How to Care for Your Sterling Silver and Karat Gold Jewelry
Just about every woman owns at least of few pieces of sterling silver and karat gold jewelry that is important to them. And weather your prefer the luster of silver or the gleam of gold, properly caring for your precious metal pieces will help you treasure them for many years to come.
Sterling Silver Jewelry
Sterling silver is a very soft metal that can be marred easily simply by a fingernail or a piece of fabric pushed too roughly against the metal surface. Because the metal is so soft, caring for your sterling silver requires proper maintenance.
You should store your silver in a cool, dry place, ideally in a tarnish-prevention bag. You also can wrap the silver in a piece of jeweler's tissue paper to help prevent it from tarnishing. Because air and light can cause silver to tarnish, silver jewelry should be kept in a soft piece of felt or cloth. In addition, the pieces should be stored separately to prevent them from knocking together and becoming scratched.
When cleaning your silver jewelry, use a small amount of liquid soap mixed in a half cup of warm water. After soaking the jewelry in the water solution for two to three minutes, remove the pieces and allow the water to bead up before drying them. Once they are ready, dry them with a soft cloth, making sure they are completely dry before storing them.
When polishing the silver, use only a polishing cloth or a fine piece of felt, both of which you can obtain from your local jeweler. The fibers in items such as tissue paper or paper towels can scratch the silver.
Karat Gold Jewelry
Gold remains the standard for most fine jewelry, and properly caring for your gold pieces can help them last a lifetime. Like sterling silver, gold can easily be scratched so it is best to separate your gold jewelry as well. The best way to store the jewelry is in a cloth pouch or in a jewelry box that has separate boxes for individual pieces.
When wearing your gold jewelry, be very careful around chlorine. If gold jewelry comes in contact with chlorine, it can damage and become discolored over time. As such, do not wear your gold jewelry when cleaning or while in the pool or spa.
Gold will become dull over time due to the build-up of oils from the skin, powders and soaps. To clean your gold jewelry you can use either a special jewelry cleaner or you can make your own. To create your own jewelry cleaner, all you need is warm water, a mild liquid detergent and a few drops of ammonia.
While the jewelry is soaking, you can brush the pieces gently with an item like an eyebrow brush. Once it is done soaking, the jewelry should be removed and transferred to a strainer and rinsed off in warm water. To remove grease from gold jewelry, you can dip the jewelry in plain rubbing alcohol.
An ultrasonic cleaner also can be useful to clean your gold jewelry. The machine uses ultrasonic frequency motions to facilitate the cleaning process. However, if you choose to use an ultrasonic cleaner, you should know that it should not be used to clean all of your jewelry - the machine could damage many gemstones and the chemicals used by the cleaner are not recommended for pearls and many other fine stones.
