Questions & Tips

Where and When Should I Avoid Wearing Jewelry?

The beach, the gym, when cleaning or when gardening. Sand can scratch soft stones like tanzanites and pearls. Suntan lotion can clog up your shiny diamond. If you take your jewelry off while you are enjoying the rays (or if it falls off), it can easily get lost in the sand. Prolonged frolicking in the water can cause fingers to shrink, making it easier for rings to slip off. We have heard many stories over the years about how someone lost a stone while gardening, bent the shank of their engagement ring while lifting weights, or the metal on their jewelry suddenly turned dark and they couldn’t figure out why. Household chemicals and even pedestrian things like perfumes and lotions can make a beautiful diamond look dull and lifeless.

Cleaning Your Jewelry

We can clean many items in a few minutes as well as offer maintenance and cleaning advice on your specific pieces. You should have your fine jewelry cleaned and inspected at least once a year, especially because it’s free! Many department stores will offer a free cleaning but like everything else, we recommend going to someone you know, like a trusted jewelry professional.

At Design One Jewelers, we can usually inspect it for any potential problems and clean it in a couple minutes. The cleaning costs nothing and the inspection can mean the difference between a lost stone and your peace of mind.

Many times we bang our rings without even realizing it. Ever find a bruise and you have no idea how it happened? Normal daily wear and tear can take a toll on your jewelry and a simple blow can move or crack a prong. You can’t see this sort of thing with the naked eye. Most people find out that they have a prong issue because it either starts catching on things or they lose a stone.

Whether you’re on your way out the door or sitting down to clean out the whole jewelry box, there are many things you can do on your own to keep your jewelry looking great. If you do a web search, you will find many different formulas that can be effective. One of the more popular chemicals that people like to use is ammonia and water. I find this to be too abrasive on the nose.

For a quick cleaning solution for gold and diamond jewelry, try a little isopropyl alcohol. You can fill a small container with some alcohol and drop your jewelry directly into the solution. Let it soak briefly and then remove the item. The nice thing about alcohol is that it will dry clear. You don’t even need to rinse your jewelry off. Just let it dry, and go. It’s a quick way to get a sparkle before you head out the door.

Long Cleaning

For a slightly longer cleaning method, we recommend good old Mr. Clean (the green solution) and water. Use 1 part Mr. Clean to 3 parts water.

Step 1

Warm up your water/cleaner solution in the microwave. Do not put your jewelry into the microwave. Only put the solution into the microwave. We recommend that you make it “coffee hot”.

Step 2

Once the solution is warmed up, take it out of the microwave and place your piece(s) of jewelry in the solution. Let the jewelry soak for several minutes and then remove and brush gently with a soft bristle toothbrush. If it’s a used toothbrush, run it through a dishwasher cycle and it will be clean and ready to use on your jewelry. If you purchase a toothbrush especially for this task, we recommend a baby toothbrush. It has the softest bristles.

Step 3

After you have soaked and brushed your jewelry, rinse it off with clean tap water. Please be careful on this last step. You can use a small strainer for the safest method. Never rinse anything over an open drain. Better to take one more step and put a small bowl or strainer under your piece than drop it down the drain.

Step 4

When you have finished cleaning your jewelry, lay it on clean paper towels or a soft cloth. Again, take care not to use anything too fibrous; small fibers can easily be caught up in jewelry with prongs.You can store your cleaning solution for future use in a small jar with a lid. Baby food jars and containers of this size work really well.

Watch Maintenance

Design One Jewelers no longer does watch repairs, but we do replace batteries. (We can recommend several watch repair shops.)

The best thing you can do to keep your watch in good shape is to maintain the battery. If you have a watch that isn’t working and you suspect the battery may be dead, get it changed promptly. An old, dead battery can leak and corrode the inside of any watch, regardless of how good the watch is.

Caring For Your Pearls

Fair warning, we are extra passionate about pearls.

About Pearls

The formation of a natural pearl begins when a foreign substance (like a grain of sand) slips into an oyster between the mantle and the shell. The mantle is what the oyster uses to create its shell so when it gets irritated, it’s kind of like the oyster is getting a splinter. The oyster’s natural reaction is to cover up that irritant to protect itself. The mantle covers the irritant with layers of the same nacre substance that is used to create the shell. This eventually forms into a pearl. Now, with that said, it really takes that oyster quite a bit of work to shellac that irritating grain of sand and add layer upon layer of nacre. That’s why there is a big price difference in the types of pearls you can buy.

Oysters aren’t too particular in their general handling when getting rid of their irritation, so when you get a perfectly round pearl, it is special. The larger the pearl the more it is worth is also a good rule when it comes to natural pearls.

Pearls can be pretty fussy and delicate but with a little effort on your part, you can keep your pearls looking as pretty as the day the oyster popped it out. Any jeweler that sells you a nice strand of pearls should provide you with a folder of some sort that has little hanging snaps so you can wrangle your pearl strand into shape and keep it from getting stretched or scratched.

Use the folder

The better you are at using it, the nicer your pearls are likely to stay. Didn’t get a folder with your pearls? No problem. You can make due with a nice handkerchief or soft cloth. Lay the pearls out flat and roll gently into the fabric, cocooning your pearls. It’s really all just common sense once you know what you are dealing with.

Cleaning Your Pearls

We both clean and restring pearls.

We use the highest quality materials to professionally restring your fine strand of pearls so that you may enjoy them for years to come. Pearls are quite delicate and beautiful and should be handled with care. If you take a few steps of precaution, you will extend the life and look of your pearls.

There is alcohol in perfume that can damage the nacre of the pearl. Lotions and soaps can hasten the deterioration of the silk that your pearls are hung on and lotions can coat jewelry.

We recommend using warm soapy water for cleaning your pearls. The soap can be a mild dish detergent, (just a squirt will do the trick) and we like using plasticware so as not to abraid the pearls.

If you inherit a very old strand that looks yellow, you may need to invest in a restringing but gently wash them and check out the results first. If your pearls feel gummy or sticky after washing, they may not be real pearls. To check and see if they are real, bring them in and we can inspect them for you. We can also check and see how that slim piece of silk that holds them all together is doing.

If you think you can take care of this from home, here are a few hints. Gently rub two of the pearls together. Do they feel gritty and sandy? That is an indicator that they are real. Pearls should not feel slippery or smooth. In the past, jewelers would rub a pearl on their teeth to check for the grittiness. We have done this as well, but it is not a recommended technique. It does work. You can feel the roughness of a natural pearl on your tooth as well as another pearl.

Look at the knots in between the pearls. Do they look frayed and fuzzy? If so, this is an indication that a restringing may be in order. Is the silk stretching? Can you move the pearls back and forth on the string? This is another cry for help. Pearls will eventually do all the above, especially older strands. If you think you are going to wear them, take the time to restring them. It’s not expensive (in the big picture) as compared to replacing the strand if it breaks and gets lost.

Knots

A quick word about pearls and knots. We did some research awhile back about why some pearls are knotted and some aren’t. We thought it was an indication of a real strand as long as there were knots in between. For the most part, we were right. Pearls are knotted for several reasons. One is that, if the string breaks, you aren’t chasing your precious little shells all over the place. It safeguards against that. It also keeps the pearls away from one another. Pearls can chip and scratch each other if not knotted. You may not have realized your pearls are knotted because, if done well, the knots are small and uniform. This becomes even more true when you are talking about fine, higher end pearls.