Take note: If uncertain regarding cleaning your jewellery consult the opinion of an expert brighton jeweller.
When jewellery is put on, it becomes coated in an oily debris which is primarily made up of dead skin, dirt and grit. An oily film will even start to coat the backs of gemstones and inside settings if you wear jewellery while washing up, therefore the main objective of cleaning jewellery is to remove all this greasy particles.
Here are a few suggestions and tips about how to clean different types of jewellery:
Gold Jewellery: You can utilize an old toothbrush with little warm soapy water to clean your gold jewellery.
Gold Alloys: High carat alloys such as 18 carat and above, will not usually become tarnished, and will not be harmed by household chemical compounds. However, lower carat gold can be harmed by contact with chlorine based bleach and cleaning chemicals. Chlorine can cause stress corrosion cracking in lower gold alloys of 14 carat and below, though it will be even worse if the jewellery contains porosity through less than perfect manufacturing treatments. Due to this it is advisable to avoid cleaning your jewellery with chlorine bleach or other cleaners that contains chlorine, and to avoid putting it on when in contact with chlorine bleach.
Diamonds: Unless you rub two of your diamonds together, it is going to be pretty difficult to scratch or damage them. Therefore, just like gold jewellery the good old toothbrush and warm soapy water will do. A word of warning is that if you are using a cloth, sometimes the synthetic thread might bend the claws which contain the gemstones and can loosen them.
Silver: While cleaning silver jewellery, Silver tarnishes easily so solutions such as Goddard's Silver Dip may be used and the tarnish will come off effortlessly.
Platinum: Platinum is extremely resistant to tarnishing like high carat gold alloys and so can be cleaned using chemical substances.
It is always advisable to pop down to your local jewellers in brighton and look for professional advice should you be uncertain whether your cleaning method will damage your jewellery.
