Homemade Gold Cleaner Blend Recipes

Jewelry made of precious metals have been appreciated at all times. In this article, we will talk about gold jewelry. Now every self-respecting woman has gold rings, bracelets, earrings, pendants, chains (sometimes all of the above). One of the pressing questions is how to keep your jewelry in a dignified form so that you will not be ashamed to go out into people in them.

Every piece of gold fades over time, loses its original appearance and does not look as luxurious as when purchased. This happens because we wear products not made of the purest gold, but with an admixture of various metals. They are added to the alloy to change the ductility of the metal and impart strength.

A little about the composition of gold

The composition of gold products may also contain metals such as cadmium, copper, zinc, nickel, silver and others. All of them oxidize when exposed to oxygen, which is why our jewelry darkens and becomes dull.

In addition, simple dirt can be the cause of tarnishing. After all, we wear jewelry every day, and they come into contact with the body, covered with a coating of sweat and fat, and just street dust.

What to do when your favorite jewelry has lost its luster and began to resemble ordinary costume jewelry? Of course, you can always have it cleaned by a professional salon. But, firstly, it will cost you a pretty penny, and secondly, there is no guarantee that the products will not be spoiled, or even completely lost.

Therefore, here we will consider options for how to clean gold at home, so that you will be calmer and the result will be excellent.

There are many ways to keep your jewelry shiny and scratch-free. The recipes for cleaning compositions are quite simple, you can choose the one that you have a soul for and for which you have the right ingredients at home.

Before you start cleaning products, read how to do it correctly. Things to keep in mind:

• Many jewelry contains hard-to-reach items that are difficult to clean. This can be an openwork ornament, the seamy side of a concave shape, with irregularities, as well as inserts of stones or convex patterns. Do not clean such areas in the usual way. For high-quality plaque removal, you will have to use a used toothbrush with soft bristles.
• The recipes below are not suitable for cleaning jewelry with precious stones, we will talk about such jewelry separately.
• Ammonium (aka ammonium hydroxide) is sold in any pharmacy.
• When choosing a ceramic container, check that the level of the mixture is sufficient to cover the entire product.

Cleaning mix recipes

1. The simplest way to cleanse gold is to dissolve three large tablespoons of salt in half a glass of burning water. It is necessary to put the jewelry in the solution for 8-12 hours, then rinse and dry.
2. Cleaning gold items with toothpaste. This method works well for items that you wear frequently. Simply dab the toothpaste on an old toothbrush or soft cloth and rub the jewelry well. This gives a quick and good effect, but at the expense of more wear and tear, which, as a rule, is not critical for everyday jewelry.
3. A recipe available to any housewife with water and dishwashing detergent. You need to put a fleecy cloth on the bottom of the saucepan, place jewelry on top. Pour 250 ml of water with a small spoonful of detergent and boil for 5-10 minutes. Then wash the jewelry and wipe dry.
4. Place jewelry in a mixture of one glass of water, 30 milliliters of 3% hydrogen peroxide, 1 small spoonful of ammonium hydroxide and half a small spoonful of liquid soap for 10-15 minutes. Then rinse thoroughly under running tap water and dry with a piece of soft flannel.
5. Purification with ammonia. This composition works great, but you should not use it too often, as the products will tarnish. You need to mix 1 part of ammonia with 6 parts of water, lower the jewelry into the solution for no more than a minute. Then rinse thoroughly with clean water. Dry the gold with a very soft flannel-type cloth.
6. Method using foil. Stir a large spoonful of baking soda in 250 ml of water. At the bottom of the container, spread the foil and fill it with hot soda solution, then leave for 8-12 hours. Rinse jewelry with cold water.
7. Another recipe using ammonia. It needs to be mixed with some kind of cleaning agent, such as laundry detergent. All this is completely dissolved in 250 ml of boiled water. Soak jewelry in liquid for 2-3 hours, then rinse in water and dry.
8. Among the unconventional methods, one can also find such as soaking gold in a mixture of Coca-Cola and water. The procedure should be carried out for 1-2 hours.
9. There are also more radical methods for preventing contamination of gold surfaces. For example, you can buy Coca-Cola and mix it with water, leave the gold in the resulting liquid for a couple of hours.

If after using one of the methods of cleaning from the former brightness there is no trace left, dissolve a small spoonful of sugar in water and place the jewelry in it for 8-12 hours.

All of the above techniques work when refining yellow and red gold. It happens that a dark gray coating forms on the surface of the products and simple soaking or boiling does not work. In this case, you will have to use mechanical cleaning. Sulfide deposits are removed by abrasive materials. Can soda or other coarse abrasives be used here? We strongly discourage them, they will scratch the surface and you will have to give your jewelry to polish.

It is best to use special pastes for mechanical cleaning; they can be purchased on the Internet. Their cost is quite acceptable, from one hundred to five hundred rubles. Such cleaning agents are made from special gentle ingredients, they are good for removing plaque from gold items.

For mechanical cleaning, you can use a soft bristled toothbrush. You just need to apply the paste to the brush and gently clean the product in one direction.

At the end of the work, gold jewelry must be wiped off with a cloth and wiped with alcohol or vodka. The alcohol solution removes the greasy film from using the paste.

Then the products are washed with water and dried with a cloth.

The so-called white gold is an alloy of common yellow gold with copper and nickel. Thanks to nickel, the metal becomes light in color. With the purification of white gold, you need to be extremely careful, since spoiling the top layer is as easy as shelling pears. Read on to find out how to clean white gold without damaging your jewelry.

The thinnest layer of rhodium is sprayed on white gold items. It belongs to the platinum group and its value is significantly higher than the value of gold. The rhodium layer wears off rather easily and quickly, which is why you can only clean your jewelry with a soft cloth.

The composition of different parts of water and ammonia, described above, removes dirt well. You can also add a few drops of detergent for better results. The jewelry is completely immersed in the solution and kept for an hour. After that, they must be thoroughly rinsed and dried with a cloth. White gold should not be left raw - it will not benefit the metal.

There is another well-proven method for white gold. This is a composition of two large spoons of beer and one yolk. Stir all this well, drip it onto a piece of flannel and gently clean your jewelry.

When cleaning white gold items, in no case should you use pastes and powders with coarse abrasive particles, as well as brushes with stiff bristles.

Recommendations for cleaning gold jewelry with stones and pearls

Often gold items come with precious and semi-precious stones or pearls. Remove dirt from them in a special way. Many stones, for example, cannot withstand contact with moisture. Standard cleaning techniques are not suitable for amber or turquoise jewelry. How can you get rid of pollution such things?

To gently clean the stones on the products, use a cotton swab dipped in any alcohol-containing solution. This should be done with smooth movements, do not use pointed objects so as not to damage the frame.

If glue is used to fix the stones, they must not be immersed in water. Moisten a soft cloth with alcohol solution and remove grease stains. After that, wipe the jewelry well with a clean, damp cloth and dry it.

If the product is heavily soiled, you can use gasoline by simply dampening a soft bristled toothbrush. But it is better not to use cleaning powders for jewelry with stones.

Many gems are especially sensitive to external stimuli. Stones such as malachite, moonstone, turquoise and rubies should be protected from direct sunlight. Wipe them periodically with a soap solution, and do not wait until noticeable dirt appears.

Jewelry with pearls requires the most careful treatment; even the softest toothbrush cannot be used here. Take a cosmetic brush, dip it in shampoo and lightly stroke the pearl surface. Then wash and brush and rub the pearls clean to make them shine.

Gold jewelry with a matte surface is quite popular, but very whimsical. You need to take care of them especially delicately. Hard brushes, rough cloth and powders will not work here - wipe off the dusting.

The best way to remove dirt from matte gold is a chemical emulsion of 25% ammonia. The jewelry should be left in the composition for 2-3 hours, then rinsed in clean water and wiped dry with a piece of cloth.

A mixture of 1 small spoonful of lime with water, salt on the tip of a knife and half a teaspoon of baking soda has also worked well. The composition must be kept for a couple of days, then the jewelry should be placed there and not taken out for 2-3 hours. Then, of course, rinse everything with clean water and dry.

Surely every girl has less expensive jewelry in which gilding is used. They look exactly like gold ones, but they are much cheaper. Previously, gilding was applied by pasting with the finest gold foil. Nowadays, more advanced technologies are used, but the gold layer from this is not thicker and is easily erased. To prevent this from happening, and such products have served for a long time, they cannot be cleaned with abrasive powders and brushes with stiff bristles.

Gold-plated rings and earrings should be wiped with a piece of cotton wool after soaking it in wine alcohol or beer. Egg white is an excellent product for cleaning gilded surfaces. You can also wipe the gilding with a piece of cotton wool soaked in acetic acid and leave for five minutes. Rinse the vinegar with water and let the jewelry dry.

In the article, we talked about a large number of mixtures for cleaning gold at home. Before choosing one of them, read the reviews on the forums. Then you will have no doubts what is best for your particular decoration.

1. During household chores (washing dishes, cleaning, cooking), jewelry should be removed. Exposure to chemicals is bad for gloss.
2. Do not wear jewelry while exercising or showering. This will protect your jewelry from accidental scratches and sweat.
3. Gold can enter into an unpredictable chemical reaction with cosmetics (lotions, creams) and medicines (ointments, iodine, brilliant green). Therefore, before using gold jewelry, it is simply necessary to remove it.
4. Jewelry care should be a regular ritual.

If you take good care of your favorite jewelry, their shine will delight you for many years!