Cleaning Your Jewelry The Right Way
By Felicity Walker
If your jewelry is looking a little dull, it might be time to give it a good clean. Over time dirt, grime and even oils from your skin are deposited on your jewelry, and these need to be cleaned off. But you need to find the right jewelry cleaner for the job, because not all cleaners are as effective on different types of jewelry.
There are plenty of places where you can buy jewelry cleaner. Certainly your local jewelry store or discount jewelry warehouse will have a few options for sale. Or, if you're a little more adventurous, you can try looking around a flea market. There's almost always a jewelry-cleaning booth!
One thing to look for is the consistency of the jewelry cleaner. This can range from a thin consistency, like water, right through almost paste-like. Consistency doesn't always indicate whether or not a cleaner will work properly, but quite often the thicker consistency cleaners work a little better, mainly because they scrub the jewelry as well as clean it. Many stores will demonstrate their cleaning products to you, so ask them to show you a couple of different types of cleaner.
If you're really worried about cleaning your jewelry yourself, you can ask your jewelry store to clean it for you. Sometimes they will do it for free, particularly if it's part of a jewelry cleaner demonstration, and other times they will charge you a small amount. If you have a special piece of jewelry that you don't want to damage, it can be worth paying a few dollars for the peace of mind of having it cleaned professionally.
Perhaps you're not comfortable leaving your jewelry at the store, but they don't sell any cleaning products. In that case, ask them to recommend a supplier or two. Quite often they will know of a good product you can use, or even recommend the one they use themselves.
If you want to clean costume jewelry, particularly antique costume jewelry, then you do need to be careful in your choice of cleaning product. Many cleaners are designed to clean metal and precious stones, but can actually damage your precious costume jewelry. This is because costume jewelry usually uses paint to create a metal look, and some cleaners will attack the paint and damage it, so that it starts to flake away. A good cleaner may also weaken the glue that holds the costume stones to the setting.
Try cleaning your costume jewelry gently with water and a very soft toothbrush. A baby's toothbrush is a good choice. If you're careful, you can avoid chipping the paint and the glue won't be weakened by any cleaning products.
We often become very attached to our favorite jewelry, but over time any piece of jewelry becomes a little the worse for wear and needs a clean. Take the time to find the right jewelry cleaner, and you'll soon have your favorite pieces sparkling like new again.
If you want to read more about beading, click over to Felicity's site at http://www.beading-is-fun.info To read Felicity's Ultimate Bead Lover's Guide, go to http://www.ultimatebeadloversguide.com Article Source:
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