Look After your Diamonds
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Diamonds are forever, but they must be kept clean to assure their most brilliant performance; put away carefully when you are not wearing them and, packed well to travel.
Household Chemicals
You will always take acre about your personal safety while handling chemicals, but you don't consider about your fine jewelry. Take off your rings or wear gloves to protect them from products that contain chlorine, because it can damage metals. Avoid spilling bleaches and hair dyes on your fine jewelry.
Cleaning Your Diamonds
Like other items of use, Diamonds can also get dirty, soiled and dusty. Lotions, powders, soaps, even the natural skin oils, form a coating on diamonds and cut down their sparkle. Pollutants in the air can discolor the mountings of precious jewelry.
Hand creams, hair styling sprays and everyday dust can leave a film on your diamond that keeps it from sparkling. They can even accumulate into a thick layer of slime on the back of the stone if you wait too long between cleanings. Do you know if treatments were applied to your diamond before it was placed in a brooch or ring mounting? If you do, that's means you've have been probably meticulous enough to know how to keep the ring clean without damaging it.
Diamonds should be cleaned up so that the maximum amount of light can then enter and pass through in a twinkling display. It’s a small effort to take for a sparkling display. Mentioned below are four ways to clean diamonds. One of them is pretty sure to fit the time, the place and the job.
If your Jewelry contains Other Gemstones
You must protect the weakest element in your jewelry set. If your setting includes other sones, use a cleaning method that is not too rough for the less durable stones.
1. The Detergent Scrub
Prepare a small container of warm lather with any of the mild liquid soaps used at home. Brush the pieces with a small soft (preferably an eyebrow brush) brush while they are in the solution. Then transfer them to a tea strainer (wired) and rinse under warm running water. Pat the jewelry dry with a soft, lint-less (silk) cloth.
2. The Cold Water Soak
Make equal portions of cold water and household ammonia in a cup. Soak the pieces for 30 minutes. Lift out and tap gently around the back and front of the mounting with an eyebrow brush. Rinse in the solution once more and lay it out on tissue paper and dry it.
Diamonds not fracture filled can be cleaned with a solution of ammonia and water.
Gentler liquid detergent solution should be used for fracture filled diamonds, because ammonia can eventually cloud and eventually remove the coating that's been placed on the stone.
3. The Quick-Dip Method
Purchase one of the branded liquid jewelry cleaners (Ivory dishwashing liquid), with its kit, choosing the kind most useful to you. Read and follow its instructions. Don't smudge your clean diamonds with your fingers once it is cleaned. Handle your jewelry by its mountings.
4. The Ultrasonic Cleaner
Many automated gadgets are available that will clean any piece of jewelry that can be dipped in a liquid in a matter of minutes. It usually consists of a metal cup that you fill with water and detergent. When the machine is switched on, a high-frequency motion similar to a washing machine results in the cleaning action. Read the instructions very carefully before use.
5. See Your Jeweler
Go and meet your jeweller, and he will do the relevant cleaning.
Putting Diamonds Away
When you are not using your diamonds and other precious jewelry, they still require be taken care of.
Keep your precious pieces in a soft fabric-lined jewel case, or a box with compartments or dividers. In any case there should be cloth padding inside to give a soft cushion to the gems. If you use ordinary boxes, then make sure to wrap each piece in tissue paper. Don't dump your diamond pieces in a drawer or jewelry case together, because diamonds can scratch other jewelry - and can even scratch each other and hence cause damage to the jewelry.
Diamonds during travels
The packing of your diamonds and other precious pieces during tours should be given utmost care.
Jewelry boxes are designed specifically for jewelry travel, available in all price ranges. They come in all sizes, shapes and patterns. They have velvet pads inside to attach pins and earrings, and special compartments for bracelets and necklaces.
Also carry a small plastic bottle of prepared jewelry cleaner with your cosmetics. Then you can give your stones a quick polish.
Be careful while washing up or having a bath. Don't leave your ring or any other valuables on the rim of a sink or dangling on a tap. It can easily slip down the drain. Or you may simply forget to collect it and end up losing it.
Take Care of Your Ring
Since you wear your diamond engagement or wedding ring 24 hours a day, you should be very careful.
Avoid wearing when you are doing rough work as even though a diamond is durable, a hard blow can chip it. This is because it may have minor inclusions in it.
Make sure your jewelry doesn’t come in contact with chlorine bleach when you are doing household chores.
Meet your jeweler at least once a year and have him or her check you ring and other precious pieces for loose fittings and wear and tear of mountings. He will also do a professional cleaning up of the stones.
If you follow all the above steps, it will ensure your diamonds will never lose their value and they will give you immense pleasure for many years to come.
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