How to clean jewelry pieces and gems

REMEMBER! Some gemstones shouldn't get wet. The living Gems, like coral, shells, fangs, bone and pearls and some other like lapis lazuli –that has pyrite bits in it-, selenite and lava. You should also be careful with beauty products –cleansing lotions, perfumes, hair spray… Wear your jewels once finished your beauty session.

Jewelry cleansing.

If it has stains or it’s dirty we will use easy to found at home items we will need:

• Some a dry cloth, of natural fibers like cotton, flannel or linen.
• Bicarbonate. Very effective with sterling silver.
• A bowl of water. Hot if the piece has filigree or difficult access zones on it.
• Tooth paste and brush, smooth and heavily used, to access small openings and that we will use with extreme care so we don’t break or lose any gem.

1- For those jewels that seem opaque and have lost their shine

Rub it gently with a bristle brush, very soft -just a toothbrush well used- spread over it a little toothpaste. Then wash it thoroughly with hot water. The result is superb.

2- How to clean sterling silver jewelry

Rub the piece with a wet cloth and some bicarbonate.

If cleaning is carried out regularly, rub the piece lightly with a dry cloth will remove brownish rust stains.

If the stain is dark and deep; immerse completely the pieces in a container full of baking soda and water, boil it for a few minutes (3-5min). If you have an aluminum container, use it, since due to the electric potential difference between silver and aluminum the small electrical currents will act quickly and silver will become perfect in all its brightness again. The nieladed or dark silvers, those with rusted parts or cavities in dark tones –antiqued by age or by man- should not be cleaned by this method if you want to keep the dark stains that make them unique, because it would clean them.


You can also simply rub the piece with a baking powder –bicarbonate that you could find in any pharmacy- impregnated cloth, it’s a slower technique but almost as effective if the piece does not have watermarks or you want to clean just some parts.

3- How to clean gold jewelry

The gold pieces, if they are badly scratched or white gold made -coated with a layer of rhodium- they must be cleaned by a professional; so that they polish it or give them another coat of rhodium, since it is worn with use.
If the pieces are set in rose or yellow gold, clean them in a saucepan of boiling water with a teaspoon of dishwasher and a few drops of ammonia but beware! if your jewelry has gems as coral, turquoise, pearl, lapis lazuli or any porous stone, this technique will damage it irreversibly. Therefore only use this method in plain gold jewelry or if it has transparent gems -emeralds, diamonds, sapphires, tourmaline, aquamarine, citrine, topaz, ruby, peridot, amethyst, fluorite ...  after this process wash them with warm clear water and they will shine like the first day.

Energetic or spiritual cleansing

Some jewelry pieces are left impregnated
by those who wore them.

Now we are talking about something more subtle, less physically detectable, but no less perceptible.

We all have an inherent energy according to our own personality, but it’s bound to our different moods depending on the circumstances around us. Our energy is positive or very positive if our experiences are pleasant or very satisfactory to us -unrequited love, the birth of a wanted child, fortune at work, success in business, etc ...- If our life is going through adverse and painful situations – it’s pointless to list them as all unfortunately know them and list heartbreak, death, unemployment, sickness, etc ...- our energy becomes bitter and negative.
This energy emanates from us upon to our environment and spread from what we wear to that and those around us; we must recognize that we are happier at a party -surrounded by joy- than in a funeral -surrounded by pain and sadness. Long story short, what we wear, the home where we live and those things in it, are also permeated by that energy that we emanate; there’s where the jewelry being attached to our skin takes a extremely important role.

When we need to clean a jewelry piece?

• If you purchased an old gem.
• If you purchased an used piece.
• If you have inherited it.
• If you have borrowed it.
• If the store or supplier is not of your entire confidence.
• If the piece is handmade so it has stayed many hours in the hands of the craftsman.
• And simply because the energy load and qualities that gems have.

Pay special attention to...

Marie Antionette's Lock of Hair

Watch Out! There exist mourning jewelry; rings, bracelets, brooches, pendant, charms ... they can even contain hair, photographs or initials of the deceased, being sometimes crimped or inserted with the hair of the deceased, at plain view or hidden inside a locket.
This custom that became popular in the Victorian era (1837-1902), thought it was already done before, not in memory of a deceased person, but as a token of appreciation or devotion to a person. The famous Queen Marie Antoinette gave her most precious and close friends a pendant with a lock of her hair so they could wear it in public and demonstrate its proximity to the queen.







Watch Out! Some jewels are sold directly under the title of haunted, it may be true that they had belonged to sorcerers, powerful people or have been used in more or less exoteric rituals. We can’t know to what extent the load of energy they "say" it possess can be beneficial to its new owner. You have to be skeptical, but not risk yourself to what is unknown.

Woven human hair bracelet and tiny daguerreotype of a young woman circa 1840.
Check out the reprinted book "The Art of Hair Work, 1875" by Mark Campbell for more information.

Hair Mourning Brooch, circa 1808

We recognize that a full, honest, sweet comprehensive humanitarian person, would not issue or impregnate their objects with the same energy vibrations that a vile, arrogant, selfish, indecent, devoid of good qualities person would. The jewelry that belonged to one of those, would not be something pleasant or positive carry.

Memorial diamonds are diamonds created
from hair or cremated remains.

If you have obtained a priceless piece whether it’s because of its age, beauty or value and you have no spiritual clear provenance, it is important to clean it with the intention to release the piece from its former owner, make it your own and charge it of positive energy.

What should we do to clean jewelry?

First clean the jewelry, as if it were dirty with one of the methods explained above. Remember to wash it abundantly with clear running water -under the faucet. If you desire to clean the piece from his previous owner energy, the water will clean it; because you also have the power to do good. Then dry it in a natural cloth and throw the cloth away.

Second, you leave the item in a bright place -a room with natural light- near an open window, but not exposed to direct sunlight, so that the sun's rays are not directly reflected in it as the jewelry act as a mirror and would not capture the solar energy. Always remove the piece before sunset and keep it in your room within a natural cloth -which you will throw away once you finish the entire process- do this for three days. The gem will be filled with positive energy of sun that can give us life.


¡Finally, leave it a few days -at least three- surrounded by your favorite garments -if possible, in your underwear drawer. Now, it's yours.

You can use it.


If one day the gems color changes, and those gems had a specific "mission" repeat all the process shown above.


For any questions or special case you can leave a comment and I'll help you personally. Good luck to all.


PS: By the way, is not completely true that gems change color if exposed to direct sunlight. Prolonged sunlight exposures are needed to reach discolor or dehydrate some gems like turquoise. They should not be exposed to direct continuous sunlight, since the excessive temperature harms us all, even gems.