It was time for me to show my jewelry a little love. My rings in particular had lost some of their sparkle.{ totally my fault for being lazy over the years and not taking them off before diving in and mixing things like meatloaf or dough with my hands }
I’ve seen some homemade jewelry cleaner recipes floating around Pinterest – but – they were intended for polishing metals. My issue was more about how to get rid of the gunk that had gotten under the gemstones in my rings and dulled them.
So . . . .I tried another homemade solution that I’d read about. I used a denture tablet!
I wasn’t sure if I could really classify a denture tablet as a “homemade” cleaner so we’re gonna call it “semi-homemade” instead. Whatever you want to call it I’m happy to report that it works!
Now I”m guessing most of you aren’t denture wearers and don’t just happen to have a bunch of denture tablets laying around in the medicine cabinet. I didn’t have any around either. The good news is you can usually find denture tablets at the dollar store and in a smaller size package too. Denture tablets at the grocery store or drugstore are often sold in larger packages of 80 or 100 (that’s a lot of jewelry cleaning!) so the dollar store size packets are perfect. The package I bought was just 16 tablets. {that’s still plenty of jewelry cleaning }
Here’s what to do:
- Gather up your rings or other jewelry that you want to clean and put them in a small dish. (*Note – do not use this method on opals, pearls, turquoise, or other soft stones as it could cause damage.)
- Fill the dish with warm water making sure there’s enough water to cover the jewelry.
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| Drop in that denture tablet! |
- Drop in the denture tablet. It will fizz and the water will turn color.
- Let the jewelry set and soak for about 15 minutes.
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| Let soak for about 15 minutes |
- Remove the jewelry and rinse with clean water. While rinsing I found it very helpful to use a soft brush (I used a fingernail brush) to further dislodge any gunk. Using the brush was what really made a couple of the rings sparkle again and finally look their best.
And that’s all there is to it!
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| Like new again! |
I have one little birthstone ring that I’ve owned for over 25 years, and now it looks sooooo much better. This picture doesn’t really do it justice. This method also worked just as well on my cheapie $10 rings from Kohls as it did on the real stuff like my wedding ring.
A couple of other homemade jewelry cleaning hints I’ve seen are to use ammonia or toothpaste.
I never have ammonia around because it’s smelly awful stuff, and most of the time I have gel toothpaste and I think the jewelry cleaning needs an old fashioned white toothpaste. But those are a couple of ideas to try if you don’t want to spend a buck at the dollar store on some denture tablets.
How about you? Do you have any other hints or methods for jewelry cleaning? I’d love to hear about them!
I'm Bev and I love to share ideas for living a more creative and resourceful lifestyle with homemade alternatives we can make for ourselves. 
The Stocked Kitchen: One Grocery List . . Endless Recipes
When i got my engagement ring, the store gave us a little container with a basket inside and a little brush. From time to time i'd drop my/our rings in it, let it soak while i was showering, then scrub them when i got out. Did a good job. Learned that the solution in the container was ammonia, some water, and a few drops of dishwashing (or similar) detergent. So you could make your own with that, and scrub them with an old toothbrush.
However, i try to limit our chemicals at home, and discovered that vinegar does the same thing. So now my container has roughly 50% white vinegar, 50% filtered water, and then a couple of drops of dishwashing soap added. (And only a couple of drops.) This works quite well.
I may try the denture tablets, tho. I bought a box a while ago hearing they were suppose to work well on toilets. I didn't find them to do much, so now i have quite a few of these.
Warning: If you have pearls or opals or other soft stones, you never use any of these things for cleaning them (and i'd be careful of the denture tablets, too). Ammonia, vinegar, or any other acid will destroy them.
Thanks, Bev. Always enjoy your posts.
Hmmm . . . I might have to try to the denture tablet in the toilet too, Kathryn! And thanks for the reminder about pearls and opals. I have updated the post to include that information.
Wow! Great tip.I use these tablets for my Invisalign retainers , so this is perfect! I'm going to try it now. I found you on Pinterest. Thanks!
Quality jewelry cleaner must be used to clean Fashion Bracelets