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Cleaning a Diamond Ring 

Let’s face it, when it comes to jewellery, we all generally think of diamonds. There is nothing quite like having a freshly cleaned ring on your finger fresh from a Jeweller. The light bouncing off your diamond just right can make you feel like a million dollars. So it’s only normal to want to keep it looking nice and clean right? So I’ve put together some tips on cleaning a diamond ring or any diamond Jewellery. 

While Diamonds actually repel water they unfortunately do the complete opposite with grease and oil. Diamonds attract grease and oil more than most other Gemstones around. The natural oils from your skin, the hand lotion you might use before bed and even some soaps and perfumes can all get stuck to a diamond. 

So what to do if you find yourself in need of cleaning your Diamond? Well you could take it to an experienced Jeweller to get the best results, but you don’t need to every time. You can just as easily give your Diamond a clean at home using some simple techniques. 

So what to use?

Cleaning a diamond ring isn’t too hard, the best thing to use is Fairy liquid or a dish soap solution. In addition to this you could use a gentle shampoo like baby shampoo. Just avoid anything that contains a moisturiser, this will have the opposite effect on your jewellery and leave a film on the diamond. 

Get the tap running hot and fill up a bowl, add the washing up liquid or shampoo and give it a stir. Pop your Jewellery in the hot water and leave for around 20 – 30min. This will allow the dirt and grime on the back of the stones to start to break down. Gently use a soft tooth brush around the back of the stones to remove any dirt trapped and then rinse under WARM water. Then repeat if you need. Never go from hot water to cold water as this could damage your diamond or stones.

Cleaning like this should ideally be done once a week. Yep! Once a week! This will allow the build up of oil and grease to be kept at bay and will be easier to clean. I’d also recommend getting an experienced Jeweller to give it a once over to check the settings are all nice and tight and give it a professional clean and polish once a year. 

What you shouldn’t use to clean your Diamonds

This actually comes up a fair bit. Never use bleach to clean your Jewellery. You might think this is the ideal product to clean your Jewellery as it cleans your house so well.. its not, don’t use it. If you use bleach on your Jewellery you could potentially ruin it. Bleach is an extremely harsh chemical and can cause damage to some metals. Some solders can contain elements that will react with the bleach or chlorine and oxidise the solder. 

Other things to avoid would be toothpaste, thats meant for you teeth only! Also avoid baking soda. Toothpaste and baking soda are actually very abrasive and can cause scratches on your lovely Jewellery. 

Ultrasonic Machines

Now ultrasonic machines are great. Professional Jewellers use them all the time when cleaning Jewellery. I have one and its great… but….  these machines should really only be used by a Goldsmith who knows what they’re doing, especially if your item of Jewellery contains stones. I’m often asked about them and if I’d recommend people getting one. The machine works by blasting sound waves through a heated tank to dislodge any dirt and grime that builds up on the Jewellery.

They generally make a little noise and the liquid will slosh about. The problem is that if the item of Jewellery has any stones in, this can potentially lead to the stones coming out. This generally happens if the item of Jewellery hasn’t been serviced regularly, the piece is worn or the stones haven’t been set properly to begin with. A Goldsmith should check your item of Jewellery before and after its been in an Ultrasonic machine to check for loose stones and tighten any stones and settings that need attention. 

Servicing

Servicing your Jewellery (especially rings) is something I’d recommend every 12 – 18 months. The tips of claws can get damaged and worn over time so it’s well worth just taking a little time to make sure your diamonds or precious stones are secure. Checking over a ring and a full clean and polish can cost as little as £30. If your item of Jewellery needs work then I can give you a quote to restore it to a new condition. If you’d like a piece of Jewellery checked over and cleaned and polished get in touch and I’ll give you a quote based on your requirements. 

Thanks for reading 

Space Stones

Space Stones are Gemstones that originate from the depths of space. They can get to earth by the way of Meteorites.

Most recently, scientists from around the world came together and done something extraordinary. With a team of 200 scientists from eight different observatories around the world they have combined their telescopes into one huge telescope to take a picture of a black hole for the very first time. The picture is made up of data collected and analysed for 2 years! The result, a wondrous red, orange, yellow, white ring of colour, simply beautiful. 

This really got me thinking about how our gemstones originate from minerals on earth but are there any that don’t? The answer, yes. There are some that fall to earth in the way of Meteorites.  

Peridot

Peridot is one of the very first treasured gemstones and is called a sun gem by the Egyptians. The Egyptians found the first deposit on a Red Sea Island. It was only half a century ago that a huge meteorite was found in Argentina containing a great number of the sought after peridot crystals. Not all Peridot is from space though, it can also be found through volcanic activity here on earth where it’s often found in Lava. 

Black Diamonds

Yep thats right, black diamonds come from space! Scientists have confirmed with infrared instruments that they are formed because of a supernova exploding. Conventional Diamonds are formed hundreds of miles below the surface of the earth under immense heat and pressure. Conditions turn carbon into diamonds that many of us wear today. 

Black diamonds are only found in certain parts of the world including Africa and Brazil and are thought to have travelled to Earth with meteorites and distributed during the billions of years since they came over specific areas.

Thanks for reading!

Settings for engagement rings. 

So you’re looking to propose to your loved one, you head out to the high street or fire up the Mac to start looking and all of a sudden theres more than one type of Engagement ring available with just about any shape of diamond you can think of. Not only that, once you’ve made your mind up on a shape of diamond you have a choice of settings to go with that particular stone. The choices that lie before you can sometimes be a bit overwhelming! 

Fear not! I am here to help and give you some things to think about.  

Every stone needs a seat. 

So you know what shape stone / diamond you want to go for and now you need a ring for it. The first thing you need to decide is the setting. This is the part of the ring that holds the stone / diamond in place. This is without question the most important part of any ring. Get the setting style right and the stone you’ve chosen will be shown off to its very best. Get it wrong and it could jeopardise the stones beautiful sparkle. 

Light

 

A diamond (or any stone for that matter) is as only as good as the light around it. After all, you cant see a diamond in the dark, no matter how expensive it might be. If the setting is big and bulky, you’re going to be hiding that stone from all the lovely light that could be bouncing its way through the diamond and around the facets (little flats around a stone to help reflect light).

Strength. 

The setting (or collet as its sometimes known) has to be strong. After all, you don’t want that expensive stone popping out on an idle Tuesday afternoon while you’re shopping.. because your never find it no matter how hard you try. 

Light vs Strength.

More light into a diamond means less metal round the diamond. However less metal can sometimes mean less strong.. but it doesn’t have to!

My advise, try and get a bit of both. Something that shows off the diamond but wont fall apart when you least expect it. Having a Setting thats handmade instead of cast will instantly make the setting stronger. If there are four claws on a Round stone, look at bottom of the claws not just the top where the stone sits. Most settings get their strength from the base of the collet, where everything meets together and attaches to the ring. 

Most importantly ask questions. Google is a great tool for finding inspiration and seeing what might work well. Ask your Goldsmith to give you some advise on settings and see if they could do a drawing if they can to see what fits. 

Process of elimination. 

I see many clients thinking they have no idea what they want or where to start. You have to start somewhere so my advise would be to get stuck in. It’s fairy easy to work out what you don’t like and work from there. I like to think in stages. Stage one might be the Diamond, finding the right shape and quality to suite your budget. Each stage leads on from the last so there’s no point thinking about the rest of the ring until you have the first stage cracked. 

Hopefully this has helped in a small way. If you’d like any advise on Engagements rings or any rings in general don’t hesitate to contact me! 

Fun facts about Jewellery!

People are really curious about Gold these days, especially since the price has been consistently going up, so I thought I’d share some cool, interesting and practical information about the precious metal:

GOLD PURITY

Pure gold is too soft or everyday wear, so it is alloyed with a mixture of metals like silver, copper, nickel and zinc to give it strength and durability.

Karatage is represented by a number followed by abbreviation “k” which indicates purity or how much of the metal in a piece of Jewellery is gold. This signifies proportion of gold content, and should not be confused with “carat,” which is a unit of weight measurement for precious stones such as diamonds. Karatage is expressed in 24ths, making 24k= 100% gold, 18k= 75% gold, 14k= 58.3% gold and 10k= 41.7% gold.

GOLD COLOR

The Colour of gold is determined by two factors:

1) The type of metal alloys included; and

2) The percentage of each metal alloy

Yellow Gold:  natural gold and colour-saturated alloys are what give yellow gold Jewellery its rich shine. The alloys most commonly used are copper with a red hue and silver featuring a green hue. An expert mixture of copper, silver and pure gold gives its signature warmth.

White Gold: a silvery-white character is what makes white gold Jewellery so appealing. In order to make the gold white, it is combined with metal alloys (nickel, zinc, copper, manganese) that are silvery-white in nature. It is often Rhodium plated to provide a bright non-tarnishing finish. (Look for our future blog that will be all about Rhodium).

Rose Gold:  The beautiful pink hue of rose gold Jewellery is created by using a copper alloy. The overall percentage of metal alloys is the same for rose gold as it is for yellow or white, there is just a higher proportion of copper used.

GOLD PRICING

*Gold Jewellery prices are dependent upon the purity of the gold or karat weight, the market value of gold, and the level of craftsmanship and design of each piece of Jewellery.

GOLD ATTRIBUTES

Gold, element Au, was one the first known metals. It was the second metal to be worked by humans as early as 3000 B.C. The gold standard defines the world’s currency system, whereby money represents a value in gold. It has unique qualities: resistant to rust, tarnish, and corrosion. Although it is very strong, Gold is also the most malleable of all precious metals.

At Jason Keith Jewellery we’ll  buy your unwanted Gold for Cash!