How to Clean Yellow and White Gold

Keep your jewelry looking its best with proper cleaning.

Yellow-gold and white-gold jewelry both provide shine and sparkle. Keeping that shine, and maintaining the look of your yellow or white gold jewelry is important. If you want your jewelry to look good-as-new and last forever, proper cleaning is essential.

Things You'll Need

• 2 Cups of water
• A pot
• Rubber gloves
• 1/4 Teaspoon of ammonia
• Child's toothbrush or Q-tip
• Lint-free polishing cloth

Instructions

1. Boil two cups of water in the pot for ten minutes; let the water cool for five minutes or until it's warm but not hot. Boiling will help remove any deposits or proteins in the water that can stain jewelry.

2. Put on rubber gloves and add a 1/4 teaspoon of household ammonia to the water; stir for 30 seconds to mix well. Place jewelry pieces into the water and let the jewelry sit for five minutes.

3. Dip a child's toothbrush in the ammonia/water solution. With the gloves on, pick up the jewelry and very lightly brush the gold surface with the toothbrush to remove any caked-on grime or residue. You can also use a dampened Q-tip if a toothbrush is not available.

4. Rinse out the brush and set it aside, then thoroughly rinse the jewelry in lukewarm water. Make sure you rinse your gloves, too, so that they don't have ammonia residue on them.

5. Dry off the jewelry with a lint-free polishing cloth. Rub the gold surfaces with the cloth after they've dried to make them shine.

Tips & Warnings

• Always wear gloves when working with ammonia to protect your hands from chemical irritation.

• Should you get ammonia on your skin, rinse immediately. If you get ammonia in your eye, flush right away with water and call your doctor.

• If you ingest any of the solution, immediately call your doctor.

References

• Diamond Ideals: Cleaning Precious Metals