Noble and terribly expensive metal. Because of him, many people paid with their lives. Did you guess it? Is this gold. Gold jewelry will make any woman inimitable and attractive. However, every thing needs care, and such products are no exception. How can you do this yourself? Let's figure it out.
Why gold tarnishes and what to do
It is worth noting the fact that gold (in essence!) cannot darken. This noble metal is deprived of such an unsightly fate.
But why do jewelry darken? A natural question. And the answer is simple: gold products are actually an alloy of metals (copper, silver, etc.). This is because gold itself is soft and simply not suitable for making jewelry. For example, a high standard of a ring will indicate a high gold content in this metal alloy. The 585 standard means that 585 milligrams of gold are contained in 1 gram of gold product. Accordingly, the alloy from which the jewelry is made darkens, not the noble metal.
A way out of the situation is possible by cleaning gold objects. Contacting specialist jewelers is an expensive pleasure. Moreover, folk wisdom abounds in a variety of ways to clean gold from plaque. All these techniques and methods can be roughly distinguished as: 1) mechanical and 2) chemical. Although most often they act as a “united front”, and this seems to be more effective.
Mechanical and chemical methods for cleaning gold
- You can clean a gold item from dirt and dust using a detergent, for example, laundry soap is good. Add soap or other product to a small bowl and dissolve it. Then put the gold jewelry there and boil for about 10 minutes. After this procedure, rinse the item with cold water.
- You can use a very similar procedure (with some adjustments). Place the ring in a container of detergent overnight. This procedure is strictly prohibited (note to yourself!) for gold items with precious stones.
- A good method for purifying gold is boiling it in a special solution with soda. After boiling, wipe with a piece of dry but soft cloth.
- You can try something like toothpaste or tooth powder. It is better to use toothpaste, because it is easy to apply and does not scratch the product. Using an old brush will give your jewelry a good cleaning.
- Pour a little boiling water into a glass, put one tablespoon of liquid soap in it, place your decoration in it and pour in just a little ammonia.
- You can make a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and the same ammonia. Gold should be placed in this mixture. Let it sit in the solution overnight, and in the morning, rinse with running water and wipe dry with a cloth.
Traditional methods of cleaning gold objects
There are also folk ways to clean gold yourself. Of course, now there are many different modern methods and techniques, but no one forbids using traditional and unscientific (“grandmother’s”) advice.
- Women's lipstick contains titanium dioxide, which will clean your gold well and restore its noble shine.
- Onion juice or vinegar can easily remove darkening. You can use these products for prevention, and then your jewelry will look just great.
- A suspension of egg white and beer, which is applied with flannel to the plaque and wiped until it disappears, will also help the problem.
Features of cleaning gold items with precious stones
Many gold jewelry contains inclusions of precious stones. Therefore, the question becomes very relevant: how to clean precious metal without damaging pretty and expensive stones. You can use the following tips:
- Small gold jewelry with stones (such as rings, earrings) can be wiped with cotton swabs, after moistening them with alcohol or cologne. It is strictly forbidden to use sharp objects, as this can damage the decoration.
- Such products can be placed in a container with alcohol, and then removed and wiped with a soft cloth. But be careful, if your stones are glued, this method is unacceptable.
- If your stones are hard and soldered to gold objects, then you can use solutions of soap and washing powder.
- You can use ammonia to clean diamond jewelry. Dissolve 6 drops of alcohol in water (1 glass) and place the decoration in the bowl. Literally for 30 minutes. Then take it out, rinse and wipe with a dry soft cloth.
- If your gold jewelry is adorned with pearls, you must be very careful when cleaning it.For this procedure, you can take an eyeshadow brush soaked in shampoo and lightly rub the pearl. Rinse in the same way with water using a brush and leave to dry. You should absolutely not use vinegar, because this substance can simply dissolve the pearls.
Thus, you can get rid of dark deposits on gold objects. There are plenty of options though. But they are all based on either mechanical or chemical means of influencing a gold object. It is important not to make a mistake when choosing between cleaning efficiency and safety for decoration.
