Skip to main content

Jewellery After Care Guide

Jewellery After Care Guide

To care for your gemstone jewellery and keep it clean and ready to wear, gently wipe off excess make-up and skin oils  after each wearing. Use a nub free, 100% cotton cloth and gently wipe the piece clean using only the soft  pads of your fingers. Store in jeweller's tissue or a soft bag.  

To help reduce tarnish on sterling silver, wrap the piece in jeweller's tissue paper and place it inside a plastic  zip lock bag and seal. 

When cleaning sterling silver remember that it is a very soft metal and can easily be marred by a fingernail  or wadded piece of fabric pushed roughly against the metal surface. For this reason, use one of the follow ing methods to clean heavier soils and tarnish: 

To remove fingerprints, light grease or dirt, add a small amount of mild liquid soap to a half cup of warm  water, soak 2-3 minutes, rinse thoroughly with clean water and dry completely before storing in an air tight  plastic bag. 

Be very careful when using any soaking method to clean jewellery. Extended soaking in any solution may  harm the polish on the stone. Never use chlorine bleach to clean jewellery. 

To remove excessive tarnish, polish with a 100% cotton cloth and a good nonabrasive metal cleaner. Be sure  to remove any remnants of the cleaner from gemstones and rinse thoroughly with clean water. Never use  toothpaste. 

Tips for Keeping your Jewellery Looking New and Shiny 

When caring for your gemstone jewellery, never use anything but 100% cotton as a polishing cloth since paper, poly ester, and coarse fabrics often contain wood fibres or synthetics. These materials may impart fine scratches  in the metal, especially on sterling silver.  

A polished appearance is the result of the metal smith’s effort to file, sand and buff the metal to a perfectly  flat surface. When even minor scratches occur, as seen under a microscope, the surface looks like the rag ged edge of a saw blade and light is bounced in and around those scratches like a voice echoing in the Alps.  An unmarred surface allows the light to be bounced back smoothly, with no echoes, and results in a highly  reflective surface. 

Important Warnings about the Care of Fine Jewellery 

Always remove your rings and fine jewellery before using any product that contains bleach. Bleach can  cause metal alloys to breakdown leaving the metal irreparably damaged. This includes swimming pools and  bathing in hot tubs as chlorine products are added to prevent bacteria growth.