Cleaning Rhinestone Costume Jewelry
Posted on | February 28, 2010 | No Comments
Rhinestones are one of the most beautiful gemstones to use when you are on a budget. They are a natural stone that has a lot of sparkle. Of course when you want to clean it, you make to make sure that you don’t accidentally dull the stone; because without its sparkle, a rhinestone doesn’t make for a good gemstone for costume jewelry. The rhinestone is well known for its quality and beauty and price. You can easily see the liberal use of rhinestones in costume jewelry, because it can really make a fashion statement without grossly inflating the cost of the piece.
To enhance the sparkle to its highest effect, the rhinestone has a thin piece of foil glued to it. The metal has two purposes: to add to the sparkle effect, and to provide support to piece of jewelry and increase the durability. While this may seem like an elaborate construction, the item remains relatively easy to clean and with care will last for many years. The most common types of events that cause dirt to accumulate are exposure to sunlight or pollution. Oxidation will cause a rhinestone to lose its prized sparkle, but with regular cleanings, you will never notice the buildup.
Most people feel that since its just costume jewelry a simple soap and water wash with running water will keep it bright and shiny, but this has a major danger to it. If the foil holding the rhinestone were to get wet, it would then turn to a black color, severely diminishing the sparkle. To avoid this you need to limit the amount of water the jewelry is exposed to and do your best to shake off excessive water that seems to be getting down into the crevices of the piece.
Taking care of rhinestone jewelry is a fairly simple procedure and shouldn’t be very hard to keep clean if you do it right and do it regularly. Costume jewelry can last just as long as more expensive pieces, but they do require a bit more maintenance to ensure they don’t break down and fall apart. Of course, due to the materials used in constructing the item, repair is possible and something you might want to look into. Take care of your rhinestones and they will glitter for you for years. We all know it’s a lot of fun to buy very high quality inexpensive jewelry and really be able to dress up for a night out.
Tags: costume jewelry > jewelry > oxidation > rhinestone jewelry
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