Caring For Your Gemstone Beads

 Gemstones are valued for beauty, color, and texture. These semi-precious stones are often used in making jewelry and accessories as they never go out of style. In the form of gemstone beads, these stones may be used to create bracelets, necklace, bags, and other fashion pieces. It may even be used to create decorative artworks for home.

Like any other material treasured for their beauty and value, gemstones need proper care to maintain its condition. To keep it looking brand new, the owner has to protect it from damaging elements.

Things to Consider When Caring for Your Gemstones

Gemstones have different kinds of requirements when it comes to cleaning and maintenance. When caring for your gemstone beads, you must first consider the type of the gemstone. You must also consider other factors like toughness, hardness, steam-recommended, ultrasonic, boil-recommended, soap, and untreated cloth.

Gemstones Not Fit For The Ultrasonic Method

Each gemstone has its own characteristics. Some gemstones may require or may not require a specific method of cleaning. For example, the lapis, coral, malachite, opal and diamond rings, pearl, tanzanite, and turquoise gemstones are not recommended to be treated with the ultrasonic method because these precious stones have either fairly poor or very poor toughness quality. These gemstones are also relatively low in hardness. Using the ultrasonic method on these gemstones will destroy their composition and stability.

Ultrasonic Method for Cleaning Gemstones

The ultrasonic method is a cleaning technique used on many materials including metals, wood, and concrete. Using ultrasonic waves, minute bubbles are created in the liquid cleaning solution. These bubbles implode to release gaseous particle in the bubbles. This degassing process helps clean the crevasses and the surfaces of your gemstone beads. The ultrasonic cleaning method is only appropriate for gemstones that are durable like ruby and diamond.

Other Cleaning Methods

Precious stones may be cleaned with warm water. However, this should be done with care. The temperature shouldn't be too hot. You should also avoid sudden temperature change as this may cause the gemstone to crack.

Another way to clean gemstones is by using cleaning solutions that are specially designed for these stones. If these are not available, you can use a mild soap and a lukewarm water to wash the stones.

However, some types of porous stones like pearls should never be submerged in water. For these stones, you can use a soft jewelry polishing cloth to clean the surface.

Storage

Taking care of your gemstone beads also involves preparing a proper place for storage. A wooden box with compartments will prevent the stones from scratching each other's surface.

Caring for your gemstones, from cleaning to proper storage, will enable owner to keep their precious stones for a long time. Get the most out of your investment by practicing these care tips.