How To Care For Gold Filled Jewelry
Gold filled jewelry is a costly and delicate piece of ornament which demands high level of care. And if that jewelry is sentimental jewelry with some memories and emotions attached to it, it becomes more important.
In this article you’ll know about 6 vital tips regarding how to care for gold filled jewelry.
6 Tips for How to Care for Gold Plated Jewelry
Here are some basic but important guidelines for the care and cleaning of your gold jewelry.
1. Store Your Jewelry in a Clean and Dry Place
The foremost step you will be taking towards your jewelry care instructions is to be sure that you are storing your jewelry in a clean and dry place when not in use. When you store your jewelry like engagement or wedding rings or mood necklaces in a dirty or a place not specific for jewelry storing, contaminants such as dirt and moisture stick with them. These contaminates specifically moisture can deteriorate your jewelry at a much faster rate.
In case of silver, copper or brass jewelry, excessive moisture leads to tarnishing and dull appearance. Under such circumstances, every jewelry owner must know how to clean brass or copper jewelry. Sealing your copper jewelry is another way of protecting copper jewelry. That’s why it is much safer to ensure that your storing place is completely dry and clean. e
You can use fabric line jewelry cases for this purpose which are specifically designed for long storage of your jewelry. These cases have separate compartments and dividers which save your jewelry from being scratched as well.
A safe can be another option for saving your irreplaceable jewelry.
2. Jewelry Check-up every 12 to 18 months
Jewelries are a delicate piece of craft and can worn, bend, loosen and scratch with time if you’re involved in an active lifestyle. Sometimes we don’t realize how easily your jewelry such as rings get scratched when we place your hands on rough surfaces.
For example, if you’re involved in any sport which involves a lot of hand grabbing such as cycling or weight lifting, it can easily bend your rings out of its original shape. It can also be your job nature as well which involves a lot of usage of your hands.
Just like you go for your medical check-up from time to time, do go for your jewelry check-ups every 12 to 18 months for their best health. The jeweler will check your jewelry for any kind of active damages going on and will advise about what measures to take.
A standard jewelry checkup report looks like this where every feature of your craft is given along with comments on overall health.
Be sure to use services of a highly reputable jeweler for accurate tests.
3. Wash Your Active Jewelry every 1-2 months
Make sure you give your jewelry some TLC and clean it once in a while. Things like shampoo, lotion and oil are also counted as contaminants and can stick on top of your jewelry and make it look dull and dimmer. Remember not to over clean your jewelry as there are many guides available on the internet for doing it in the proper way.
For cleaning purpose:
1. Take a bowl of warm water and dip some liquid soap in it.
2. Place your ring in it for 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Take a soft bristle toothbrush and start rubbing off debris gently.
4. Make sure that the tooth brush you are using is designated for this purpose only and is stored in a clean place when not in use.
5. Place the ring on a paper towel and remove moisture gently.
6. You can do this method with any of your other jewelry as well.
4. Don’t take a shower when wearing jewelry
Never ever take a shower with your ring or any other jewelry piece. Sometimes people might think that this is safe to take a shower wearing rings and necklaces but it can have drastic effects especially if used gemstones are of sensitive nature such as diamond or emerald. Diamond dust jewelry can also be included in that category.
Chemicals used is shampoos and conditioners can react with the metal part of jewelry and make a thin corrosive layer over. in case they don’t react with the jewelry, sticking and making a temporary layer of shampoo is quite often common. But don’t worry in such cases the cleaning method descried above will be enough to remove all the impurities.
Additionally, it is way more prone to slipping off and fall into the drain. And no one will ever want it to happen.
5. Don’t SLEEP with Your Ring
Sleeping with your ring can have multiple acute and chronic effects on you as well as your ring’s health. Tight rings often become a cause of blood flow disturbance in fingers resulting in swelling of veins. Additionally, while sleeping you may struck your hand on hard surfaces such as side table or lamp which can also cause crack or break in your ring ultimately affecting the overall look.
Try to have a designated bowl or dish on your side table and make sure you take it off in a safe place right before you sleep. You can easily get one of these for $20 to $30 on Amazon.
6. Avoid wearing your jewelry when cleaning
Cleaning agents such as detergents, soaps or sprays contain chemicals that can damage the metals and gemstones of your jewelry.
These cleaners are high chemically active agents which can easily remove the upper layer of your gemstones such as diamond. More specifically gemstones such as emerald are brittle in nature and are more susceptible to breaking or scratching than other gemstones.
So it is very important to not worn your delicate gemstone jewelry while doing household chores or any activity where stone can be hit or damaged.
As a protective measure, either use gloves to protect your jewelry for direct contact or remove them altogether.
Why Protect Your Jewelry?
Protecting your jeweler is a very important part of having jewelry. For one thing it can cause damage to stones resulting in their wearing away. For second part it is a big part of how your jewelry looks like.
Fine jewelry is made up of metals in their purest or near to pure forms. With such existences, they are high reactive to any strong acidic or oxidizing environments. This makes these fine crafts highly prone to damage from external factors such as chemicals, moisture, heat and scratches.
Jewelry care instructions are a crucial part of jewelry owning. Fine Jewelry is a precious possession that is designed and crafted to keep you attached with your memories. That’s why it becomes the foremost responsibility of jewelry owners to protect these fine crafts with knowing proper jewelry care instructions.
Most of the times we often let these precious properties deteriorate for the cause of negligence or not have proper knowledge.
Ultimately these jewels lose their shine and worthiness if not properly taken care of. For this sake, in this article we are listing down 10 jewelry care instructions you should never ignore so that your jewelry possessions can remain for life lasting with you.
Conclusion
Fine jewelry needs proper care for a better lifetime. Hence, jewelry care instructions are required for it. These jewelry care instructions might seem obvious ones and simple to be followed, these can drastically damage your precious jewelry if not followed properly.
If you don’t protect your jewelry, they will lose their glamour and shine with time and can reach to an extent where it might not be possible to get back the original one or it costs too much of money. Additionally, most of us have their sweetest of memories attached to these jewels which will definitely make us sad if not taken care of properly.