LIFE & CULTURE

How to Clean Jewellery: DIY Jewellery Cleaner

Keep your jewellery sparkling with these easy solutions.

It makes sense to take special care of your precious statement items, jewellery can be a big investment undertaking. You can buy a number of products that will keep your jewellery sparkling but our favourite method is a great jewellery cleaning hack that will keep your silver and gold sparkling.

How often should I clean my jewellery?

It’s a good idea to give your jewellery a weekly polish with a soft cloth and opt for a deeper clean monthly or whenever your jewellery is starting to look tarnished.

Can you over clean jewellery?

Whilst precious metals like gold and silver and hard gems like diamonds can take regular cleaning some the softer semi precious stones need to be treated with a bit more care. Extra care needs to be taken care when cleaning pearl jewellery as pearls are easily dulled by a lot of cleaning products including household items like vinegar and baking soda. It’s best to use a product such as Connoisseurs Jewelry Cleaner Delicate to clean your pearl jewellery and only clean then when absolute necessary.

The simple DIY jewellery cleaning hack

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(Credit: Getty Images)

1 – What you need

For this clever cleaning hack you’ll need a bowl, one teaspoon of dishwashing detergent, one tablespoon of salt, one tablespoon of baking soda, 250ml of hot water, a cloth, an old soft toothbrush and a sheet of aluminium foil.

2 – Ion Transfer

Line the bowl with the foil and then put in the salt, baking soda and detergent followed by the hot water. The concoction will fizz and it’s time to drop your jewellery in and watch as a process called an ion transfer cleans the precious metals.

3 – A gentle scrub

Remove your jewellery from the liquid and then gently scrub each individual piece with the soft toothbrush trying to get into every groove, indent and prong you can. Rinse each piece and then pat dry with your cloth. Voila! Your silver, gold and gems are sparkling like new.

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(Credit: Getty Images)

Professional jewellery cleaning products

There are a number of great jewellery cleaning products on the market and if you’re buying your jewellery new then it pays to talk to your jeweller about the products they would recommend. Most jewellers offer a range of cleaning products from specially prepared liquids to polishing cloths and brushes. An all-in-one solution is Tiffany’s jewellery home care kit.

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(Credit: Getty Images)

Ultrasonic jewellery cleaners

Home Ultrasonic jewellery cleaners are popular right now, there are a number of options on the market. These devices suspend your jewellery in a special cleaning liquid and then bombards them with high frequency ultrasound waves in the 20-400 kHz range that will dislodge dirt from your precious jewellery with out harming them. Note that softer gemstones such as pearls, opals, emeralds and turquoise shouldn’t cleaned with an ultrasonic cleaner as it may damage them. If you’re really serious about keeping your precious metals and stones clean then you’ll need to get an ultrasonic cleaner.

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(Credit: Getty Images)

Professional cleaning services

If you’re worried about trying to keep your jewellery clean yourself and scared you might damage your precious and valuable items than using a professional cleaning service the best way to go. Many jewellers such as Michael Hill offer a jewellery cleaning service free when you purchase a piece of jewellery from them.

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