It is no small wonder that turquoise has been a cherished opaque gemstone across cultures for thousands of years. Usually set in sterling silver, turquoise adorns necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings among other types of jewelry. The pairing of turquoise and silver makes for elegant pieces that truly bring out the stone’s luminescent color.
As an owner of silver turquoise jewelry, you may be wondering how you can clean it and keep it in pristine shape without tarnishing the silver or damaging the turquoise. Fortunately it is not too difficult to clean silver turquoise jewelry; you just have to know what you’re doing. Below you can learn how to keep your silver turquoise jewelry looking as good as new and ready to wear.
What You Need
All you really need for cleaning silver turquoise jewelry is a soft-bristled toothbrush, a bowl of warm water, and a soft cloth or towel for drying. If your silver is tarnished and you’d like something a little more specialized to get the job done, there are also polishing cloths and cleaning agents available on the market that are specifically formulated for silver.
However it is important to take special care if you are using any kind of cleaning agent on your silver, as turquoise is porous and very sensitive to any kind of cleaning agent, even a gentle soap.
Cleaning the Turquoise
The last thing you want to do is completely submerge the jewelry in water, since the porous texture will absorb the water. All you have to do is dip your soft-bristled toothbrush into clean water and then gently scrub the turquoise stones with it, drying each of them with the cloth after scrubbing.
To repeat, you do not want to use any sort of cleaning agent on the turquoise stones themselves, as this will damage the gems. This includes mild soap.
Cleaning the Silver
To clean the silver components of the jewelry, gently polish with the cloth. It is preferable that you use a chemically-treated jewelry polishing cloth, as this will help to remove light tarnishing on the silver. For darker tarnish, you can use a special cleaning agent for tarnished metals, just be very careful not to get the agent on the actual turquoise stones.
Additional Precautions
After you are done cleaning, you can dry the entire piece with a soft cloth or towel. It is a good idea to place the jewelry out in the sun to dry, to make sure you are getting all of the moisture out of it.
To keep your silver turquoise jewelry in peak shape, keep it away from soaps, cleaning agents, and moisture in general. It can help taking the jewelry off when doing chores around the house, when bathing, and when swimming. It is also a good idea to store your jewelry in some sort of dry fabric, or a dry fabric-lined jewelry box.
With these precautions, and regular cleaning, your silver turquoise jewelry will always look fantastic when you are ready to wear it.