Gemstone Cleaning

Gemstone Cleaning:

When cleaning gemstone beads or cabochons, immerse them in warm, soapy water, and scrub gently with a soft brush. Then rinse them and lay them on a soft towel to dry. Ultrasonic cleaners only work with hard crystalline stones, like amethyst; for most gemstones, however, we'd suggest avoiding ultrasonic cleaners. The big trick is cleaning sterling silver jewelry that includes gemstones within the piece. Sunshine cloths are OK. The chemicals in the Sunshine Cloth won't hurt the stones. Silver dips should be avoided, however, except with crystalline stones like amethyst. Stones like black onyx, malachite, lapis and the like do not survive long when cleaned with dips. A lot of their shine comes from an oily polish which is dissolved by the dips.
NOTE: Sometimes you can restore that oily polished look on gemstones by rubbing them with black shoe wax.