Monday, November 2, 2009

How To Clean Sterling Silver Jewelry

Friday, October 23, 2009

How do I clean my galore' jewelry?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions.
It depends on what exactly do u have. Is it sterling, turquoise, gold or pearls?

Here are some answers:

Sterling Silver:
Most sterling silver pieces require lots of active polishing to keep that shiny exterior glowing, but eventually sterling will slightly dull or "gray". For the most part, your jewelry can be polished with a silver cleaning cloth.

I have also used this for most of my pearls(freshwater or shell) that is mixed with sterling. I place joy detergent in with warm water (just sudsey) and let the jewelry soak for about 15 minutes. Run thru with cool water and pat dry. This will give the sterling a little more shine and the pearls are lustereus again.

Copper:
Now with copper, I love the color it ages to after a while of wearing it. A nice rich walnuty color is achieved for solid copper. You can dip this into warm soapy water (Joy detergent) for about 10 minutes and then run with clear cool water and pat dry. This will clean the grunge off, if there is any.

Turquoise:
I've been making jewelry for about 15 years now and most of my peices have been in soapy water with no damage to them at all. Just be sure not to let your porus material sit in water to long, more that 10 minutes or so. They can loose their "glassy" look. (This is more true of the newest turquoise.) But most of my jewelry can take a washing and do great. I've really had no complaints since 1995 when cleaning my jewelry. Just enjoy all the new colors of turquoise! Just know that, yes these are enhanced with color. (in other words, it is dyed) But, I love all the newest colors of turquoise, cuz it is still real!

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