Tips or suggestions for cleaning diamonds

[ame]

IF you have a platinum ring, the ammonia and water is fine, but if it's white gold/rose gold/yellow gold, don't use ammonia. It's particularly not great on white gold as it eats away at the rhodium.

You can clean your ring as often as you want. I do mine 1-2 times a day outside of normal handwashing.

IF you have pave/micropave on your ring, do NOT use an ultrasonic, and be sparing with steaming.

Mr. Clean and water, Dish Soap and water. I use something called Sparkle Sparkle which you can get on nventa.com. It's a spray cleaner that is just awesome. I use that and the little brushes and rinse with hot water. It works fantastically well. When I am at work and don't have it, I use some dish soap and water as well.

The big key is that you use warm-hot water if you can because it helps cut the oil BUT you have to dry the stone well. If you can use a hair dryer, that's good, but I usually use paper towels and twist the corners into tiny points and get under the stone, then use a blowdrier just to finish it off. Sometimes Ill use a little alcohol on a paper towel to get any water spots off.

 

[bb10lue]

CONGRATS on your engagement, love your princess ring!!!

I brought some SarkleSparkle off ebay and have been using it for my Tiffany solitaire!!! Give a try~.
Before this, I used boil-hot water and dish soap.

 

[skphotoimages]

IF you have a platinum ring, the ammonia and water is fine, but if it's white gold/rose gold/yellow gold, don't use ammonia. It's particularly not great on white gold as it eats away at the rhodium.

You can clean your ring as often as you want. I do mine 1-2 times a day outside of normal handwashing.

IF you have pave/micropave on your ring, do NOT use an ultrasonic, and be sparing with steaming.

Mr. Clean and water, Dish Soap and water. I use something called Sparkle Sparkle which you can get on nventa.com. It's a spray cleaner that is just awesome. I use that and the little brushes and rinse with hot water. It works fantastically well. When I am at work and don't have it, I use some dish soap and water as well.

The big key is that you use warm-hot water if you can because it helps cut the oil BUT you have to dry the stone well. If you can use a hair dryer, that's good, but I usually use paper towels and twist the corners into tiny points and get under the stone, then use a blowdrier just to finish it off. Sometimes Ill use a little alcohol on a paper towel to get any water spots off.

...can we say OBSESSED??? LOL. Just kidding
I'm actually about the same. 1 part ammonia to 9 parts water and a drop or two of damn. Warm. rinse with WARM water or whatever temperature you just soaked it in so your metal doesn't suffer shock. Then I use a baby snot sucker to blow air on it, or that canned air for electronics or a hair dryer. Then I used the points of paper towels too...lol

 

[ame]

We might have a problem. My husband laughs at my perfectly destroyed paper towels.

 

[bellacherie]

wow thank you all so much!

I cleaned it with one part ammonia, 6 parts warm water, a baby toothbrush and the espresso steamer! It looks amazingly sparkly!

I tried to order sparklesparkle from nventa but its trying to charge me $30 postage, ill have to figure something else out!

thanks again!

 

[bb10lue]

^^I ordered it on ebay, and paid $5 for the postage

 

[Cara Mia]

Can i ask why its necessary to dry it so thoroughly? I mean will water hurt it? My ring is a diamond solitaire set in platinum. Ive been using my clarisonic on it every few days, very lightly, and i only let the bristles touch it, not the vibrating handle, with dish soap.

 

[skphotoimages]

I meant to say dawn above..not damn...lol. It cuts the grease.

I woudn't say it's "important" to dry it...although ame might have more insight. I do it to make sure there are no water spots, or moisture left where more dirt will collect. It's kind of like washing a car. If you don't towel dry it, it doesn't look near as great as if you do, and if you go through a car wash and there are still wet spots, your car can get very spotty....same with a diamond. I do it for full sparkly effect

And I think 1:6 is probably a better ammonia water ratio. I have white gold and use a weaker mix to preserve the rhodium plating. Actually as of late I've been using ammonia free Mr. Clean.

 

[Swanky]

Yes, Tiffany rings are like any other platinum and diamond rings
Ammonia and hot water is fine for them.
I stopped using ammonia though, I use Mr. Clean, a drop of dishwashing liquid to break up oils and hot water in a Sonic cleaner.
I dry it w/ a cloth and then use 'canned air' to dry it completely = no spots.

 

[missD]

I tried denture cleaners today. The fizzy pill ones that fizzes into the nooks and crannies. It did a good job, but my ring wasn't that dirty to begin with so I didn't see a HUGE dramatic change!

 

[karylicious]

^^ very true about the ultrasonics loosening stones. And if anyone has any invisible set jewelry, do NOT EVER leave that in an ultrasonic for more than a minute. I learned this the hard way. Also, alcohol can and will leave a film on diamonds and other stones, so please don't use that as a method of cleaning. (my store used to dip stones in alcohol first before showing to customers and we had to stop because we realized what it was doing)

It happened to me.. Does anyone know if the steamer machine does the same? Is it dangerous to loose stones with that kind of machine?

 

[skphotoimages]

It happened to me.. Does anyone know if the steamer machine does the same? Is it dangerous to loose stones with that kind of machine?

It's not like the ultrasonic vibrations that can loosen the stone (I don't think) but the high pressure can blow an already loose stone out.
I have an ultrasonic and a jet steam cleaner. I really believe that if you use very warm water and mr clean and soak and scrub gently with a baby tooth brush and some method of blown air to dry (I wonder if canned air is bad for pave?) such as a hair dryer on cold, you can achieve almost the same clean as using those machines. Maybe not if you haven't cleaned it in a while, or something like that, but if you keep up with it, you should have excellent results. I get lazy about my ring, and I don't have a setting where I have to worry about stones falling out, so I use the machines, but I don't think they are a necessity especially if there is ANY risk to your ring.

 

[ame]

It's less likely that a stone will be vibrated loose by the ultrasonic, as it's just going to remove whatever is actually holding the already loose stone in place. It's probably held by gunk. The only pro is that at least the loose stone will be in the dirty solution when the ring is cleaned, just so long as you don't dump the solution out right away.

Can i ask why its necessary to dry it so thoroughly? I mean will water hurt it? My ring is a diamond solitaire set in platinum. Ive been using my clarisonic on it every few days, very lightly, and i only let the bristles touch it, not the vibrating handle, with dish soap.

I woudn't say it's "important" to dry it...although ame might have more insight. I do it to make sure there are no water spots, or moisture left where more dirt will collect. It's kind of like washing a car. If you don't towel dry it, it doesn't look near as great as if you do, and if you go through a car wash and there are still wet spots, your car can get very spotty....same with a diamond. I do it for full sparkly effect

Water will not hurt it. It will however attract new dirt and grime if the stone isn't totally dried. Diamonds already attract grease and oil, so this just makes the affinity much stronger.

Waterspots do also affect the diamond's brilliance but those are easily removed with a little alcohol on a paper towel and wiped over the stone.

 

[mrs moulds]

I soak mine in a cup of 3 parts warm/hot water and 1 part clear ammonia and then brush w/ an old toothbrush. . . my diamonds sparkle like mad!

This sounds like a good ideal. I must try it.

 

[NWK]

a jeweler told me to use an electric tooth brush. I usually clean my diamond ring, studs and necklace pear with dishwashing liquid (I have this ecological product) a small brush (the one that comes with the jewel clean product found in any store) and hot water, and I dry it with my hair dryer, I am a bit obsessed and clean the ring nearly every day.