Cleaning Jewelry The RIGHT Way

[Blossom]

Thank you Gemaholic, you’re a wealth of knowledge about gemstones & cleaning them. I have wrote this down & have a question about cleaning my pearls. I’ve so many and so does my mother in law. I never spray anything on me when I put my pearls on but she’s constantly spraying hair spray and perfume while they’re on her. I thought you were not supposed to do this. Any of your knowledge would be a great help. What a wonderful thread about cleaning our jewelry

Oh my goodness!!! NO NO NO! LOL she should not be spraying anything while wearing pearls! The pearls go on right before you're ready to go out the door! Pearls are very fragile and will disintegrate (eats away at the nacre to be more specific) . If she is getting perfume on her pearl, the luster will fade and it is irreparable damage if it goes past the first layer. You also need to to make sure you don't touch it when you're eating foods. The oils and spices from foods also can damage the luster and eat away at the pearl.

What if any detriment does a person's natural body oil cause? Someone (on SLC I think) said they will absorb DNA of whoever wears them.

[JewelryQueen]

I believe that if your grandmother wore them and your mother wore them and you wore them and your daughter wore them---there is contact DNA of all of you mingled in there. Kinda cool, huh?

[Blossom]

I believe that if your grandmother wore them and your mother wore them and you wore them and your daughter wore them---there is contact DNA of all of you mingled in there. Kinda cool, huh?

I think it's super cool !!!

[Lulu]

Natural body oils on pearls will obscure their luster and attract dirt.

According to Roz Kwan (ShopHQ), the way to clean pearls is when you take them off lay them flat on a barely damp wash cloth and gently roll them back and forth to remove any substances. Allow them to dry before storing them. Also, occasionally, put a dab of mineral oil on your hands and pull the strand of pearls through. Hang them up while they absorb the moisture for several hours (over a door knob works great) and then roll in a soft cloth before storing. Don't get the silk wet as it can rot and break.

[Margaret]

When letting a string of pearls dry i heard you should lay them flat so the string doesn't stretch.

I bought many beautiful pieces of welo opal jewelry from shoplc and keep them in a clear coved jewelry box i bought from shoplc. They have stayed white and beautiful except for my tennis necklace it has turned different shads of yellow even the silver looks tarnishes. It is upsetting to look at. I waited too long to call shoplc for their help.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Do you think a jeweler would be able to restore them?

[2Blonde]

When letting a string of pearls dry i heard you should lay them flat so the string doesn't stretch.

I bought many beautiful pieces of welo opal jewelry from shoplc and keep them in a clear coved jewelry box i bought from shoplc. They have stayed white and beautiful except for my tennis necklace it has turned different shads of yellow even the silver looks tarnishes. It is upsetting to look at. I waited too long to call shoplc for their help.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Do you think a jeweler would be able to restore them?

@Margaret What I've found with my many Welo opals is the smaller ones are the ones that tend to turn yellow or dark gray (not all of them, though). I have quite a few larger ones in rings that are still OK, but time will tell on those. I've checked on this a lot and can't get a definitive answer from anyone, but it seems these opals are somewhat porous and tend to lose moisture over time.

I've experimented with a few smaller ones that looked awful, so I figured I had nothing to lose, and I tried soaking them in water for a couple hours, then letting them dry. A couple of the stones did get most color back, but others didn't change at all. I'm taking into account that I live in a climate that is cold and dry in the winter, and hot and humid in the summer. Quite honestly, I feel the opal bracelets I've left out in the open have fared better than the ones in my anti-tarnish jewelry boxes. It may be they are reabsorbing moisture from the air. A poster here had mentioned she sets hers around a sink of water every once in awhile, but I haven't tried that yet.

For this reason, I would never spend a lot of money on a Welo opal piece of jewelry, as I already have many disappointments with them. One thing I do know is, as long as your opal is looking fine, take extra care to keep it from getting wet, as that does seem to make them fade.

[Margaret]

Good morning 2blonde
I can't thank you enough for your advise. I will try leaving them arround the sink. I don't have anything to loose. I live in Canada which has similar wheather conditions to your so iam going to leave them out of the box.
WOW thanks again for your help. You give me hope
Have a great day.

[Shop4joy]

Hello. 2blond,
I hope that something can be done, for your Welo opal tennis bracelets.
Soaking them in water, can turn them yellow or brown. Another cause, could be that they were impregnated with resin. At the beginning, we were told to soak our Welo opals to bring back the" play of color"! I ruined a pair of earrings and a ring in 14kt gold.
My other Welo opal jewelry, from Shoplc is fine, at this point. And it's been about 3-5 years. And I live in Texas.
There is so much bad information out there! I'm glad that on this Forum, we have such knowledgeable women. (i.e. Gemaholic).

[Gemaholic]

I would still like to know the proper way to clean Rainbow Moonstone please. Read a couple of things on other websites. 1. Soapy water 2. Salt water, rinse well (really? )that can't be right! The body of mine has turned somewhat yellowish.

Hi @Blossom I answered you yesterday but you may have not seen it. I too had a moonstone that turned yellow. Warm water with soap is what you're supposed to use. The salt thing is coming from metaphysical sites telling you how to cleanse it, but not the way we are talking about. Do not put it in salt. Moonstone is part of the feldspar family and it's only 6 on the Moh's scale. Other chemicals can easily weaken the stone and it can crack along the cleavage. As far as it turning yellow, I too have done research because it didn't make sense to me in terms of chemistry. What I came across was it tends to turn yellow if it was a fake moonstone that has been coated. The other suggestion I found was the silver being tarnished which makes the stone appear yellow as it is peeking through, but my moonstone does not have a silver backing, so that isn't the reason. If it's turning yellow and you tried cleaning it in warm, soapy water, then you might be in the same boat I am in...wondering if it's real or not.

Thanks Gemaholic! When you're not too involved in educating others here on the forum, would you please explain what type of coating you are referring to? And if I understand correctly, this coating is covering up a mystery stone & if the coating is somehow removed the adularescence (sure I didn't spell that correctly) is gone?

Whew you have my brain in overdrive! Hope we don't all overload your patience & thanks again!

When it comes to scientific stuff like chemicals and geology, my patience is infinite, so ask away! I try to explain things simply without using too much scientific jargon!

As far as the coatings go, there are jewelers that try to sell fake moonstone by putting a coating on to mimic the adularescence that a natural moonstone exhibits. My moonstone no longer has any play of color and is dull. I can also see coating scraped off even with the naked eye! I also have collected my own natural moonstone and even rainbow moonstone and this mystery stone just looks so bad compared to rough pieces I found myself. They claim all their stones are from the best sources in the world, well then why am I finding better quality rough pieces here in California? On another note, California people should check out Moonstone Beach!

Do you see their emeraldine quartz and watermelon quartz? Those colors were achieved with coatings. They do that with some of their topaz as well. Like I said, it’s clear my moonstone had a coating on it as I can see the splotches and parts of the coating scraping off. Very said. It never was stated that it was altered in any way.

[OtherSideOfTheTracks]

Hello. 2blond,
I hope that something can be done, for your Welo opal tennis bracelets.
Soaking them in water, can turn them yellow or brown. Another cause, could be that they were impregnated with resin. At the beginning, we were told to soak our Welo opals to bring back the" play of color"! I ruined a pair of earrings and a ring in 14kt gold.
My other Welo opal jewelry, from Shoplc is fine, at this point. And it's been about 3-5 years. And I live in Texas.
There is so much bad information out there! I'm glad that on this Forum, we have such knowledgeable women. (i.e. Gemaholic).

@Gemaholic is awesome and I'm so thankful she helps us. What a sweetheart!