Taking Good Care Of Your Sapphire and Diamond Jewelry

When you buy sapphires and diamonds you hope to pass them down to your children or grandchildren some day. So to do this you need to be sure and take proper care of your jewelry throughout the years so that you and your descendent will be able to enjoy their celebrated beauty.

Just like most everything else that you own, your sapphire and diamond jewelry will need periodic cleaning and grooming in order to keep it at its best. Below are some practical care tips collected over time from jewelry owners.

Dirt and Oils

Clean jewelry, especially diamonds and gemstones, show more fire and brilliance. Jewelry smudged, dirty or covered with grim will lessen the beauty of the jewelry.

Oil, water or dirt simply reduces the natural sheen of the stone. Your jewelry collects oil from your skin with day-to-day touching and handling of your jewelry.

Dirt and grime will often settle at the bottom of a diamond and thereby interfere with the diamond's brilliance.

The slightest bit of oil film which smudges a stone will reduce the stone's capacity to reflect light. Many dyes, detergents or other colored liquids can have an effect on the true color of your stone.

Precautions

While diamonds are considered the hardest mineral and can only be polished or cut by another diamond, they can be chipped by a really hard blow.

So, wearing your jewelry while doing rough work could cause damage to your diamonds and certainly more so to other gemstones like blue sapphires. In addition, strenuous sports, rough work and any other heavy activities could be risky. Your clasps, bezels and other holding mechanisms of the stones in the jewelry could cause them to loosen thereby actually losing your stones.

It is also a good policy to remove your jewelry when going into a hot tub, Jacuzzi or swimming pool. Chlorine could accumulate in your jewelry and make the gold or other metals brittle which could cause loosening of the prongs that hold the stones. The same is true for household bleaches, so it is wise to remove your jewelry when performing house cleaning functions.

Your stone's luster can be dulled by everyday toiletry items. Such things as soaps, lotions, powders, hair sprays and perfumes can also diminish your stone's sparkle.

Cleaning

You can purchase commercial jewelry cleaning kits or you can use some regular household items to clean your jewelry.

For the do-it-yourself method mix warm water and any mild detergent with a few drops of ammonia.

Soak your jewelry in this solution for a few minutes to loosen the grime and oil. Then gently clean your jewelry with something like an old eyebrow brush or toothbrush with soft bristles.

Then using warm water rinse away all the sudsy feel. Then dry with a lint-free cloth while trying not to touch your jewelry with your bare fingers.

When completely dry then your jewelry will be ready to sparkle brightly as you wear it with your beautiful attire.

If using a commercial jewelry cleaner be sure to read and follow the instructions provided.

Regular Checks

Just everyday use of your sapphire and diamond jewelry may cause some of the metal prongs or frames to loosen. Be sure to make a regular check for this in order not to wind up losing one of your diamonds or gemstones. It is easy to not notice that a stone is missing until it is too late to know where to search for it.

Jewelers can easily tighten the prongs that hold the stones, so it is not a bad idea to just stop by and have that done every so often. And, if you prefer you can have them cleaned by the jeweler as well.

Storing

Never store all your jewelry loosely together in the same container. The diamonds on one piece of jewelry can scratch the other metals and gemstones.

Your sapphire and diamond jewelry is best stored in a fabric-lined case with separate compartments. For additional safety wrap each piece of jewelry separately in soft cloth or tissue or place in a jewelry pouch.