How do you clean your jewellery? Both cheap and not so cheap stuff?

[wilbur]

Have been given a new jewellery box for my b'day and was looking at my stash of bling. Some of it is really quite tarnished and I was wondering how to go about cleaning it. Can you clean up costume stuff? Also I have some proper bling that needs tlc too. Any thought on good products? I saw a sort of jewellery bath thing, but is that just a gimmick? What do jewellers use?

[rolymoma]

leave it in a cup of full fat coke for a couple of hours - it seems to work for mine

[PinkTulips]

you can get those jewelery baths in argos i iirc.

some might be better than others but they do work.

a jeweler i know used an electrically charged soution of chemicals that gets vibrated at a specific frequency.... works really well but not exactly a do it at home solution. if you have loads of cash to spare though you could bring it to a jewelers to be cleaned properly

[wilbur]

Coke - really? Wow. Is that just for "real" stuff - ie gold and diamonds? Not for pearls, I imagine. Might look at the argos bath - don't really want to go to a jewellers as am trying to economise (aren't we all?).

[paddingtonbear1]

My MIL uses one of those jewellery bath thingys. She got hers out of the Kleeneze catalogue.

[Brangelina]

Ammonia, then dry in sawdust.

The jewellery baths are good if they work with ultrasound. We used them when I worked at a jewellers many moons ago. The ultrasound (or whatever it is ) dislodges the bits of dead skin and the ammonia made everything come up shiny.

This only works for the real stuff though (apart from pearls and opals). I have no idea what to do about costume bling, I'm afraid.

[fruittea]

I have a jar of silver dip which seems to be fine for silver and gold. I'm very cautious though and only give it a swift dip. You have to be very careful not to dip plated items - it strips them as I found to my disappointment on some silver earrings that I thought were "solid"

Small hijack, but does anyone know if it's possible to do anything about costume jewellery that's losing its coating? I have a Jigsaw necklace that was gold-looking but is turning black, and burns my neck now when I wear it!

[rolymoma]

www.tellmehowto.net/howto/clean_jewellery_361 apparently 7Up is even better than coke. no, i wouldn't use it for pearls tho!

[lulumama]

gold and diamonds go in a cup of gin! i might use a soft toothbrush too

costume stuff i tend to leave alone, on silver i use a silver cleaning cloth.

[dreamymum]

the gentlest and best way is - put them in a cup of water with some fairy dishwashing liquid overnight

you can also use an old toothbrush to clean in between the links and crevices

[sweetmonkey]

I use toothpaste and a soft toothbrush on my diamond rings and gold. really does make them sparkle

its a tip my dad passed down to me

[wilbur]

These are all fab tips, thank you! Will try a few and see what suits best.