Jewelry should sparkle and shine and look new every time you wear it, and lets face it after some time everyone’s jewelry needs a good cleaning. If we take a look at our own jewelry that has been with us for a few years now, it must have started looking tarnished or just plain old.

Do you now why does this happen? Well it happens due to exposure to dirt, dust, pollution, soap, air and even moisture can rob a piece of necklace or earrings of its shine.

But I have good news for you, it is totally possible to clean your jewelry at home and you do not have to go to a jeweler every now and then. 

Restore silver oxidized earrings, gold necklace that has become dull and looks old back to its shiny self, make earrings and necklaces with gemstones, diamonds and pearls back to their lustrous self.

When your pretty bling jewelry has lost its bling try these DIY cleaning methods and you will definitely get the shine back

1] Keep a check on your jewelry

It is very easy to not realize that your jewelry needs cleaning, either because you keep wearing it all the time and the changes are that minimalistic that you do not notice them or you have stashed your jewelry away in a box and you do not look at it very often.

I suggest that every 8-12 months you remove some time out and have a look at your beloved jewelry pieces and asses the objectively. There are high chances your jewelry might need some glamming up specially the sterling silver ones are most likely going to be tarnished.

I know you might feel pretty sad looking at the lovely jewelry being tarnished buy I have good news for you. It is very easy to clean most of the jewelry pieces.

Lets’ find out how?

How to clean Silver?

The best way to make your silver ware look as good as new and to keep them from re-tarnishing very quickly is with a good quality silver polish. Make sure when you purchase this silver polish it contains ingredients that remove and dissolve tarnish while leaving behind a thin protective coating to prevent any kind of new tarnish from forming.

We get two type of silver polish. One is in a liquid form and another one is in a form of wet wipes. The liquid polishes can be very tricky and messy as well, especially if you are in a hurry. So I suggest use the polishes that come in a wipe form as it is a very convenient alternative. The wipes which come in multi-layered cloth which are specially treated with one side to clean out the tarnish and other side to shine the silver piece are also a very good option.

2] DIY Silver cleaning Hacks

Not everyone has a silver polish handy, What do you do when you need to clean your silver pieces and you do not have a silver polish on hand?

Here are some DIY silver cleaning hacks for you. Just know these home remedies will definitely clean your silver pieces but will not keep them from tarnishing again. Also the silver expects always cautions us against excessive rubbing and using these kind of things to clean our silver ware But if Only!!!

• Dish Soap

Mix a few drop of Dish washing Liquid with some warm water. Dip a ultra soft cloth in this solution and use it to rub of the tarnish from your silver pieces. Once your done rinse it with cold water thoroughly and then buff dry it with another ultra soft cloth.

• Baking Soda Hack

This is very help for heavily tarnished Silver pieces. Mix 3 tea spoons of baking soda to one spoon of water. Make your silver piece wet with some water. Take a lint free soft cloth and apply the previously made paste on the silver. Slowly and gently rid it all over the piece and into the crevices as well. Keep turning the cloth as it picks up the tarnish. Once you feel the cloth has picked up all the tarnish, rinse it with cold water and immediately buff dry with a clean and soft cloth.

• Toothpaste Hack.

Toothpaste has mild abrasives which removes stains from your teeth. The same abrasives removes tarnish stains from silver. Apply a small quantity of white tooth paste (not the gelled one) to the tarnished silver pieces and rub very slowly and gently with your fingers or a soft cloth. Once you are done rubbing the silver piece wash it under cold water. Do not forget to buff dry the silver piece with a clean, soft and lint free cloth.

3] How to clean Gold?

Every one owns that little something of gold that needs cleaning every now and then. Some of own even big chunky necklaces, earrings or even bracelets of gold. All these jewelry pieces need proper maintenance and cleaning from time to time.

Take some luke warm water in a bowl, add a few drops of dish washing liquid to it. Now you can give your solid gold necklaces, earrings, chains and bracelets a bath in this solution. You can put smaller jewelry pieces in a strainer, before putting them in this solution so its easier for you to remove them, of course larger pieces can go as is in the bowl. Let everything soak for about five to six minutes. Swirl the item around after this 6-7 times and take them out. Remove them on a soft Lint free cloth and gentle brush the crevices with a soft tooth brush, to remove any kind of dirt trapped in there.

Put all the pieces in a clean bowl of filled with eater. Let it rest for 5 minutes and then swirl the jewelry 8-10 time and remove on a soft clean cloth. Swirling helps all the dirt to get out of the crevices as well. Once you remove the jewelry, you will be able to see small dirt particle in the water. Buff dry everything with a Lint free soft cloth and your gold pieces are as good as new!

4] How to clean Gemstone

It’s very easy to restore luster and sparkle of semi-precious and precious stones, like diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds set in gold.
You can use the same method mentioned above for cleaning your precious rings earrings and necklaces. But instead of using normal water and dish soap solution I would suggest use Seltzer or sparkling water. The carbon dioxide present in this water helps to loosen the dirt and debris settled in the crevices and settings of your jewelry. After you take your jewelry out of this solution you will be able to see tiny dust particles settled below and of course your precious pieces will look squeaky clean and shiny and new.

You can use a super soft tooth brush to brush off the dirt from stones and its settings. Dip the tooth brush in clean water to rinse the stone, or you cold also place it in the strainer and rinse under running water. Once done buff dry with a clean soft cloth and admire the sparkle of your jewelry.

If you want to clean a ring on the go you can keep a jewelry cleaning stick in your purse. You can easy find this online and clean your ring with it. In case you do not have anything and still need to clean your ring, take a ear bud and damp it with a little bit of soap water and gently rub it on the ring and the stone. Hold your ring steady under running water and buff dry. Your ring will look as good as new with all the shine and sparkle.

5] How to clean Pearls?

Pearls are really porous in nature and because they are porous they can easily loose their luster. Weather they are cultured, faux or real. We have soaked the metal in a soapy water up till now, but the same cannot work for pearls as soaking pearls in a bowl of soap water will weaken its strings and make it weak.

To clean pearls gently start laying the strand of pearls on a soft clean cloth. Take a clean and dry make up brush dip it in a mixture of warm water mixed with little shampoo and gently just brush it over each pearl. To finish washing your pearls take a damp cloth and gently wipe the pearls from the softer side of the cloth. Lay the string of pearls flat on the table and let it air dry. Do not hang the string or else the pearls will stretch.

This is an amazing no soak treatment which works well with turquoise and opal stones as well because these stones are also porous in nature. There are special pearl care kits also available online and they contain few tissues sachets of cleaner and a few cleaning cloth.

 

I hope this blog on how to clean your precious metals and stones was helpful.