Homemade Recipe to Clean Jewellery
A quick and easy way to clean your gold jewellery.
In South Africa when I was a teenager we would visit family friends and someone would announce that they were cleaning jewellery.
Toothpicks and serviettes, would be produced and we would sit around the table cleaning out the obvious dirt that accumulated in the crevasses of rings.
Then a pot would be placed on the table and everyone would pop their rings in. The pot would be topped up with water to cover the jewellery and a squirt of dish washing liquid would be added. The pot would boil for 10 minutes or so on a slow simmer, the rings would be removed using a tooth pick and cooled on a plate with paper towel. On one occasion a friend’s stone fell out due to a loose clasp. It was decided that loosing your stone in a pot was a better than it falling out on the street, never to be found again.
So the other day I looked down and thought that my rings looked a little lacklustre. I didn’t have the chit chat of inter-generational company that I enjoyed as a teenager. When I was a teenager the room would be filled with my Yiayia (granny), my mother, my Yiayia’s godchild, her sisters and their friends. We would have people in their teens, 20’s, 30’s 40’s and 50’s all socialising. I must say I miss those days and the fact that my children aren’t exposed to a Big Fat Greek family, makes me feel I have deprived them in some way, anyway. Sitting alone I popped my rings into the pot and my daughter came into the room and said ahh can I add my rings. I smiled and thought you will pass this onto your children one day. Then my phone rang with a Facetime call from my mum in South Africa, so from being alone I had three generations cleaning jewellery with me.
My mom said she uses Hydrogen Peroxide which you can buy in your pharmacy and she pops the rings into a glass and allows the dirt to be bubbled out. She occasionally agitates the rings with a tooth pick. I was nervous but gave it a try. The dirt being bubbled out was quite mesmerising to watch.
Sometimes these old fashioned methods work on good quality flawless diamonds and gold. If you are worried please don’t try this, use something recommended by a jeweller or take your rings to be professionally cleaned. But, for me this week, I enjoyed my homemade recipe for cleaning my rings and they are still sparkling.
- Optional Step
- 4 Tablespoons Hydrogen Peroxide or enough to cover the jewellery
- The simple cleaning step
- 1 Tablespoon of dish washing liquid
- 250ml cold water
- Pick out any obvious dirt with a toothpick.
- Concentrate on the areas underneath the stone and in between any design detail.
- This is an optional step:
- Add the hydrogen peroxide to a shot glass.
- Allow the rings to sit in the mixture for 5 minutes, agitating with a tooth pick every minute or so.
- Lift the rings out into a stainless steel pot.
- Add the rings, cold water and dish washing liquid.
- Bring the pot to a simmer for 10 minutes.
- Lift the rings with a tooth pick and allow them to cool and drain on kitchen paper.
- Dry with a serviette and enjoy your sparkling jewellery.
I hope I have inspired you to clean your jewellery be it with a professional cleaner or using my Homemade Jewellery Cleaner recipe.
