The Beauty of diamonds
For thousands of years, mankind has perfected the art of gemstone cutting to reveal the true beauty of a diamond. With great care, precision and through a lengthy process, a diamond is brought to life by expert cutting and polishing. When you purchase an item of diamond jewellery, most people are struck by the brilliance of the diamond and the mirror-like polish of the metal.
Diamonds will endure – make sure the sparkle does.
If you happen to visit us to choose your diamond, you will notice that we handle diamonds carefully with fine diamond tongs. We avoid touching diamonds with our fingers. Natural oils from the skin instantly reduce the sparkle of a diamond. The very last process when we box an engagement ring is a final wipe with a micro-polishing cloth. This ensures that there is no loss of sparkle when the ring arrives.
The Golden-rule for handling diamonds
Don’t use your fingers! If your diamond is set into a ring, avoid touching the diamond itself. Dirt and grease will transfer from finger to diamond, and the stone will rapidly lose its sparkle. If you touch the diamond, use a clean polishing cloth to remove fingerprints and grease.
Cleaning your diamond jewellery
An easy approach to cleaning a piece of diamond jewellery is to soak it overnight, once a week, in window-cleaning fluid. The removal of dirt and grease can be assisted by using a soft tooth-brush to remove stubborn grime. Hand cream and natural grease attract dirt and dust, which builds and dries within the back of the setting and on the back of the diamond itself. We would recommend keeping a brush specifically for this purpose. Be careful when trying to get behind the diamond and avoid unnecessary force that might damage the setting. Tension style settings and part-bezel settings are generally more at risk.
Once the ring is clean, swill with water, and finally wipe the ring with a lint-free cloth.
Cautionary notes
Existing items of diamond jewellery with years of accumulated dirt, sometimes require ultrasonic cleaning. Domestic units can be purchased at a reasonable cost, but the better cleaners used by jewellers work with heat, a suitable cleaning solution and ultrasonic pulses to strip away the dirt. Years of hand-cream, grease and accumulated dirt can significantly reduce the sparkle of a diamond ring.
Occasionally once cleaned, there can be movement between the diamond and setting. If the setting has moved over the years, and the dirt has become impacted between claw and diamond, this can become evident once cleaned. Your jeweller will need to tighten the setting to rectify this.
Explaining why metal can appear dull after cleaning?
If your Gold or Platinum ring has been cleaned, revealing the brilliance of your diamond once again, you might notice that the metal itself is still dull. Small scratches that build up over time, take away the shine of the polished metal. Some Gold and Platinum cleaning cloths will contain a polishing compound that will help restore metal shine, but ultimately your ring will occasionally need polishing (depending on the extent of wear.) 18ct White Gold will need to be Rhodium Plated afterwards [We have noted the difference between Rhodium plated and non-Rhodium plated white gold previously.]
Do you have any ideas?
If you have some great hints and tips on how you keep jewellery glistening, please share them below.
About Mark Johnson
My name is Mark and I'm founder at Serendipity Diamonds. By day you'll find me working in our showroom—in a variety of roles. My work (which I love) ranges from photographing jewellery, to writing blog posts and helping clients with my colleagues Drina, Emily and Debbie.
