Jewellery Care & Maintenance
While Rachel Boston fine jewellery pieces are designed with the utmost care and made to last, they ultimately remain quite fine items. Here's a best practice guide to help your pieces stay safe and looking their best:
ACTIVITIES
We always advise taking off fine jewellery when doing any form of exercise or playing sports, doing housework, or doing any other strenuous activity (such as carrying heavy objects) which could place unnecessary pressure or cause your piece to snag onto something, and potentially lead to damaging it.
We also recommend taking your jewellery off while applying cosmetics, as the chemicals present in the products can affect your pieces with regular exposure, or cause build-up around settings and tarnish the shine of your piece.
GENTLE IS BEST
We work with some of the hardest gemstones available for durability, but while sapphires and diamonds are incredibly hard, they are not indestructible and can be chipped if hit at a particular angle with enough force. Care must be taken to not knock your piece against any other hard material.
The same applies to the metal itself: gold and platinum are hardwearing, but can also be dent or bent out of shape with a hard knock or if placed under excessive pressure.
KEEP ME CLEAN
To clean your piece, we recommend soaking in warm to hot water for about 20 minutes, with a couple of drops of dish detergent. With a soft toothbrush (we advise buying one specifically for this purpose – a baby toothbrush works perfectly), gently scrub the piece where you can see any grime build up. This normally happens most often around stone settings. Repeat as necessary. Gently pat your ring dry with some kitchen roll and leave to completely air-dry, before polishing with a jewellery cloth for a sparkling finish.
Stay away from household cleaners with harsh chemicals as they could damage or discolour the ring and avoid any abrasive cleaners which could scratch the metal.
DELICATES
For pieces featuring softer gemstones, such as emeralds, or porous materials such as pearls or mother of pearl, we recommend simply cleaning the ring softly with a jewellery cloth. Do not soak these pieces in water, as it can damage the organic materials.
We do not recommend regular cleaning with an ultrasonic machine, as used too frequently, it can loosen stones and even damage them. Never put pieces with soft or porous gemstones in an ultrasonic, as these can be irrevocably damaged by doing so.
DEEP IN THE DIRT?
If your piece requires a more in-depth clean, please get in touch with us so we can arrange a safe, professional deep clean for you.