How to care for micropave rings?

[LALove]

Is there a thread somewhere on this already? I looked but nothing came up..

I just helped my sister's friend pick out a setting that's just covered in micropave (despite my warnings on how delicate these rings are- it's what he wanted). So, I figured I should give him a list of DOs and DON'Ts.

Here's what I know:

Don't clean it in an ultrasonic. (How should they be cleaned? Windex + baby tooth brush?)
Don't wear a w-band with it OR use a spacer
Don't wear it to the gym, while doing house work etc etc

Anything else?

TIA!!

 

[distracts]

Don't wear it while sleeping or showering. People ALWAYS do those and it's a sure way to put a lot of pressure on your ring and cover it in gunk.

 

[LALove]

Don't wear it while sleeping or showering. People ALWAYS do those and it's a sure way to put a lot of pressure on your ring and cover it in gunk.

I would have thought that's common sense but probably not to the non-diamond-obsessed! Thanks!

It's also platinum, so I guess I should tell them to "baby" it- not squeeze things with her ring hand etc.

 

[distracts]

Don't wear it while sleeping or showering. People ALWAYS do those and it's a sure way to put a lot of pressure on your ring and cover it in gunk.

I would have thought that's common sense but probably not to the non-diamond-obsessed! Thanks!

It's also platinum, so I guess I should tell them to "baby" it- not squeeze things with her ring hand etc.

I have a platinum ring and I don't bother babying it in that way... BUT it's only got pave halfway around, and the shank on the back is 3mm wide. If it's 2mm or thinner, I'd absolutely caution them that they can put it out of round. On a plain shank that'd be easy to put back but I guess if it has pave it would be more difficult.

And omg most people do not realize AT ALL that there is a difference between fine jewelry and workhorse jewelry. Most of my family members, friends, and acquaintances who are engaged wear their rings to sleep, in the shower, while cooking (including to knead bread, etc), in the swimming pool/ocean (and all the sunscreen-covered not-in-water moments), at the gym, etc. They basically NEVER take their rings off, and if they do it's only when they sleep. PLUS they never clean them. I'd say this applies to about 60% of them. And of the remaining 40%, probably only about half take proper care of them because they intend to - the other half just finds rings annoying to always wear. (Even my mother, who takes her rings off at all the right times, even though they're just a plain band and a six-stone band, was shocked by the revelation that RINGS LOOK AWESOME WHEN CLEANED! I literally think that earlier this year was the first time in 30+ years her rings had been cleaned. She was amazed by how sparkly the diamonds became. Then she said, "Well, my mom used to always tell me it was important to clean your jewelry every week, but I just thought she was being neurotic.")

It gets even worse with my youngish friends who decided instead of spending on a not-so-great ring now, they'd get a fake ring at first and save up for a nice real one... most of those have to replace their fake rings several times a year because the stone goes dark or the plating wears off. When I inquire, they have very bad "ring habits" and it's not at all hard to see why they're having these problems. Sigh!

 

[LALove]

Don't wear it while sleeping or showering. People ALWAYS do those and it's a sure way to put a lot of pressure on your ring and cover it in gunk.

I would have thought that's common sense but probably not to the non-diamond-obsessed! Thanks!

It's also platinum, so I guess I should tell them to "baby" it- not squeeze things with her ring hand etc.

I have a platinum ring and I don't bother babying it in that way... BUT it's only got pave halfway around, and the shank on the back is 3mm wide. If it's 2mm or thinner, I'd absolutely caution them that they can put it out of round. On a plain shank that'd be easy to put back but I guess if it has pave it would be more difficult.

And omg most people do not realize AT ALL that there is a difference between fine jewelry and workhorse jewelry. Most of my family members, friends, and acquaintances who are engaged wear their rings to sleep, in the shower, while cooking (including to knead bread, etc), in the swimming pool/ocean (and all the sunscreen-covered not-in-water moments), at the gym, etc. They basically NEVER take their rings off, and if they do it's only when they sleep. PLUS they never clean them. I'd say this applies to about 60% of them. And of the remaining 40%, probably only about half take proper care of them because they intend to - the other half just finds rings annoying to always wear. (Even my mother, who takes her rings off at all the right times, even though they're just a plain band and a six-stone band, was shocked by the revelation that RINGS LOOK AWESOME WHEN CLEANED! I literally think that earlier this year was the first time in 30+ years her rings had been cleaned. She was amazed by how sparkly the diamonds became. Then she said, "Well, my mom used to always tell me it was important to clean your jewelry every week, but I just thought she was being neurotic.")

It gets even worse with my youngish friends who decided instead of spending on a not-so-great ring now, they'd get a fake ring at first and save up for a nice real one... most of those have to replace their fake rings several times a year because the stone goes dark or the plating wears off. When I inquire, they have very bad "ring habits" and it's not at all hard to see why they're having these problems. Sigh!

That's very true! When thinking about it, most of my friends + family NEVER remove their jewelry or clean their pieces. They just don't know.

This is the ring he's getting and it will definitely have to be babied (big time, I'm thinking):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmYw7BngoXY

 

[yssie]

Wow. You weren't kidding about the covered in pave bit... Thankfully it's a *well-made* pave piece! That would've been a disaster in inexpert hands.

TBH I think she's going to have to either never wear it or take Charmy's view and enjoy it fully accepting that it's going to need work down the line. It must be breathtaking in-person, but I can't think of a more impractical design.

 

[Rockdiamond]

For cleaning: we just got the "Jewel Jet" home steam unit.
At the factory, steam cleaning works so well- but I'd heard bad things about the Jewel Jet- such as it was not powerful enough.
The new, redesigned unit work great.

 

[LALove]

Wow. You weren't kidding about the covered in pave bit... Thankfully it's a *well-made* pave piece! That would've been a disaster in inexpert hands.

TBH I think she's going to have to either never wear it or take Charmy's view and enjoy it fully accepting that it's going to need work down the line. It must be breathtaking in-person, but I can't think of a more impractical design.

Yep! VERY impractical for sure! And I went over this with him but he insisted and apparently that's the ONLY style she likes. Sooo... she'll either have to know that it will need "work" done pretty regularly or not wear it much (not likely for a newly engaged gal).

At least I convinced him to have SK make it- he wanted to tweak the design a bit and just have it made at a local chain store.

 

[LALove]

For cleaning: we just got the "Jewel Jet" home steam unit.
At the factory, steam cleaning works so well- but I'd heard bad things about the Jewel Jet- such as it was not powerful enough.
The new, redesigned unit work great.

Thanks! Where can these be purchased?

 

[Joolz]

Don't wear it while sleeping or showering. People ALWAYS do those and it's a sure way to put a lot of pressure on your ring and cover it in gunk.

I would have thought that's common sense but probably not to the non-diamond-obsessed! Thanks!

It's also platinum, so I guess I should tell them to "baby" it- not squeeze things with her ring hand etc.

I have a platinum ring and I don't bother babying it in that way... BUT it's only got pave halfway around, and the shank on the back is 3mm wide. If it's 2mm or thinner, I'd absolutely caution them that they can put it out of round. On a plain shank that'd be easy to put back but I guess if it has pave it would be more difficult.

And omg most people do not realize AT ALL that there is a difference between fine jewelry and workhorse jewelry. Most of my family members, friends, and acquaintances who are engaged wear their rings to sleep, in the shower, while cooking (including to knead bread, etc), in the swimming pool/ocean (and all the sunscreen-covered not-in-water moments), at the gym, etc. They basically NEVER take their rings off, and if they do it's only when they sleep. PLUS they never clean them. I'd say this applies to about 60% of them. And of the remaining 40%, probably only about half take proper care of them because they intend to - the other half just finds rings annoying to always wear. (Even my mother, who takes her rings off at all the right times, even though they're just a plain band and a six-stone band, was shocked by the revelation that RINGS LOOK AWESOME WHEN CLEANED! I literally think that earlier this year was the first time in 30+ years her rings had been cleaned. She was amazed by how sparkly the diamonds became. Then she said, "Well, my mom used to always tell me it was important to clean your jewelry every week, but I just thought she was being neurotic.")

It gets even worse with my youngish friends who decided instead of spending on a not-so-great ring now, they'd get a fake ring at first and save up for a nice real one... most of those have to replace their fake rings several times a year because the stone goes dark or the plating wears off. When I inquire, they have very bad "ring habits" and it's not at all hard to see why they're having these problems. Sigh!

I had to laugh out loud, I did some of the same things (even the kneading of bread on occassion) with my old ring. The prongs really took a beating. I am cleaning my new ring daily by soaking in a bath of hot water, ammonia and Mr. Clean and also purchased a Jewel Jet. I got my JJ at http://www.nationaljewelerssupplies.com/ and used SAVE10 in the coupon section.

 

[purplelilac]

I'm a very recent owner of a beautiful micro pave thin shank hand made ring. The designer has advised against cleaning it with a toothbrush and recommended small home version of an ultrasonic cleaner. To this I responded with an obvious "but .. aren't small diamonds going to fall out" to which he smiled and said no and went to explain how they are sturdy and held together really well. He also recommended a bit of Mr. Clean.

 

[ame]

Well, that's gorgeous and VERY well made.

But, pretty much my rules for micropave are like any other ring: If it's on, your hand is worthless. Period. You do NOTHING with that hand except maybe hold a drink or eat a piece of candy. You don't grip a steering wheel, you don't hold your keys, you don't hold your purse or reach into your purse for ANY reason, you don't open your car door, you don't touch a shopping cart, you don't handle money, you do NOTHING WITH THAT HAND while the ring is on it.

Excessive to some people, but that's how I operate with this stuff. I do have insurance on my rings, but that doesn't make my hand any less worthless with a ring on it.