Jewelry and bijouterie care

Jewelry and high-quality bijouterie are not afraid of time. Jewelry can retain its original appearance for tens or even hundreds of years, and in some cases for millennia. Such a long life of jewelry is possible if a number of conditions are met ...

Jewelry storage - general tips

The best way to store jewelry and costume jewelry is in a safe. Today safes are inexpensive and you don't have to own millions to afford a home safe.

In fact, a safe is not an excess, but a necessity in any apartment and house. The safe can store jewelry, cash and important documents.

If you don't want to buy a safe yet, keep your jewelry in a box. The ideal jewelry box has many compartments, making it possible to arrange all items in their place. Earrings are in one compartment, rings in the other. This is not only convenient, but also useful for jewelry, because when they lie loose enough, jewelry rub against each other less.

It is undesirable to store jewelry in open vases. Gold, platinum and silver are not afraid of the sun's rays, but some stones lose their brightness and properties under the influence of the sun and heat.

Never leave jewelry in the bathroom, even if you have a beautiful cabinet there that is all sparkling. The bathroom experiences temperature changes and high humidity. This damages many products and especially stones.

Silver Jewelry Care
Silver is the most vulnerable of all precious metals. Silver items have a high standard of 925, but this does not save our rings and chains, silver darkens and loses its appearance. There are many reasons for the darkening of silver, and it is not always possible to find an exact explanation. Sometimes silver darkens simply from regular skin contact.

It is believed that this is due to damage or poor health. Magic and corruption exist, but in the case of the darkening of silver, one should not immediately be sad. Scientists have proven that a change in the shade of silver can occur under the influence of human sweat - in people with a high nitrogen content in the body, silver darkens less often, and an excess of sulfur causes darkening of silver jewelry in their owners.

It is important to note that an excess of sulfur can be not only in your body, but simply on the skin, because some cosmetics contain sulfur.

How to clean silver

1. If silver jewelry is simply dirty, wash them in hot soapy water. Add Fairy instead of soap. After holding the silver for a while in a bath with a soap solution or Fairy, brush with a soft toothbrush.

2. Jewelry without stones can be clarified by placing it in a 10% solution of citric acid or ammonia. For greater efficiency, the solution can be heated. At the same time, do not forget that it is impossible to clean silver with blackening with ammonia. In general, jewelry and silverware with blackening must be cleaned very carefully, sometimes even from Fairy and a foam sponge, blackening can fade.

3. Purification of silver with potatoes. We rub the raw vegetable on a grater and fill it with water, then put the silver jewelry in this mixture for a few minutes. Next, we polish them with a woolen cloth to a shine. You can dip the silver jewelry in the potato peel broth, and then rinse it in water.

4. Cleaning with soda. Put the darkened silver jewelry (without stones) in a saucepan, and add 2-3 tablespoons of baking soda. Next, cover with food foil and pour boiling water for 10-15 minutes. After that, rinse with warm running water.

5. Strongly darkened silverware can be rubbed with a cloth with tooth powder.Then rinse with clean water.

These tips are relevant for silver jewelry, silverware and cupronickel jewelry.

6. How to clean silver jewelry with stones? It is best to use a dedicated silver cleaner. You can buy it in jewelry and antique stores.

7. Products with pearls, amber and coral it is better not to try to clean it yourself, but to give it to a jeweler or leave it darkened.

After cleaning your silver jewelry, take your time to put it on. Put the silver in the box and let it rest for a few days. Silver takes these few days to create a thin protective layer so your products will last longer.

How to clean and care for gold jewelry

Gold is not as vulnerable as silver and only in rare cases can darken. This applies to products of low standard 333 and 375. Now such products are not easy to find, they became widespread in the USSR, and were made exclusively for the poor.

Items 583, 585, 750 and higher never darken, except when exposed to acid or a special reagent in order to clarify the sample.

Despite its durability, gold jewelry can get dirty. Therefore, the gold has to be cleaned from time to time.

1. The easiest and fastest way to clean gold using washing powder. A ladle with high sides or a saucepan is taken, gold items are placed on the bottom and filled with water so that they are slightly covered. The dishes are put on fire and brought to a boil, and then a little powder is poured. When you pour in the powder, the liquid will foam and you need to reduce the heat. Let it boil for a couple of minutes, and then rinse with warm running water.

This method is very harsh in relation to jewelry and is suitable for massive seals, chains, but in no way is suitable for products with stones.

2. Dissolve Fairy or another dishwashing detergent in warm water and dip the gold items into it. Leave the jewelry in the solution for several hours, shaking occasionally for better cleansing. It is better to put a cloth on the bottom of the pan so that the jewelry does not rub against the metal of the pan.

This method can be used to clean jewelry with diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and rubies, varieties of quartz, topaz, beryl and aquamarine.

Then rinse each item in boiled or better filtered water and rub with a towel.

3. Shine and purity of gold products can be returned with a sugar solution. It is enough to dissolve a spoonful of sugar in a glass of warm water and put the jewelry in the solution for 3-4 hours. Sweet water will bring back the shine and purity of the jewelry to some extent.

Finally, rinse with warm water and dry with a towel.

4. Many gold jewelry has a complex shape., various weaves of openwork ornament and places that are difficult to clean. Therefore, most methods will not completely clean your jewelry. In such cases, a soft toothbrush will help. With its help, we will be able to remove dirt from the most inaccessible places at the time of rinsing with warm water.

Cleaning platinum jewelry
Platinum is the most resistant metal, it is superior in quality to both silver and gold. Platinum does not oxidize and almost never tarnishes, and also has great strength. Therefore, all methods of cleaning gold jewelry can be used to clean platinum.

Store platinum jewelry separately from gold and silver. Platinum itself will not suffer from joint storage, but silver and gold can scratch. For this reason, polishing platinum items at home is unrealistic.

The strength of this metal is such that it can only be polished in a jewelry workshop.

Jewelry with stones
Be careful when cleaning jewelry with stones. Many stones are afraid of alkaline and acidic solutions, react poorly to temperature and humidity. And the stone can just fall out and get lost.

One lost stone, even a small cubic zirconia, can ruin everything, so it is best to give jewelry with stones to jewelers.

Jewelry cleaning
Jewelry is made from many different materials, the properties of which can be talked about for hours. Therefore, we will consider only some of the principles of cleaning jewelry.

1. Jewelry with enamel cleaned with a mixture of tooth powder or chalk with a few drops of ammonia.

2. Jewelry with rhinestones and glass clean well with Fairy or liquid soap. To do this, you just need to dilute it in water and put the jewelry on for a few minutes. Then rub a little with a cloth or soft brush. Next, rinse in warm water and wipe with a soft cloth.

3. If the beads are strung on a string, it is better not to use soap and powder, this leads to rapid deterioration of the thread.

4. Soap and powder can be used to wash plastic jewelry. You use plastic soap dishes, and you pour shampoos from plastic bottles. Not all plastics are the same, some may fade from detergents. Therefore, it is better to wash plastic jewelry with warm water.

5. Wooden jewelry... The tree is afraid of water, not to mention soap solutions. Remember how you take care of furniture - wipe it with a cloth and rub it with special products. All this is true for wood jewelry.

6. For cleaning artificial pearls A regular velvet cloth is ideal, as other methods will damage the decoration. Both artificial and natural pearls must be stored separately from other jewelry by placing them in a soft cloth and then in a jewelry box.

In conclusion, it is important to remind you - do not forget to take off jewelry when doing household chores and when using caring cosmetics. Jewelry, silver and some stones are highly susceptible to the effects of cream and even perfume.

It is highly recommended to remove all jewelry before visiting a sauna, bath, solarium, because there are sharp changes in temperature, humidity and radiation.

And the most important and unpleasant thing is that it is better not to wear jewelry on the seaside. Of course, I really want to shine with decorations on the beach, because there is nothing besides a swimsuit, and I really want to decorate myself with something else, but sea water, sun and hot sand have an adverse effect on decorations. And the beach is also the easiest place to lose jewelry.