cleaning???? advice and help please

Does appatite not clean the same way as other stones eg amethyst, citrine etc etc etc ... I have a multi gem bracelet which includes appatite - I have it in one of these jewellery cleaner solutions - all come out sparkly apart from the appatite which seems to have gone cloudy - eeeeeek :sad:

Oh heck - I'm sorry but I think I'm just about to give you bad news.

Unfortunately Apatite is an extremely fragile gemstone and exceptionally sensitive to chemicals. You should NEVER clean Apatite in anything other than room temperature water and if you have to, a baby's toothbrush and a TINY amount of washing up liquid.

In fact, this is the way that you should clean ALL gemstones with the exception of diamonds. Please throw away your cleaner and stick to the method above. If you buy a sonic cleaner the only thing you can clean safely are diamonds. Sapphires and rubies should be safe IF you categorically know they haven't been filled. If they've been filled, the sonic vibration could break down/dislodge the filling.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. :sad:

Thank you so much for your help and advice - solution is now in the bin! On the plus side at least it didnt cost me a fortune but nevertheless I have learnt a hard lesson. I think perhaps cleaning advice/instruction reminders could be enclosed with each piece you buy. I'm sure I'm not the first nor likely to be the last to goose something like this.

One other question - the cloudiness is it now stable or will it continue to degrade the stones further?

thanks

Difficult to say. What I would do - and it can't do any more harm - is give it a clean and rinse in tepid room temperature water and then a gentle scrub with a toothbrush to make sure there's absolutely no cleaning solution remaining. Typically the lustre is destroyed by chemicals (which sounds like what's happened here) but if you're very lucky it may be that you need to clean it again to remove any left over product and it may look slightly better.

If you have any surface reaching fissures the chemicals could have got inside the stone rather than just the surface and if that's the case, it's really difficult to know what's happened.

It's a hard lesson to learn but you won't be the first or the last - the good thing is you now know how to clean your gems. I ruined a really expensive Tanzanite many years ago by not knowing how to take care of it.

on a roll here now - attention caught by your comment on Tanzenite.... before i dunk...... how does one clean that??? I have one in need of a swoosh

and also - if silver is tarnished how do you clean it successfully without goosing your stones??

really appreciate your time and advice here.....

thanks

Okay - general rule with ALL gemstones is to do as I said above, including Tanzanite.

1. Warm tepid water.
2. Soft (preferably baby) toothbrush
3. Tiny amount of washing up liquid
4. Lint free cloth.

Dunk toothbrush in water and put a tiny weenie drop of washing up liquid on the wet brush. Put under water and brush on your hand until you get a gentle foam. Then gently brush over the gem, repeating until the gem is clean. Then clean your brush under water so there is no soap left, shake off excess water and then keep going over the gem until it's free of any water and soapy liquid.

DO NOT EVER WATER-LOG YOUR GEMS - you must not put anything under running water.

I'm not really great with silver as for some reason, my pieces don't seem to tarnish much so I'm hoping that others can help you here. What I do is use a silver cleaning cloth but be careful not to get it on your gemstones. If there are lots of nooks and crannies in the silver shank then you may need a liquid cleaner but beware of getting this anywhere near your stones - make sure you use only a tiny bit and wipe off then repeat.

Hope that helps.

thank you again! Hmmm dunking and running water, chemicals ......looks like I have been doing all the No Nos there are going!!! :doh: Glad I asked before I committed any more crimes

thanks