Let’s face it, we put our jewellery through a lot! From gardening, to the general day to day chores, your jewellery is destined to get a little less sparkly over time. Check out our 5 quick tips to keeping your jewellery clean and looking its best all year round.
1) Wash it
Wearing your jewellery while doing the dishes can help keep it looking its best. The hot water and detergent help remove any grime or build up that has worked its way in between your settings. If that doesn’t do the job, a little hot water, detergent and a toothbrush will help remove dirt and grime in all the hard to reach places. Simply remove your jewellery away from any drains, dip the toothbrush into a hot water and detergent mix. Once clean rinse with hot water and pat dry. We recommend allowing your piece to air dry before wearing it again.
2) Shake it
If the toothbrush just isn’t cleaning it, then pop into your local jewellery store and ask them to give it a clean in their ultrasonic machine. Using vibration, the machine gently vibrates the solution to dislodge any dirt and grime in those hard to reach places.
As always, before we place any item in the ultrasonic cleaner, we will complete an overall check of your stones and setting to ensure the item is structurally sound prior to a clean as the machine can dislodge loose diamonds. After it has come out of the ultrasonic we take a additional once over to make ensure your jewellery and stones are sound. Some jewellers may charge you for the cleaning, however with us it is a free service.
3) Polish
Over time the metals used to create your jewellery will look a little lack lustre. Polishing them with a cleaning cloth can help bring back the shine. This is great for sterling silver jewellery that tends to tarnish more than 18k gold.
4) Avoid Chemicals
Avoid any “old wives tales” when embarking on cleaning your jewellery. Toothpaste and baking sodas have tiny abrasive components which can actually damage softer gemstones and cause more harm than good. Natural pearls should never be cleaned with any home chemical as it can eat away at the pearl.
If you are ever unsure as to what you can safely use on your jewellery, please give us a call and we can help you.
5) Storing
After you have taken the time to get your jewellery all sparkly and looking great, think about where you will store it. A jewellery box that is lined with soft fabric and a lid will reduce the dust and other airborne particles that will settle on your jewellery. If you have multiple items in the one jewellery box, keeping them separate in their own compartments will stop jewellery from being tangled as well as preventing hard stone from scratching softer ones.
Regularly cleaning and checking your jewellery will maintain its shine. We do recommend to have your items checked at least once every two years by a professional. If you are ever unsure on how best to clean your items please contact us and we will be more than happy to help.
At DJCA we will gladly look over and clean any jewellery free of charge, just pop in to our studio.. If any items are in need of repair, we can provide you an estimate in-store.
