How to care for and clean your jewelry
A few tricks to breath new life into your brass, silver, and gold jewelry!
Jewelry is such an intimate item, and wearing your favourite pieces day in and day out can add tarnish to even the most glittering gems. Here are a few tricks to put some shine back into your most dearly loved jewelry.
First rule, don't underestimate the power of a little soap and water! Warm water and grease cutting dish soap can go a long way to adding some luster back to your beloved jewels. My advice is to fill a small bowl with warm to hot water (this way you avoid the risk of losing something you love down the drain.) Add a few drops of dish soap. For rings and more solid pieces give them a gentle rub between your fingers, for more delicate pieces and fine chains let them soak for 10-15 minutes before rinsing them off and drying them.
For more heavily tarnished pieces a little extra elbow grease may be needed and there are plenty of DIY solutions made with ingredients you have at home!
DIY tricks to keeping your jewelry clean with common household products
The Baking Soda bath: mix 2 parts baking soda with one part warm water creating a thick paste. Then, drop in your tarnished jewelry and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Then rinse off your jewelry and gently pat until it's completely dry. This method is very gentle meaning it's appropriate for any jewelry (other than pearls which are extremely delicate and porous and should only be gently patted with warm water on a soft cloth)
When cleaning Brass or Copper my personal favourite household remedy is a toothpaste bath! Mix 1 part toothpaste with 1 part warm water, submerge your tarnished jewelry and let it sit for 30min - 1hr. At this point you can rinse it thoroughly with warm water until clean, or for a more thorough polishing, give it a bit of a scrub with a gentle toothbrush. Even the trickiest to polish chains will look better after this refresher!
My favourite cleaner for tarnished silver is also the most unlikely. This tasty household condiment isn't just ideal for backyard BBQs, it's also highly effective at cleaning Sterling Silver. Have you guessed yet? It's Ketchup! You read that right, ketchup may just be the hardest working condiment in your fridge. To make your silver jewelry sparkle like new just fill a small bowl with ketchup and completely submerge your tarnished silver. Let it sit for 10-20. minutes depending on the amount of tarnish and then rinse your jewelry with warm water while rubbing the piece between your fingers (I recommend doing so over a bowl so you don't risk losing anything down the drain). If it needs a little extra work you can brush it very softly with a gentle brush however, be careful as rough abrasives will leave lines on your delicate silver.
If all else fails then the best line of defence is jewelry polishing cloths. They are relatively inexpensive, can last a long time if used carefully, and are amazing at cleaning and polishing up any pure metal jewelry. These cloths are infused with professional grade polishing compound made to remove tarnish and add lustre with little effort.
All Dolorous jewelry is made with solid Brass or Silver (with the exception of a small selection of Rose Gold Plated styles) and can be cleaned using the recommended methods listed above. Also, don't forget, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and sometime a little tarnish can add a unique beauty to some styles of jewelry. Theres no harm in a little tarnish if you like how it looks!