If you’re anything like us at Blue Door Beads, you always want your jewelry to look its best. Sometimes that means giving your favorite pieces some much-needed TLC, either in the form of cleaning or polishing your jewelry, or — at the very least — storing it properly. Below are some DIY methods for cleaning various types of jewelry, as well as some of our favorite jewelry storage ideas. Enjoy!
Jewelry cleaning disclaimer: Always take any pieces you are unsure of to a jewelry expert first. Also, please read the recommendations carefully, because certain methods should not be used on certain types of jewelry.
For sterling silver jewelry with no stones or beads:
Make a small bowl out of aluminum foil (shiny side up) and lay out silver jewelry on the foil. Sprinkle about 1 tbsp baking soda on top of the item(s), then pour approximately 2 cups of boiling water over the baking soda. Move the jewelry around slightly to release any dirt. Let the piece(s) soak for about 10 minutes, then rinse with cold water and dry with a soft cloth.
For solid gold jewelry with no stones or beads:
Pour a small amount of light beer (Budweiser, Corona, Heineken, etc.) on a non-abrasive cloth and gently rub where dirt/tarnish is obvious. Wipe off any moisture with a dry, soft cloth. The beer’s natural acids help bring back the shine — who knew?
For costume jewelry (or any other jewelry that is made of unknown metal):
DO NOT submerge the jewelry in water; depending on the metal your jewelry is made of, this could seriously damage your piece. So when in doubt, don’t!
• For rhinestones, spray a little Windex on a soft cloth (never directly on the stone), and then gently wipe clean.
• For any painted jewelry, spray a little vinegar on a soft cloth. It’s less abrasive than the Windex used for rhinestones, so it won’t remove the paint.
• Do you see green spots on the clip components of your earrings, on the pin backs of your vintage brooches, etc.? That’s verdigris, which is a green or bluish deposit formed on copper, brass, or bronze surfaces that have been exposed to continuous humidity and/or sea air. If you see this on your jewelry, make sure that you get the “infected” pieces away from everything else in your collection before it spreads to your other pieces. Brass and copper are especially susceptible, especially if they’re unfinished or sealant-free.
To remove existing verdigris, soak a paper towel or cotton pad in vinegar and simply wrap the clip/pin the brooch around it. Let the item sit for at least 15 minutes, then wipe off the green spots. Vinegar-soaked Q-tips can help you get the hard-to-reach parts.
One safe method to spruce up any kind of jewelry (including pieces with pearls, gemstones, or any other delicate element or embellishment) is to polish it with a polishing cloth, such as a Sunshine Polishing Cloth (available at Blue Door Beads!) Gentle on all metals and stones, polishing cloths like this can be used repeatedly until they’re worn to shreds. You may have to use some serious elbow grease to see results, and not all metals may end up shining up like they were when they were new, but it’s worth a shot!
One cleaning material NOT to use on any type of jewelry: toothpaste. Many folks incorrectly use toothpaste as a way to clean tarnished jewelry. However handy it may be, jewelry experts say that toothpaste should NOT be used to clean jewelry because it contains ingredients that are very abrasive. This is especially true of silver-plated items, because the toothpaste can damage the silver plating and expose the other metal underneath, leading to eventual corrosion.
How to store your jewelry:
• Keep all of your jewelry in a dry, safe place such as a fabric-lined jewelry box. DO NOT store your jewelry in Ziploc bags, since those hold moisture. Opt instead for some soft-lined bags for transporting your baubles.
• To minimize tarnishing, include anti-tarnish papers to the container you plan to store your jewelry in, or keep jewelry in anti-tarnish cloth pouches.
If you live in a somewhat dry environment, or if you don’t mind cleaning your jewelry fairly frequently, you can store your jewelry on an open-air display, like some of the displays below. At the very least, you should store your necklaces and bracelets individually and/or hanging up so that don’t get tangled up with one another. Our recommendation: splurge on a nice jewelry box or jewelry armoire with lots of storage space, including hooks for hanging!
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about how to care for your jewelry, and we’re sure you will now enjoy your sparkling jewelry for many more years to come!
Thanks to the following websites for their helpful jewelry cleaning & storage tips!
http://www.diynatural.com
http://www.blog.diynetwork.com/maderemade
http://www.buzzfeed.com
http://www.raininghotcoupons.com
Aluminum foil & baking soda photo found on Pinterest (no source given).
Polishing cloth photo courtesy of http://www.lifehackery.com
Beer photo courtesy of http://www.2beerguys.com
Verdigris photo courtesy of www.eclecticvintage.com
Jewelry armoire photo courtesy of http://www.target.com
Jewelry rack displays for sale through fairlywell on Etsy.
DIY picture frame jewelry display idea courtesy of http://www.liagriffith.com
Behind the Blue Door 