Yet another question about cleaners

[jennysue]

I know there has been numerous posts about the many different ways to clean diamonds but I haven''t run into the answer to my question yet. A friend of mine who used to work in a B&M told me that the best way to clean diamonds and gold jewelery was to use Mr. Clean

! now the Mr. Clean that I used was a green liquid. After a while it turned my diamond earrings green. Now to my question(s), those particular diamond earrings were crap diamonds to be perfectly honest so would that have anything to do with it? Now that I have ideal cut beautiful diamond earrings and have heard that Windex is a great cleaner for diamonds I am concerned about them turning blue if I were to use it. Any thoughts on this?

By the way I DO NOT use Mr.Clean anymore and am no longer friends with her!

( Not for that reason!

 

[Shay37]

Jennysue, I got my ring back in March. I clean it every day with a spritz of Windex and a baby toothbrush. Once a week I'll soak in ammonia and then steam it over my tea kettle. It works great. It isn't turning my ring any color except white and sparkly clean. It's also a really quick fix on the way to work. Since I am a total nut about my ring being clean, I have been known to Windex 2-3 times a day. LOL Hope this helps.

Shay

 

[cmcwill]

the way diamonds are set can sometime lead to 'discoloration.' i remember a post where an invisible set or a channel set without good access to the back caused liquid to be trapped under the stone, causing the appearance of discoloration. all that was needed was a professional clean to get it out. how were your earrings set?

colleen

 

[bling]

This doesnt answer your question about Mr. Clean (although ive heard it recommended here many times), but i clean my ring almost everyday with a small squirt of dawn (light blue) and hot water. I let it soak in the suddsy solution for about 15 minutes, rinse and brush with baby toothbrush, rinse and dry. It works like a charm! Every now and then i get it professionaly sonicated or steam cleaned..when i have time to pop into the jewelers..

they can never be too clean!

 

[jennysue]

Colleen,
my original earrings were set in a basket type setting. The ones that I have now are set in the martini setting. I did take the old set to a jeweler to have them professionaly cleaned in hopes that that would remove the green color. When I told them what I had used they looked at me almost in horror and I felt completely stupid. The professional clean did not remove the green discoloration. I always wondered what made that happen. I do now use windex and also the non colored jewerly cleaner that you can buy at department stores. I just think about those green diamonds everytime I use the blue windex and hope that I don't experience the same problem!

 

[Hest88]

Well, the same cleaning ingredient in Mr Clean is in Windex and in commercial jewelry cleaners--ammonia. That's why my preference is for diluted sudsy ammonia. It's way cheaper and it's the same thing---only without the coloring!

 

[Shay37]

Hest, I want a blue diamond.

(If it works, it'll be the cheapest blue anyone ever saw) just kidding

Shay

 

[researcher]

Hest~
Where do you buy "sudsy" ammonia? Are you just adding soap? Is there a particular brand? Can you use it in ultrasonic cleaners? Please let me know!

 

[WinkHPD]

For those of you who want a great cleaning kit, there is a company called Gem Care Products that makes a great vegetable based cleaning product that smells nice and will not oxidize the silver in your gold alloy should you leave your jewelry to soak overnight. It contains a paste that will remove the tarnish from your jewelry whether it be silver, gold, platinum or titanium, and a liquid for removing the cookie dough from the back of the diamond.

I first saw this when I was at the Tucson show two years ago and my local clients love it a lot! You can order this directly from them at www.gemcareproducts.com. There is also a new steamer out that is made for home use that retails for $119. Only takes about ten minutes or less to be fully charged and ready to go. Tell your jeweler to call Roseco to order one of these for you should you want to go more high tech than your tea kettle. (Shh, don't tell people about the tea kettle, there is just no profit in them!)

Also my favorite for cleaning the ring after using the Gemcare Product is to blow it dry with the compressed air that people think is for blowing the dust out of your computer keyboard...

Wink

 

[Hest88]

Sudsy ammonia is available at any hardware store. I think it's also available at drugstores and supermarkets in the cleaning section but I've just never looked. I believe it's ammonia with soap or detergent added to it. Simple, cheap, and since you further dilute it with water it lasts a long time.

 

[researcher]

Thanks! I'm heading to Ace Hardware ASAP!

 

[Shay37]

Wink, great tip about the canned air. When I cleaned my ring for the day today, I used it after. Very nice difference. I just hate water spots on my ring, and this tip eliminated that problem. Thanks again.

Shay