#moonmeaning

Maintenance Of Moonstone Jewelry Cleaning And Cleansing

Let your jewelry tell your stories while you are busy making some more.

Jewelry is like ice cream, there’s always room for more. And, when you have more and more jewelry, you have more and more responsibilities of maintaining it. Buying jewelry is easy and luckily, maintaining it isn’t very difficult either, especially when we talk about moonstone jewelry. Good news, isn’t it? When maintenance is easy, you can buy as much jewelry as you want without worrying much about its upkeep. Maintaining moonstone jewelry is easy but just like any other jewelry item, it is going to get dirty by attracting dirt from the air and the dirt from your skin, too. This means you will need to clean it as soon as dirt starts depositing on it, just like any jewelry item.

It is said that jewelry is the most transformative thing one can wear and we couldn’t agree more. A woman’s look can be completely modified by wearing the correct matching jewelry. Sometimes experimenting can also work well. There is a really great kind of jewelry that goes with whatever you are wearing if the correct design is chosen, and it is moonstone jewelry. This gemstone can transform into whatever you need it to be as you can wear an elegantly designed moonstone jewelry item with a dress of your choice and you can also wear a trendy moonstone jewelry article with your modern fashionable outfits. Moonstone jewelry can be made of gold, silver, platinum, etc but we are only going to discuss silver because that is the most common metal used with moonstone.

A moonstone is physically not a very strong stone, so it needs to be taken care of while wearing. The measure of a gemstone’s hardness is determined on the Mohs scale where moonstone falls somewhere between 6 and 6.5, which is not a very good rating. The Mohs scale can be incorrect sometimes but it gives an idea of a gemstone’s hardness. Another reason moonstone’s upkeep is important is that it has 2 cleavage directions, which means that there are two directions of atomic weakness on a moonstone. This should also be kept in mind when wearing moonstone jewelry, especially rings because rings are more likely to receive knocks that can break the gemstone. It is advised to keep all gemstones away from areas where sudden temperature change can occur. For moonstone, you will find all the steps you need to take to keep it as good as new in the steps mentioned in this article.

When you buy moonstone jewelry, you make yourself a promise that you will do everything you can to keep it shining and intact, just like you bought it because it is too divine to be taken for granted. Maintenance of your moonstone jewelry is always a really good idea because the more you take it’s care, the less time and efforts you will have to spend cleaning it later because, as they say, prevention is better than cure. It applies here too. The methods mentioned here are good for moonstone jewelry made of silver as taking care of your silver is also a very important task along with the moonstone. Follow the steps below and you will have to worry about cleaning your moonstone silver jewelry maybe once in a year and only lightly with a microfiber cloth (we’ll explain what this is in the cleaning methods.)

1. Temperature

You should keep your moonstone jewelry away from extreme temperatures. Whether it is too cold or too hot, it is bad for your moonstone jewelry. Sudden temperature change is also something that can affect your moonstone jewelry. Keeping moonstone jewelry in normal temperatures is always a good idea, and this applies on every kind of gemstone jewelry, too. You must be wondering when does a person go in a place with extreme temperatures, right? When you are cooking, your hand may be too close to the flame or the oven, which may cause a crack in the moonstone. There have been cases people have accidentally mixed in their rings in the dough and baked it. When they found their ring in the bread, they saw that the moonstone was broke. These are the kind of situations you must avoid.

2. Chemicals

You should know when to take your jewelry off as there are many things in the environment that can ruin your moonstone jewelry when they come in contact with it. You should take off the jewelry when you’re cleaning the house as there are many chemicals in different cleaners that are used in house cleaning. These chemicals can cause discoloration of the gem and the metal, both. You should know when to take your jewelry off and cleaning activities are one of those times. There are also some more situations when your jewelry can come in contact with chemicals like chlorine, mostly when you go swimming. Chlorine can have a really bad effect on your moonstone jewelry, especially if it is accompanied by silver.

3. Physical Force

This goes without saying. Anything can break when enough force is applied on it. A knock on your moonstone jewelry can break the moonstone if the knock is hard enough. Moonstone is not known for its strength as it stands somewhere between 6-6.5 in the Mohs scale, which is not really good. This is the reason it is not recommended to make moonstone rings but if you know when to take the jewelry off, moonstone rings are to die for- they are that gorgeous. When you remove it in such situations, you not only protect our moonstone from breaking, you also protect the stone and the metal from scratching too.

4. Storage

Storing jewelry well is really important because most of the times, it is in the storage and for a very less time, it’s on you. The best way to store moonstone silver jewelry is by putting every article in an airtight plastic bag and storing those bags in a jewelry box. It is very important that you keep all the pieces separately because they can scratch each other if kept together. Moonstone and silver, both can be easily scratched as they are soft so you need to take care even when you wear the jewelry. You can also wrap every article in a soft cloth-like felt or velvet when putting them in the airtight packets. This will provide an extra layer of protection to your jewelry.

If you have taken care of your moonstone jewelry, you will not have to worry about cleaning it much. But, this doesn’t apply to the jewelry items that you wear daily. If you change your jewelry every day, then you should clean them whenever required, which is once in a couple months but if you wear an article daily, you should clean it every weekend, or as soon as you see any dirt depositing. It is advised that you take your jewelry to your local jeweler if you notice visible scratches on it. He will repolish it and make it look as good as new. After that, you know how to take care of the jewelry so that it doesn’t reach that stage again. Now, coming back to the cleaning of moonstone silver jewelry at home. It can either be cleaning the surface of the moonstone and the silver/another metal or it can be a spiritual cleansing of the moonstone to rid it of the negative energies. Both of these types of cleaning are important as moonstone is a really divine stone that should stay clean, both inside and outside.

5. Surface Cleaning

Wearing moonstone jewelry daily means it is going to be in contact with your skin and the air all the time. Your skin produces natural oils and these oils attract the dirt in the air that can ultimately make its way to the rings. The jewelry can itself also attract dirt from the atmosphere, too. So, cleaning the jewelry becomes very important. Surface cleaning of moonstone silver jewelry can be done only using one method, which is detergent and warm water because moonstone cannot be cleaned with ultrasonic or steam cleaners as these methods will ruin the moonstone. To make this cleaner, you need 4-5 drops of detergent soap/ dishwashing soap and a cup of warm water. Make sure it’s not too hot, just warm enough so that you can easily handle it. You will also need an old soft toothbrush and a clean dry cloth. Follow the steps below to clean the moonstone jewelry once you have all the things that are required.

1.Put the detergent in water and mix it with a spoon so that the detergent is completely mixed into the water.

2.Gently put your moonstone jewelry in this solution and leave it for about 4-5 minutes.

3.Remove the jewelry and use the toothbrush to remove the dirt loosened by soapy water.

4.Clean the jewelry with the toothbrush again under running so that there is no deposit left.

5.Pat the jewelry dry with a clean and dry cloth. Make sure you dry it completely because if there is some water left, it can tarnish the silver.

6.Wear the jewelry or place it back in your airtight jewelry storage and it will remain like that in it.

6. Natural Vibration Cleansing

Vibration cleansing is one type of cleansing that is used on gemstones to get rid of negative energy. Gemstones like moonstone absorb some negative energy from the environment. This negative energy should be released from time to time to keep experiencing the positive effects of moonstone on your life. Doing this whenever you feel is necessary should work as there is no specific period of time over what moonstone absorbs negative energies. It all depends on the environment it stays in. This cleansing method requires a natural water body. If you have one nearby you have no problem, but if you don’t, you can remember to take your moonstone jewelry whenever you go near one. Now, you are at a river, ocean, lake, or even a creek and you have your moonstone jewelry with you, what do you do next? Simply, submerge the moonstone jewelry into the water and hold it very firm so that you don’t lose it. Hold it there for some time as the negative energies are absorbed by the water. Make sure you wipe all the jewelry articles thoroughly and immediately because silver tends to react with moisture and gets tarnished. This method will not only remove the negative energies from your moonstone, it will also top up the gem with the healing powers that water possesses. This is a great method and the most natural and effective one that can be used on many gemstones for the same purpose.

7. Vibration Cleansing At Home

If you have no plans of going anywhere near a natural water body anytime in the near future, you can cleanse your moonstones at home too. You just need some tap water and some salt (optional.) Make a saltwater solution and place your moonstone jewelry in it for 15 minutes. Remove the jewelry and run it under fresh tap water. Wipe it dry properly and make sure you reach any difficult spots because if you leave even a little moisture on silver, it may accelerate tarnishing. The ratio of water and salt should be 1:1 and this process should be completed quickly because saltwater can damage the metals by corroding them and tarnishing them. The salt water will have absorbed a lot of negative energies and you should get rid of it as soon as possible, too. This will make your moonstone jewelry as good as new in terms of positivity and it will start to affect your life like it did when you got it, in no time.

8. Cleansing By Smudging

The methods with salt may not be good for your jewelry if not done properly as saltwater will corrode the metal if not completely wipe off. There is a lot of jewelry with difficult areas that can accumulate that salt water without you knowing be able to clean them. To avoid such a situation, you can opt for the smudging method. It is a dry method that will keep your jewelry away from water and will also free it of negative energies. Smudging here refers to the process of cleansing your moonstone by using smoke. All you need is a smudge stick or an incense stick and your moonstone jewelry. Light up the stick and hold your moonstone jewelry over it in a way that the smoke touches the moonstone. This will eliminate any negative energies from the moonstone and make it pure again. When choosing the flavor of the incense stick/smudge stick, go for sandalwood, sage, or sweet grass, or a combination of these because they are best at removing the components from the gem that hold all the negative energy. As we saw in the previous method, salt is a great absorber of the negative energy, so you can keep a bowl full of salt by your side when performing this activity. The bowl of salt will attract all the negative energy released into the air by smoke and absorb it. Get rid of this bowl of salt as soon as you’re done.