Cleaning
Jewelry
by:
Blue
Crockatt
Cleaning
sterling silver jewelry
Don't leave
your beloved jewelry sitting in a
drawer just because it's too
dirty or because you forgot to
take it off before going in the
hot tub or pool.
Sterling
silver may turn all black or gold
color when it's in contact with
the chemicals presents in the
water contained in such
facilities. Products like bleach
& nail polish remover will
also have a terrible effect on
your sterling silver jewelry. But
it's not over for those pieces
since you can clean that off
pretty easily.
Many
cleaning techniques &
products are available on the
market today so don't rush to
your nearest jewelry store. They
will clean your jewelry
efficiently & it may be the
right solution if you don't mind
paying or really don't want to
deal with it.
Many
cleaning solutions are sold in
regular store, you just put the
jewelry in the little container
filled with a special cleaning
solution, close it up & shake
it a bit. It will work pretty
well & wont be ruining the
material or stones but it may
also remove the antique look you
used to have. Many jewelers add a
darkening solution onto the
jewelry which gives it an antique
look by turning the incursions
black & it shows all the
details of the piece a lot
better.
Cleaning
cloths are a good alternative,
just rub the jewelry & it
will turn nice & clean again.
It may take more time but it does
give great results. Only problem
is you may not be able to rub in
certain areas depending on how
the piece. If your jewelry is
just a little dirty this
technique is the best, it will
refresh the clean look of it and
you will be surprised at how well
it works. Many different type of
cleaning cloths are available,
the biggest seller on the market
is the Sunshine ® Polishing
Cloth. Such cloths are
impregnated with special chemical
cleansing compounds that do
wonders.
I have been
asked about using the new
ultrasonic cleaners available at
many stores, so I have purchased
one myself to try. First, I must
say do not ever put any jewelry
with gemstones or precious stones
in such an apparel. It will ruin
it. Also many of those apparel
have an automatic shut down
timer. Personally, it did not
work on the pieces I tried it on.
It did have a small effect, but I
had to keep on reactivating it to
the point where it became a
nonsense. So I would not
recommend wasting your money, it
may be okay for cleaning other
things but not jewelry.
The
technique I prefer may not be
suitable if you have just a few
personal pieces of jewelry.
Tumblers are such great jewelry
cleaners it's unbeatable.
If you want
to do it yourself, remember to
remove Turquoise & Howlite
gemstones and cameos before
putting the jewelry in the
tumblers. There are two types of
tumblers; rotary & vibratory
both need stainless steel shots
in the barrel to work. Shots are
available at specialized jewelry
supply stores for about twenty
dollar a pound. The rotary
tumblers with a capacity of 3
pounds need about 1 pound of
shots while the regular vibratory
tumblers need about 3-4.
Both
apparel work very well just add
the stainless steel shots, a
little water, a bit of regular
dishwashing detergent & your
jewelry in the barrel & start
the machine.
Regular
cleanings with the rotary tumbler
will take about 24 hours while
the vibratory will take only a
couple of hours. Another
inconvenient of the rotary
tumbler is that you will have to
load & close the barrel each
time while the vibratory is an
open barrel so you can just throw
& pick up your jewelry
freely. Also, the vibratory
tumbler can hold a larger volume
of jewelry at once. Still, rotary
tumblers are interesting because
they are much cheaper & make
a lot less noise.
You want to
avoid cleaning your jewelry as
much as possible? Good idea, you
can do so by being careful
avoiding direct contact with
ammonia, bleach, nail polish
remover, alcohol, and other harsh
cleaning products.
Best is to
always remove all your jewelry
before cleaning, going to pools
or hot tubs, painting, moving
heavy furniture, doing sports so
that you don't brake it or get it
dirty. Also, when you are not
wearing your jewelry store it in
a ziploc type of bag, the reason
for that is that sterling silver
oxidizes in contact with oxygen
which turns it black over time.
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Blue
Crockatt is a professional
silversmithing artist. You can
get your jewelry clean at a very
low cost & see her work
exclusively on
http://sterlingsilverart.com
About
The Author
Silversmithing
artist Blue Crockatt invites you
to see her latest handmade
jewelry at http://sterlingsilverart.com
- sales@sterlingsilverart.com
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