Though most gem and jewelry providers prefer not to educate buyers regarding facts related to the gemstones or jewelry that they buy, the fact is that providing information and guidance is the best way to run a gemstones and jewelry business. For example, if we told you that your opal gemstone ring should not be cleaned in an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner, it is not a big negative feature of the gem. The truth is that, this type of awareness works in favor of the buyer and seller. The buyer knows what to do and what not to do with his silver or gold opal ring. This will ensure that the jewel will stay in good shape longer - the buyers sees this as a good investment for the money spent.
Here are a few tips to help you clean your opal ring and also, to take general care of the jewel. Remember we said that, the natural occurence of moisture in opal gems, has a lot to do in adding beauty to the gem. What this means is that, anything that would damage the moisture in the opal would also reduce the attractivenss of the gemstone. Do not keep your opal ring exposed to heat sources, this would cause the moisture in the opal to dry up. You could also damage the stone in your gold or 925 silver opal ring by bringing it into contact with strong chemicals or solvents. Much like emeralds and even tanzanite, it is not advisable to clean your opal gem stone ring in an ultrasonic cleaner. The hardness of a gem has a direct influence on the durability of the gem. In the case of opals, keep in mind that it is not one of the very hard gems to be used in jewelry. So keep the ring aware from hard objects, this is one way in which the opal gem in your ring could get damaged.
Let us now talk about cleaning opal rings, you obviously want to do this in a safe way without damaging the jewel. When you read this paragraph, keep the information provided in the paragraph just before this in mind. Most opals will have no problem when soaked in water, we say 'most' because some Ethopian opal gems need to be clearly explained. Many Ethopian opals lose their color play and beauty when soaked in water. Fortunately, this effect is reversed when the opal dries up. For all other opals you can soak the ring in plain water, maintained at room temperature.
Some jewelry resources claim that, it is safe to add detergent into the water where an opal ring is soaked. We would say that this is probably not something that you should do but, if you do decide to clean your opal gemstone ring in a bowl of water with some detergent addeded, here are some important suggestions. Make sure that the detergent is very mild, stronger soaps and detergents can have corrosive chemicals and solvents in them. Add a very small quantity of the the detergent to the water, something like half a tablespoon for 2 to 3 cups of plain water. You could soak the opal ring in the water for 2 to 5 minutes, if you have added detergent to the water do not soak the opal ring for more than a minute.
Once soaked, pick the ring up and observe the portion under the opal gem. If you observe some dust and dirt in that position, gently brush the dirt with a very soft toothbrush. You can now take the opal ring out of the water and dry it. At this point, we would recommend that you wash the ring in cool, plain water. This will take off any dust or dirt that might have settled on the ring during the cleaning process. Having completed the cleaning process, it is now time to dry your opal ring. Use a soft cloth for this purpose, you should not use cloth that has hard objects like buttons and metal clips attached to it. When drying the opal ring that you have just washed, gently dab the ring with the soft cloth. Vigourous rubbing is not advisable, as this could cause the fibres in the cloth to stick in the prongs (if any) used to set the opal in the ring. When this happens the prongs get pulled and this could loosen the gem. The cleaning process for an opal ring would be complete with the drying stage. Your ring should now be looking smart and stylish. If you still feel that the ring is a bit dull, you could take it to your local jeweler and get his opinion.
At this point, we would like to say something specifically related to opal doublets and opal triplets. These gems as we have discussed earlier, have more than one layer. Glue is used to bind these layers together. Soaking such opal rings in water or mild detergents, could cause the glue between the layers to weaken. Keep this in mind when buying an opal ring too.
We do hope that you have found this report on cleaning opal rings to be interesting and helpful. If you have any doubts or requirements, related to gemstones and jewelry - please email our support team at sales@kaisilver.com We will be glad to make suggestions and provide explanations. We will be glad to support you even if, you do not make any purchase from us.