How to Clean Rhinestone Jewelry

Executive Summary about Jewelry Stone By Thomas Wong

If you are shopping for beautiful stone jewelry on a budget, perhaps rhinestone jewelry would fit your requirements. Rhinestone is a sparkling natural stone which was first found in areas surrounding the Rhine River. It is one of the highest ranges of crystal stones available in the market today.

Rhinestone is one of the favorite crystal stones used in costume jewelry and fashion accessory. Stone makers take full advantage of its glittering quality and transform the stone into an elegant and authentic masterpiece of jewelries and fashion accessories.

You can find many varieties of rhinestone jewelries as you walk into a jewelry stones shop. If you are fascinated by the sparkling and beauty of the rhinestone jewelries, it is just a normal reaction.

In order to optimize the beautiful sparkling effect, the rhinestone is glued to a thin shinny metal foil. Besides adding glittering flashes to the stone like a mirror, the metal foil provides support to the stone when embedding to a base such as a ring or a bracelet. Usually the base is made from non-precious metals such as brass, bronze or copper and coated in gold or silver paint.

The magnificent combination shinning metal foil and coated metal base enhances the sparkling beauty of the rhinestone. Many people just use soap and water and brush the stone with a toothbrush to clean it by subjecting it to running water. One trick is to avoid subjecting the metal foil to water for a long time. If you notice that the foil get wet in process of cleaning the stone, just shake off the excess water. You may have to do this action several times throughout the cleaning process.

After you have completed the cleaning process, wipe the rhinestone dry with a clean dry cloth. You can also use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process.

If you find that the stone has turned yellowish at the bottom, it is due to the oxidation of the glue holding the stone and the metal foil. Since the problem is underneath the stone, it may not be possible for you to clean it without remove the stone. To solve this problem, you may have to send the rhinestone jewelry to the expert to clean it.

Five Stones Used in Native American Jewelry

Executive Summary about Jewelry Stone By Deena O'Daniel

What comes to mind when we think about Native American, and specifically Southwest, jewelry? Turquoise, of course, but Native American jewelry, usually created in sterling silver, makes liberal use of many kinds of natural stones. 1. Turquoise

Of the many gemstones used in Native American jewelry, turquoise remains the favorite. The gorgeous sky blue, robin's egg blue, light and dark turquoise and even green colors evoke the Desert sky and come from deposits in Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah. Natural turquoise can be solid in color, or be combined with brown, gold, white, and other colored minerals. The bluer colors of turquoise come from association with copper, and the greener shades from iron. 2. Coral

Also called Red Coral or Red Branch Coral, the intense red color complements turquoise and other colored stones. Made from collections of hundreds of tiny animals growing on the sea bottom, red coral was originally found mainly in the Mediterranean Sea. Pink coral comes from the Pacific Ocean.

How did coral make its way to the American Southwest and become an integral feature of Native American jewelry? 3. Lapis Lazuli

Many ancient cultures believed that lapis lazuli had magical powers. Today, you'll see brilliant blue lapis with Sterling Silver. Lapis is easily scratched, and should be cleaned only with a soft, dry cloth. Denim Lapis is a lighter bluish-white form of lapis lazuli. Some Lapis Lazuli comes from Afghanistan

4. Onyx

The typical onyx stone is black as night, and polished to a high shine. When mined, it may have bands of white, black, brown or red. Treatments of heat, sugar and/or acid can turn onyx a uniform black color. 5. Malachite

Light to rich dark green, malachite sometimes had bands of darker and lighter shades of green. The bands may form concentric rings. Polished, banded malachite is worn as jewelry and is carved into ornaments and figures. It's often found with blue Azurite, and sometimes the two colors mix or band together, forming "azure-malachite". African malachite is often used in Native American jewelry.