Gold jewelry cleaning suggestions
 

My younger sister is 8 months pregnant and got married two weeks ago. They didn't really have enough money to get rings, so they've been doing without. My fiance and I wanted to do something nice for them as a wedding gift, and we eventually decided to get them wedding rings, after I talked to my new brother-in-law about it (so it's not really a surprise for him, I guess!). Anyway, we bought him a plain ring, just like he wanted, and we bought my sister a vintage bridal set she'd been admiring that has a small diamond solitiare and a matching band -- it's nothing incredible, but it's nice and very pretty, and this way they'll have nice rings to wear until they're ready to upgrade. We're going to give everything to my brother-in-law this weekend and let him give the rings to my sister.

So anyway, his ring is fine, and hers are very pretty and in great condition, but since they're vintage, I felt like they could use a good cleaning and polishing. I have a jewelry cleaning cloth that I use on my own wedding rings, and it's good for polishing and maintaining and everything, but I was wondering if anybody has any suggestions for giving my sister's rings a good cleaning. I'd prefer to not have to go out and buy jewelry cleaner or anything -- does anybody have any Heloise-type hints for how to get gold really clean with stuff already around the house?

This works better on silver jewelry, but it can work on gold too.
*Take a rubbermaid or other plastic container and line it with aluminum foil.
*Put the jewelry in it and put a lot of baking soda in the container also.
*Boil water and pour the boiling water in there. The baking soda will act as a catalyst and will transfer a lot of the tarnish from the metal to the aluminum foil.

BTW can I just say that I think this is the sweetest thing ever that you're doing.

Toothpaste. Works great.

Aw, thanks. I'm just taking care of my little sister. We really wanted to buy my brother-in-law a new truck (well, not *new*, but you get the idea) -- but we decided this was a little more practical financially. :)

Does toothpaste really work? I'd heard that before, but I wasn't sure if it was true or not.

Ditto on the toothpaste. Dish soap does pretty well too since it's designed to rinse off well.

Do you have a jewelry store in the area? Often, they will clean/polish and check the prones for free. (If the set is vintage, I would make SURE that I got the prongs checked!!!)
Mr. Silver loves window cleaner with a very soft toothbrush on his ring. He rinses the window cleaner off VERY, VERY well. BUT, I am always worried about the wear that amonia (sp?) products can do to jewelry.
I use VERY mild dish soap in a small plastic container with a very soft toothbrush. I rinse in the container as well (We had all of our jewelry go down the drain once in a disasterous move!).
These work for me....Just an idea in my opinion....
Silver