DIY Jewelry Cleaner

Maybe you are more careful with your jewelry than me, but I wear my wedding rings all the time.

Last Sunday in church as I was taking notes, I noticed how dirty my diamond ring had gotten. (Doesn’t Satan use any little thing to distract us!) I began to scratch away some of the build-up around the prongs, but it was really stuck on there. I focused back on the preaching and made a mental note to seriously clean my rings this week.

The first thing I tried was an old toothbrush and toothpaste. I don’t really know why I tried this. Let’s just say it did not work. Not at all. After scrubbing and rinsing my ring, all the gunk was still there.

Since I had no jewelry cleaner in the house, I started looking up homemade options on Pinterest. There are many, many jewelry cleaner recipes out there! Some of them made me a little nervous using vinegar or even ammonia. I read a lot of negative comments about the potential for these liquids to discolor or ruin jewelry, so I kept looking.

Finally, I came across this recipe I’m sharing with you today. I found this recipe in several places, and it appears to have been around a long time. I don’t think there is one person credited for discovering it. But I had never heard about it, so maybe you haven’t either.

This DIY Jewelry Cleaner includes ingredients I normally put my hands into all the time, so that is the logic I used in thinking it would be safe for my rings. Since this recipe uses very hot water, I would not use it to clean any jewelry with glued-on stones. I am certainly no jewelry expert, so use your own judgement before cleaning your jewelry.

To make this DIY Jewelry Cleaner you’ll need:

1 cup water – This one is easy. I’m pretty certain water won’t harm jewelry.
1 tablespoon salt – I have been in the ocean many times wearing my rings, so this should be safe.
1 tablespoon baking soda – I like to bake and often roll out dough with my rings on, so this should be fine.
1 tablespoon dish soap – My hands have been in way too much dish soap with my rings on. I know this won’t harm them.
soft tooth brush – If your jewelry is really dirty (like mine was) you might need to do a little scrubbing. A soft bristled tooth brush should do the trick.
glass bowl – A small glass bowl is perfect to hold the cleaning solution.

Heat 1 cup of water in the microwave for about 2 minutes until it barely starts to boil. You’ll see tiny bubbles start to break the surface of the water. My microwave took 2 minutes 15 seconds. Remove the water from the microwave and mix in all the rest of the ingredients. Stir gently.

The solution will be slightly foamy on top and steaming hot.

Drop your dirty jewelry right into the Jewelry Cleaner.
Ewww…you can even see a tiny fuzz on my ring. Goodbye nastiness!

Let your jewelry soak in the solution for 10 minutes.
Remove carefully using a spoon (it will still be hot).
If your jewelry still looks a little dirty, give it a gentle scrub with the toothbrush, then swish it around in the cleaning solution again. I also used a wooden toothpick on some of the deep crevices to loosen the super-stuck gunk. It came off very easily!

When your jewelry pieces look clean, rinse them in cold water. It’s a good idea to plug your drain first if you’re rinsing them in a sink. I put my ring back on my finger to rinse it to make sure I wouldn’t drop it.

And here are the results!

Before: dull and cloudy looking
After: clear and shiny

Before: residue sticking to the prongs and to the diamond
After: clean prongs and no gunk stuck around the diamond at all
(You can even see my finger through the bottom of the diamond setting!)

Before: the diamond is so caked with residue it looks white
After: clear and clean

Before: cloudy, soap-scum-like build up around the stone and prongs
After: nothing but shine

Give it a try, and let me know your results. If you love it, share it with a friend!
This stuff is so easy to make, you’ll never have to buy expensive jewelry cleaner again.