Testing out Jewel Brite on Pearls! GASP!

[Purranha]

Hi Ladies!

I have encountered a number of discussions on PG around pearl cleaning - especially when it comes to silver parts/wires/mountings attached to the pearls. Silver is tricky since it tarnishes really fast, plus silver polish cloth often can't get to those wire wrapped portions or finer chains.

I use Jewel Brite cleaners, which is advertised to be safe with the softer/more fragile materials including pearls, opal, etc. There are 2 types of cleaners - a solution cleaner that does general cleaning, and a paste that specifically clean silver tarnish.

I did an experiment to see if they damage the pearls in any way. I don't happen to have tarnished silver on hand, but I've used both the paste and solution in the past and they have worked really well.

 

[Purranha]

Usually you would only leave the pearls in the solution/scrubbed on paste for under a minute - I left an assortment of pearls in the solution/paste for 15+++ mins. I selected an assortment of sacrificial pearls - 2 different kinds of ripples, freshwater potato, blue baroque akoyas, and tahitians.

Before the slaughter house:


The silver paste gets a bit dry over time - reconstitute with droplets of water, scrub up some bubbles and scrub onto silver/pearls:


A separate batch went into the solution bath:

 

[Purranha]

I rinsed the pearls clean with water. I was going to post the paste-pearls vs solution-pearls separately, but truthfully nothing was damaged everything came out fine so I lumped them together. It's just water droplets on the pearls. I rotated the pearls around to capture all facets.


I figured we would be more interested in seeing the effect on pearls with colored bodies, so separated out the blue baroque akoya and tahitians here:

 

[Purranha]

Seems like pearls were not damaged indeed!

Wanted to declare I'm not affiliated with Jewel Brite in any way whatsoever - stumbled upon their product at an InterGem fair, and CAVEAT EMPTOR!!!!!!! I am not to be held responsible if your experience turn out different from mine...

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Wow, great to know! Looks like this should clean tarnished spacers while not damaging pearls.

 

[linda.wald]

I have used the jewel brite liquid many times with pearls with no problems. I even did some soaking to get some tough dirt (hours, not days). I've never tried the paste, though. In general i have found that the jewel brite liquid really works well. I had some victorian earrings that were really bad, and after a few days of soaking they were much better. The liquid, on the other hand, got all the gunk in it and had to be thrown out.

 

[BWeaves]

Good to know! Thanks.

 

[Purranha]

Linda! The liquid does soak up all the gunk, and one trick I was taught to prolong the life of the liquid is to drip them through a coffee filter.
But they are not expensive and comes with a big refill bottle so tossing them out on a regular basis isn't bad!

 

[SunSeeker]

Purr, I admire your bravery! I've seen the Jewel Brite product at Inter-Gem, but never tried it. I may have to explore this option. I try to use argentium silver, but I believe it also tarnishes, albeit at a slower pace.

 

[JerseyPearl]

I too admire your bravery, and your "test subjects"....well, I am so glad no pearls were harmed during this experiment.

 

[Purranha]

Bwahhahaha trust me, I left out my treasured pearls. No GSSP WSSP or anything like that went into the sacrificial pile!
I know I needed some variety in pearl types & colors for a better testing, so included the blue baroque akoya and tahitians.
The bba were cheapies, and the Tahitians were not fully drilled through thus left out from already completed projects!

 

[CathyKeshi]

I've used JewelBrite on gold and gems successfully, but not pearls ...thanks for the test Purranha. FYI: last week at theIntergem Show in Virginia, a competitor was set up. Same bright pink liquid, slightly different name, same claims of safety for opals and pearls. As I was out of JewelBrite, I stopped to let hom clean my diamonds, and my glasses ... did a great job on glasses. BUT as I walked away, he mentioned the glasses wouldn't fog or get smudged so fast as the product had silicone in, yikes! I did not buy, and doubt I want silicone coating my pearls. It was NOT JewelBrite, but would be easily confused ... wish I'd written down the name.

 

[SunSeeker]

Good to know, Cathy. I missed Intergem last weekend due to another commitment. Any good finds?

 

[CathyKeshi]

Er ... well, I tried to be very conservative, SunSeeker. I was on a mission with blinders on, to find some little gemstones to mix into pearls, and I did No pearls, although it was hard, as I did see 2 strands, which is unusual for Intergem. 2 different vendors, one bigger Tahitians, one smaller, both light to medium rich silvers, all with pink, rose, cherry, aubergine overtones ... not a hint of green or blue. Perfect to nest. I had to leave them, in my memory only, sigh ... My friend in the wholesale section had lots of gems in stock, fresh from Tucson, which he said was very slow this year for him. We ran up to Rockville MD yesterday to look at his stock again; he's having a trunk show at a bead shop.

 

[baby nurse]

Bravo, Purranha! Thank you for carrying out such a thorough test and sharing results. It looks as though this is indeed safe for pearls. Do you feel comfortable enough to use it in future on your more precious pieces containing SS or Tahitian?

 

[lmgarden]

Purr, thank you for the experimenting wth your pearls!
I've used JewelBright for Georgian/Victorian gold, silver and gemstones pieces. Some hadn't been cleaned for decades, perhaps centuries. I started slowly with a couple pieces and saw that they not only survived, they looked like brand new pieces!! I decided to submerge my grandmother's loose akoya pearls from a necklace I disassembled due to hair spray abuse. Some knots were stuck in the holes, but the solution helped loosen them out. I soaked everything for at least 15 minutes , then rinsed with water. The pearls were lackluster to begin with, but they did reappear looking shinier and much cleaner, certainly not worse. I agree, I likely won't submerge my treasured pearls, but I was amazed with the results.
And thanks for the coffee filter trick!

 

[Katbran]

Interesting... I'm not familiar with this product as I've not seen it down here. But overall with liquid clearness and liquid tarnish removers they are not recommended for plate and I've heard that they can cause items to tarnish faster due to the microscopic etching that occurs during the cleaning. I've used it with gems and gold and a quick dip for silver clasps with immediate rinse. I wonder if the silicone is meant to coat the item and prevent or slow the issue of retarnishing ?

 

[pattye]

Purr, very helpful report, thank you! Mostly I use Dr. Bronner's liquid soap and it's good to know there are safe alternatives to consider.

 

[Purranha]

Bravo, Purranha! Thank you for carrying out such a thorough test and sharing results. It looks as though this is indeed safe for pearls. Do you feel comfortable enough to use it in future on your more precious pieces containing SS or Tahitian?

BabyNurse! I would most definitely use the solution & paste for my other pearl jewelries - GSSP, Tahitians, WSSP, etc.

Though I can't remember who mentioned the good point in your thread that since souffle is hollow, we may want to be more careful with soaking them... Don't really have experience with that so not sure what to do there!

 

[Purranha]

Hi Ladies! I know many ladies have attested to jewel brite's cleaning solution to be pearl safe & pearl friendly. I was cleaning some gemstone rings today and decided to toss a few pearl rings in the bath and take some photos to share on this thread.
The pearls came out perfect as expect. And of course these are metal mounted so there are no strings involved.