To all the jewelry lovers out there, today I thought we could ask our goldsmith at HWJ, Tara, some common questions we have about our own jewelry. Tara is a talented master Goldsmith and custom jewelry designer working at Henry Wilson Jewelers.
Tara, how should we clean our jewelry at home when we don’t have jewelry cleaner?
To clean at home, you can always rely on a cup of hot tap water with a teaspoon of household ammonia and a squirt of dishwashing liquid (ie Dawn, Palmolive) Take an old toothbrush and gently clean jewelry. Rinse and pat dry. Don’t forget to plug the sink, you don’t want Grandma’s heirloom washing down the drain!
You are funny Tara! Is there any jewelry we should take special precautions with when cleaning them?
Don’t use chemicals on pearls, opals, emeralds, coral, anything soft material like that as the stone won’t take well to chemicals. As for emeralds, they should never be soaked in harsh detergents or chemicals as they have numerous inclusions and those inclusions are often filled with natural oils and the chemicals and temperature changes will cause them to crack.
Also,
Chlorine pools and hot tubs are not our jewelry friends. The harsh chemical can eat away the alloys (metal DNA) and create porosity in our jewelry. Porosity is the sponge-like appearance, the tiny air bubbles, that happen when metal has been compromised. Porosity weakens our metals and can create cracks and breaks in the metal.
And finally, can you ever clean jewelry too much?
We recommend customers have their wedding jewelry cleaned and checked every six months in the jewelry store. This enables the associate to evaluate how the jewelry is being “worn”. Meaning are the prongs wearing? Are the stones tight and secure? Is there any problematic areas that need to be addressed at this time? It gives the customer peace of mind, and it keeps their fine valuables in excellent condition. If problem areas are spotted, we can complete those repairs immediately and not let them grow into disasters, such as needing mounting replacements, etc…
Stay tuned! In our next blog we will continue with questions, (including custom jewelry) to ask our amazing goldsmith, Tara, at HWJ … in the meantime if you have any questions to ask Tara, text her at 315-446-6770
