Cleaning Your Jewelry

Certain semi-precious stones, as well as with ivory and pearls, should not be cleaned using ultrasonic cleaners. Ionic cleaners, mild soap and water, and hand polishing with a jeweler's cloth are the only truly safe ways to clean fine jewelry. Ivory requires special handling.

MethodsTo Clean Silver:

• Polish by rubbing gently with a jeweler’s cloth.
• You can use an aluminum pie pan, baking soda, salt, and boiling water:
  • First, take an aluminum pie pan and just add 2-3 inches of boiling water, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon baking soda.
  • The mixture will begin to fizz.
  • Add the silver jewelry, making sure the water covers the silver pieces.
  • Remove silver, rinse, dry, and buff with a soft cloth.
  • This method works great without harming semi-precious gems.
• You can clean some silver jewelry with white thick toothpaste. Do not use gels, and be gentle.

• Using an old toothbrush, coat the silver with a little drop of toothpaste
• then run it under warm water
• work it into a lather and rinse
• This method provides minimal cleaning, but is fine for mildly tarnished silver.
• Another method for cleaning mildly tarnished silver is with a tiny drop of baby oil on a commercially sold baby wipe. this method will add some sheen, and will also work on gold.

• You can clean gold jewelry with cold water and ammonia. (Remember: Ammonia can ruin semi-precious stones. Use this method only for gold jewelry which contains no stones)
  • First, make a solution out of 50% cold water and 50% household ammonia in a cup.
  • Soak the jewelry for 15 minutes.
  • Lift out gently and clean with a toothbrush.
  • Let the jewelry drain on tissue paper.
  • This method offers minimal cleaning at best, and should be followed up with a jeweler's cloth.
• Use an ultrasonic or an ionic cleaner (see previous caveats above)

Methods to Clean Copper

• To clean copper, you can use lemon juice and salt.
  • Make a paste of lemon juice and salt and use an old toothbrush to brush it over the entire surface
  • or soak in a lemon juice and salt solution.
• Another option is to use salt and vinegar.
  • Vinegar, like the lemon juice above, is what really cleans the copper.
  • However, vinegar does take longer to clean the copper than lemon juice.
• The fastest method I have found to clean copper is to slther it with ketchup, wait a few seconds, then rinse thoroughly.

Cleaning Pearls

• To clean pearls, prevention is your best friend; since they are more fragile than other gemstones.
  • Don’t put on your pearls until after you have put on your lotions, perfumes, and make-up.
  • After you wear them, gently wipe them down with a soft jeweler’s cloth to remove any dirt and body oils they may have collected.
  • Once a year, check the string to make sure it is still secure and have them restrung if necessary.
  • Store them separately from your other jewelry whenever possible.

DO NOT clean your pearls with any harsh detergents, jewelry cleaners, abrasive cloths such as paper towels, or any cleaning solutions that contain ammonia, as noted above. Also, it is wise not to expose them to tap water from a sink or shower.

Cleaning Ivory
My best advice is,"Don't." Dust using a very soft toothbrush, or have professionally cleaned. Ivory is very sensitive to moisture.