How to clean white gold with diamonds at home?
Gold, especially white gold, does not tolerate neglect. Even a slight coating gives the noble metal a cheap look, so it needs special care.
White gold has a small, but significant difference from ordinary gold: it contains special impurities (for shade). This is not silver, but platinum, palladium or nickel, while the coating is made of rhodium.
Such features do not complicate the care of gold, and yet do not forget that the coating requires careful handling.
When white gold has a yellow tint, you should go to a specialist to apply an auxiliary layer of rhodium, this will help you deal with this issue.
Other contaminants can be removed at home. Let's take a closer look at how to clean gold with home remedies.
Effective Recipes
One of the cleaning recipes:
- The product must be boiled for 10 minutes. in soapy water. Soap, powder, or other cleaning agent can be used. Please note that white gold does not tolerate chlorine, it should not be in the composition of the product.
- Boiling in water and soda. 1 st. a spoonful of soda per 100 gr. water. A mixture like this produces foam, so the solution may run out of your pan - be careful.
- After boiling, wipe the product with a flannel cloth.
Cleaning with toothpaste at home
It is necessary to take a paste for sensitive teeth (it will definitely not break the coating), apply it to a soft brush and rub the surface of the product. After the cleaning procedure, rinse the jewelry with warm water.
Cleaning precious metal jewelry is not such an overwhelming task. Despite this, it is necessary to take into account the physical features of metals and observe strict precautions during various procedures.
When cleaning, do not use powders, gels and cloths with abrasive particles. These tools can severely damage the material, and the appearance of the products will be hopelessly damaged. Use brushes with soft bristles only.
Products containing chlorine and other harsh substances are not used for such jewelry. It is best to use soft ingredients to gently remove plaque and dirt.
Can be used ammonia and hydrogen peroxide. One ampoule of ammonia is mixed with 50 ml. hydrogen peroxide. You need to keep gold in such a solution for at least 7-8 minutes, you can even leave it for a day. A special cleaning solution can be bought at the store.
If you don’t want to spend a lot of time looking for them, there are a few simple methods of cleaning at hand:
- sugar solution. Mix 2-3 teaspoons of sugar in warm water, put gold in the solution for 12 hours. This method is suitable for prevention, not for serious pollution, it will restore the former shine to the jewelry.
- Nail polish remover. There are not many aggressive components in it to harm, and at the same time, it is in almost every home. It is necessary to wipe the decoration with the composition.It is better to use options without ammonia. The method is suitable for removing grease and dirt.
- Hysulfite solution. Leave the jewelry in the solution for 20 minutes. This tool is sold in any store that specializes in photography. This method copes well with iodine stains.
Tips & Tricks
Check for damage before cleaning. This is an important procedure, if there are chips and scratches, it is better to take the jewelry to the master so as not to cause even more damage by self-cleaning.
There is a risk of dropping miniature jewelry down the drain when flushing the solution with tap water. Close the drain with a stopper or refuse this method of washing. Remove your white gold jewelry when swimming in the pool. In this case, we are not talking about the possibility of loss. Pool water contains chlorine, which is harmful to rhodium enamel.
If the jewelry is with stones, then you should refrain from cleaning with any alcohol, even ammonia. But this rule does not apply to products with diamonds.
When brushing with toothpaste, it may seem like the best solution to use a new brush, but the old one will be much more useful, the soft bristles will not damage the coating.
After cleaning, be sure to dry the product, never leave it wet, otherwise such neglect will adversely affect the state of the metal, which will be visible even to the naked eye.
You also need to store jewelry properly. Cardboard boxes are not suitable for white gold due to the presence of sulfur in the composition.
Proper and safe jewelry care
Jewelry needs attention. There are stones that cannot tolerate high humidity such as amber, turquoise and opal.Therefore, when cleaning jewelry yourself, you need to find out the characteristics of the gems in your jewelry; you should not immediately use the home cleaning method.
Plaque and various dirt not only penetrate the metal, but also clog into the cracks between the stones, which makes it difficult to remove them. The best tool in this case is a cotton swab.
It is almost impossible for them to damage the frame, which cannot be said about hard and sharp instruments. You should also not clean jewelry inlaid with stones in running water - stones can fall out of the frame into the drain.
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When cleaning stone do not use paste or powder. This may damage the surface. Easily removes tough cases of gasoline contamination.
When the hardness of the stone is less than 5, it is advisable to use only soap as a cleaning agent. Stones of low hardness are: turquoise, moonstone, malachite, opal and apatite.
When cleaning jewelry with pearls, it is important to note that this stone is of an organic nature, it is extremely fragile and, of course, should not be exposed to an active chemical environment.
Folk methods for cleaning jewelry
There are many folk remedies for cleaning jewelry. For example, titanium dioxide, present in cosmetic lipstick, is good for restoring gold jewelry and giving it its original shine. Just apply lipstick and carefully coat the precious metal. Then rinse the product and remove the remaining lipstick.
The next method is to peel the onion, just rub the cut onion on the decoration. Table vinegar is also suitable for this use. Both can perfectly eliminate the blackening of platinum. In addition, their use is not dangerous and does not damage the metal.
Another interesting cleaning method is the use of lime. Pour water into a porcelain cup and dilute finely grated lime there. The mixture should be liquid. Then add salt, soda and some more water. Next, the mixture should be mixed and left for several days. After the set time has elapsed, cleaning can begin. Place white gold in a porcelain cup filled with the resulting solution, leave for two hours. After the procedure, rinse the ring with wine alcohol and lay to dry.
These are the jewelry cleaning methods that we know. Following the described recommendations and instructions, you can restore and preserve the original beauty of white gold for a long time.
See below for details.