Indeed, Miss G, there were several things about the small bit of the presentation I saw that worried me. First, as I've said, was that if no mention was made of not using it for coral, pearls or any other porous gemstone (and I did say IF, should Q be reading this), then someone might find out the hard way that you shouldn't use it on certain stones. OK, it's Buyer Beware and you have to read instructions when it arrives, but the fact is that why should people spend money on a product they can't use, just because no warning has been given, then have to pay to return it? Q know pearl jewellery is popular - for heaven's sake they do Honora! I definitely think Q should mention it regularly during each presentation, if they don't already, and preferably put a warning notice on screen somewhere, too. Gems TV presenters always mention several times if a piece of jewellery has a magnetic clasp, to alert those with pacemakers. Like you, I thought the "dirt" looked a little strange, and the male guest was, in my view, rather dismissive about a a comment from Marv. (I know she often witters on, but she did ask a question and he just replied very quickly words to the effect of "look, just look, this is what it's doing", whilst he was rushing about demonstrating). To me, it seemed to imply "stop asking me questions, lady".
For cleaning, I've used white vinegar diluted half and half with plain lukewarm water in an eggcup - only for
hard stones, like a sapphire or diamond and only with silver or gold settings, mind you, never anything of base metal, soft metal or stones where I'm not certain if they are hard or porous . For plain silver, like a ring or bangle, (or even silver cutlery) cheap white toothpaste works a treat! Get the cheapest own brand you can, long as it's white not stripey, and scrub item with warm water and a small, soft (must be soft or could scratch) toothbrush containing a
tiny bit of the toothpaste. I have a silver clasp bracelet given to me when I was 17 (some years ago!!) and this method brings it up a treat, (and it makes it smell nice, too!). Thing with toothpaste is make sure you (a) don't use too much paste, just a tiny bit (you could always add a little more, or clean item again) and (b) wash all of it off really thoroughly and rinse under running water, then dry on a cloth, otherwise you could get left with powdery 'streaks'. Please, Q, give us the facts - we don't need all the "oo's and ah's", we need the facts.
Indeed, historymystery. In fact, there is no statement anywhere on the Q website as to what ingredients are in the cleaner. So anyone would be looking at several pounds return p&p just to find out.
My guess is it is vinegar or some other cheaply available degreaser which we all have in our kitchens. Did you notice that during the demos, the gunk which came off looked rather unlike tarnish, and much more like carbon from a pencil, rubbed over the item to be cleaned? I may be wrong, in case QVC's solicitors are reading this, but carbon pencil appears to be the 'mould and grime on grouting between tiles' in some of Phil Parker's demos. What I found very odd was the demo with the gentleman's bracelet watch. It produced exactly the same colour of dark grey grime as the earrings. Yet a steel bracelet watch should shed skin cells and hairs trapped over time from a man's wrist.
