Don’t use hot or boiling water, especially if your jewelry contains fragile precious stones. Some precious stones, like opals, can crack if subjected to rapid and drastic temperature changes. Similarly, don’t use freezing cold water because the grime will contract and get tougher. [2] X Research source This method can also be used to polish gold filled jewelry.
Special brushes designed for this purpose are best, but most small, soft brushes (like, for instance, eyebrow brushes) will also work.
If you’re rinsing your jewelry in a sink, plug or cover the drain so that you don’t accidentally lose your jewelry if it slips out of your hands. Alternatively, rinse your jewelry in a pasta strainer or metal coffee filter.
Ammonia can damage certain materials often used in jewelry. Don’t use ammonia when cleaning gold jewelry pieces that contain platinum or pearls.
To quickly remove all of the jewelry at once, use a kitchen strainer like you might use when cooking pasta. Either fish the jewelry out with a hand-held strainer or upend the bowl into a larger strainer in the sink.
Arrange jewelry in the dish or bowl so that no piece of jewelry is covering up another piece - water should be able to reach every piece of jewelry.
Don’t be afraid if the water appears dirty - this is good! As boiling water loosens the dirt, wax, grime, etc. that’s built up on your jewelry, it may float to the surface of the water. The dirtier your water looks, the more dirt you’ve removed from your jewelry!
