Cleaning your jewellery

A Victorian-style diamond cluster ring from Richard Ogden.  Your ring will be so beautiful when you first get it, and just by following a few simple steps, you will keep it this shiny even though you wear it every day! 

Good morning dear!  I thought that I would share a little tip with you today, when it comes to keeping your jewellery as beautiful as humanly possible.  See, those of you who know me, also know that I am now unable to look at lovely jewellery that hasn’t been cleaned for months, as I find that it takes away all the sparkle, shine and beauty, and leaves you with a dull stone that looks like a piece of costume jewellery!  We want to avoid that, so today I would like to show you how easy it is to make your treasures all shiny and new again, and to my help I have this beautiful sapphire and diamond cluster ring:

All you need is some Fairy Liquid, warm water and an old toothbrush 

Please note that this is mainly for cleaning rings with diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds and other harder stones.  You can also use it for cleaning costume jewellery, but do not apply this technique to more brittle stones, like opals and pearls.

1. Take a little teacup or bowl and pour in some Fairy Washing Up Liquid.  Fill it up with warm water – I tend to go for hot water if it is really dirty, but medium warm is fine.  You are using a bowl so that if any diamonds fall out, which they sometimes do, at least they are not going down the drain.  You can also use a sieve, as I have done in these photos.

After a little soak you just give it a good clean with the toothbrush, focusing on the back of the ring, where the dirt tends to gather

2. Place your item of jewellery in the water and let it soak for a few minutes.  Then take an old toothbrush (old, because the brush is soft and easy to manoeuvre around) that you pour some more liquid on, and start cleaning your jewellery with he brush.  If you are cleaning a ring, then focus on the back, as all your hand cream builds up there and makes it matt and dull.

Rinse it under running water – still with the sieve or bowl under, in case any stones fall out!  And you will have a beautiful, new-looking ring on your hands!

3.  When you have gotten rid of all the dirt, just give the ring a good rinse (keep the sieve or bowl under the ring during the rinsing process!) and dry it off with a lint free cloth.  Now I never know exactly what a lint free cloth is, so I tend to just use kitchen paper and the result is always beautiful!

Earrings don’t tend to get as dirty as rings, but they will also benefit from a clean from time to time.  These stunning diamond earrings are from Moira Fine Jewellery 

A few notes:

a. I am sad to say that sometimes, if the ring hasn’t been cleaned for a long time, the dirt might be what holds the diamonds in place (I know, so gross but true!).  So do take a closer look at the ring, and especially at the claws that hold the diamonds in place, to make sure that they are still intact and holding on to the ring the way they should.  If they are broken, bent, etc then immediately take your ring to the jeweller to have it repaired, or you might lose a gemstone or two.

b.  In the jewellery shop we use an Ultrasonic machine, and a lot of people think that they can’t get their jewellery as clean as we can with the machine.  This is not true!  The machine just helps loosen up the dirt, which you can just as well do yourself by letting the jewellery soak long enough and then be thorough with your toothbrush.

c. I clean my ring once a week, but obviously I am in the jewellery shop every day and people see my ring in the lovely jewellery light, so I am a bit more self conscious if my ring is not tip top sparkly, than the average person would be!  But once a month I would say is a must, otherwise you might as well be wearing costume jewellery – be fair to your gemstones darling and let them always be as beautiful as when you first got them!

d.  Do take your jewellery back to the shop for check ups once a year – a good jeweller provides this service, and they might even clean it for you in the same go.  We often think of jewellery as something that should last forever, but they are like shoes: you have to look after them as they also get wear and tear, especially when worn every day!

So have fun making your jewellery shine as new pennies again and always feel free to send us photos of your favourites, especially the vintage and antique ones!

I got to give this Aquamarine and Diamond Cocktail Ring at Richard Ogden a good clean yesterday, and it just faced up so beautifully, as you can see here!

You can imagine what perfect hiding places there are in these intricately designed rings, so make sure that you get into the back with your toothbrush.  This is a beautiful three stone Edwardian-style ring from Richard Ogden in the Burlington Arcade