If you find that your pearls and a few gems are scratched and your silver is tarnished; it may be that you are not storing and cleaning your jewelry properly. Cleaning and Storing of Jewelry doesn't have so hard nor does it have to be expensive. Jewelry can be stored properly using cheap readily available materials and cleaning can be achieved with the use of ordinary household cleaners. Here are a few tips that you might find handy when cleaning and storing baubles.



Cleaning:

Toothpastes and dish soaps are best left for use on the kitchen sink. It is not advisable to use these products when cleaning jewelry as they may be abrasive and cause stones to loose their luster. It is then advised that you use a sudsy solution when cleaning jewelry.

Soak jewelry in warm sudsy water for at least an hour before rinsing them under warm running water. After the jewelry has been rinsed. Pat them dry with a towel or another absorbent fabric.

Most of the time, running jewelry under water is enough to get them clean but there are those that are studded. Grime and grease gets into the nooks and crannies. For these stubborn dirt you can use and eyebrow brush or a soft baby's brush to gently clean it.

To remove greasy residues on diamonds soak them in alcohol a few minutes before running them under water. Don't use alcohol on all your jewelry because most of them are not as hard as diamonds and may be damaged when they come in contact with it.

Be careful when using commercial cleaners because they may damage your jewelry when used improperly. An example of a commercial cleaner is an ultrasonic cleaner. Don't use an ultrasonic cleaner on the following stones: Emerald, Peridot, Tanzanite, Topaz, and Opals. When using ultrasonic cleaners, don't soak jewelry for more than a few minutes.

Storing:

Gems and precious stones have different gradients of hardness. Stones are on the top of the list. They are very hard to scratch but they can scratch other items. Diamonds are the hardest, below them are sapphire, rubies, etc. at the lower end of the list you will find pearls and metals like gold, platinum and silver. With that in mind, it is wise to store jewelry separately or at least in individual containers or pouches.

Velvet, cotton and felt are great for storing delicate stones like pearls. These materials are easily available in fabric stores. Swatches can be cut from the fabric and made to wrap around delicate jewelry. They can even be made into pouches making them easier to use.

It is not advisable to cram jewelry into one box. This may result in scratching and chipping.

Maintenance:

Keep your jewelry in tip top shape. Look out for loose stones and take them to your jeweler to have the settings reinforced.

Have pearls restrung when the strings start to fray. Don't wait till the last minute or you might end up loosing all your pearls.