How to clean Emerald Jewelry Oiling Emeralds at Home
Caring emerald jewelry, cleaning and oiling emeralds at home, it is relatively easy and economical, when you love your jewelry and treat it with care and appreciation.
Care for Emerald Rings & Jewelry How to Clean Emeralds:
Your jewelry can be left overnight in a bowl at room temperature water and a grease removing soap. The following day, rinse the piece with warm (not hot) water. Using a soft toothbrush, brush lightly on the emerald’s underside and around the prongs to loosen dirt and grease. Never use solvent cleaners like acetone. Most of these are not compatible with the oil treatment of emeralds. Please note: this is a cheap and safe procedure ONLY if your emerald has not resins filled fractures or pits.
To remove soapy water residue, especially under the gemstone, use the stream water of the faucet, emeralds should not be routinely subjected to high temperatures. If you bought your emerald jewelry to us don’t worry because we know the high quality of the emeralds we sell to our customers. Our gemstones are not synthetic filled cracked emeralds and do not contain refilled pits (like the pictures down); each emerald is hand selected, and we guarantee that the quality will not change over the years. You can wear your emeralds every day and clean them as often as described here without worry of being ruined.
How to clean Emerald Rings at home:
Re-oiling emeralds at home:
If after cleaning your emerald ring, if the emerald shows flaws not seen before, don’t worry. The problem can easily be corrected with the sharp tip of a toothpick. Here’s how: Pick up a tiny drop of baby oil (must be cedar oil but baby oil is acceptable and safe) and just touch the emerald only on the affected spot and wait for few minutes, while longer the time much better, overnight is perfect; the oil will go inside of the flaw and refresh it. Clean the remaining oil from the surface of the stone with a soft napkin or tissue, being careful do not spread the oil onto the rest of the gemstone. (See photos).
If you did not purchase your emerald from us, I will give you the same advice that any other jeweler would give you about how to clean your emerald jewelry: Do not use ultrasonic or steam cleaning machines. Use only mild soapy water, if your emerald has visible large oiled or synthetic filled cracks or pits, it is possible for the oil to leak out and the synthetic cracks filled become more visible. Remember, it is not the emerald that is fragile, but the unstable enhancements.
Emeralds from all sources generally contain internal tiny fissures, imperfections considered as a part of the flaws, and emerald mining processes, such as the use of explosives and heavy machinery excavation, plus jewelry manufacturing and fashioning can cause additional scratches and fractures as well. The filling of such surface-reaching features to make them less visible has been practiced for centuries, but if it were not for these enhancements, we would not know our gemstones as we do today, but would wear them as amulets and rocks like the Incas or Colombian aborigines before Christopher Columbus’ time.
Oil Filling Fissures in Emeralds … An Ancient Practice
Today, a few hundred years later, in sophisticated laboratories, man has developed many other types of synthetic permanent filler that are used in the process. Some of these have a longer or permanent life than those of the natural oils used in the days gone by and these treatments do not affect the value of emeralds, if they are only for internal flaws filling. On the contrary, the emerald never will change.
Be careful, however, to remember that only if the emeralds have not been refilled do serious visible fractures, pits or cracks appear on the surface of the emerald and threaten the gemstone’s integrity. This is why the 10x magnifying loupe is so important to spot concealed hairline fractures. See photos below as an example of what the synthetic fillings look like on the surface of the emeralds, these fillings will fall off in short time, as the jewel wears.
Important Questions Today: Is a permanent treatment with synthetic fillings better than using natural oils? Yes for me, because a synthetic permanent substance eliminates the traditional re-oiling of emeralds without diminishing its quality and value.
But I repeat: the synthetic filling in the superficial fractures and gaps of the emeralds will change and fall off in short time, but not inside of the gem.
We use both treatments for internal enhancements only, pure oil or permanent synthetic depending on each individual gemstone and the preference of our customers. There is no difference at a simple glance, but only in labs under microscopic examination.
We do not deal with this kind of emeralds: Fractures and pits with synthetic filling:
Caring for emerald jewelry begins with its proper use:
This means knowing when to put on your jewelry and when to take it off. Put jewelry on after applying makeup, body lotions, perfume and hairspray. Avoid touching emeralds or precious stones directly with your hands because skin oils dull their appearance. Remove your emerald jewelry if you’re going to practice sports or do any manual labor, such as gardening, painting or chores at home. Rings or bracelets can be easily broken or bent if they catch or hook on fabric. Emeralds (and even diamonds!) can chip or crack if they’re knocked against a hard surface. If you wear earrings, it’s usually best to remove them while sleeping or when having your hair styled.
Dirt buildup may hasten the life of your jewelry. Visit your local jeweler at least once a year to have your fine jewelry professionally cleaned. In addition, your jeweler can spot any worn prongs, loose stones, faulty clasps or other potential problems and fix them before they become a serious problem. Jewelry is vulnerable to damage while it’s being worn, but it can also suffer damage if not stored properly.
Although diamonds are the hardest precious stones, they still aren't free of accidental scratches. Diamond jewelry can also scratch softer stones like emeralds as well as gold and platinum. For this reason, it’s important to wrap individual jewelry pieces in tissue or place them in separate compartments in a jewelry box so they don't come in contact with each other.
We guarantee the quality materials and workmanship of all of our emerald jewelry. Our lifetime designs will last longer only if you wear and take care of them properly. This means not only using caution and common sense when wearing emerald jewelry, but also making sure it is cleaned, repaired and stored in a proper manner. These tips are useful for your emerald jewelry and for all fine jewelry.