Home Care
There is one way in which a woman can help to keep her jewelry clean. Every time that a jewel is worn, it should be wiped with clean tissue paper, or chamois leather, before being put away. (Facial tissue should not be used, as it will leave a fuzz.) Such a gentle wiping will remove the grease of finger-marks, and other marks or specks.
Cleaning Don’ts
In general, it is inadvisable to use a brush for cleaning jewelry, as it tends to loosen the stones. Eventually—not while being cleaned, but during an otherwise pleasant evening—a stone may fall from the setting.
Ammonia, soap, and other cleaning agents are likely to leave a film. This may be imperceptible; a woman may think she has “cleaned it all off”; and yet it may greatly lessen the brilliance of the stone.
Soaking in boiling water—with or without chemicals—is dangerous. Some alloys as well as some stones cannot stand such treatment. Likewise sudden heat, or sudden cooling, may seriously damage certain stones; some may even crack, or break. Most delicate are the emerald, the peridot, the aquamarine, and the turquoise.
The turquoise especially should not come into contact with fatty or oily substances. It is porous, and such substances are likely to change its color, or to make it dull.
In every case, when she is tempted to apply home cleaning to her jewels, a woman should remember that the jeweler is equipped with steam blowers and other modern devices, each for its particular type of stone, and he is glad to be called upon to give his expert knowledge and gentle care.