scratches like a voice echoing in the Alps.  An un-marred surface allows the light to be bounced back smoothly, with no echoes, and results in a highly reflective surface.

Important Warnings about Caring for Your Jewelry!

Always remove your rings and fine jewelry before using any product that contains bleach!  Bleach can cause gold and other metal alloys to breakdown leaving the metal unrepairable.

If you normally use specially purchased jeweler’s cloths to keep your jewelry clean and shiny, be sure to use fresh cloths since the dirt and grit left on the cloth from a previous use will now leave scrapes and pits in the piece you are trying to clean and polish.

Never use toothpaste or other abrasives to clean metal or stones.  Although the abrasives in toothpaste are great for your teeth they can damage the surface of the metal requiring the skill of a professional to buff and refinish. 

Other Common Chemicals and Solutions to Avoid

Denatured alcohol, turpentine, acetone, and ammonia.  Any of the these can dull or even pit the surface on softer gemstones.  Petroleum based products can actually "melt" amber and do significant damage to pearls.