Caring for Jewelry

If you have ever had a question about caring for and storing your jewelry, here are the answers you've been looking for.

1. Mix together a quarter cup of ammonia, a cup of water and a little dish soap to clean gold and silver, as well as hard gemstones like diamonds. Just put the jewelry in the mixture and let it sit for a few minutes. You can clean crevices and settings with a soft toothbrush. When you're done carefully rinse and lay them on a towel to dry.

2. You can clean pearls with a simple soap and water solution.

3. If you have a ring stuck on your finger, it is probably caused by swelling. To get it off, soak your hand in a bowl of ice water. The swelling will go down and the ring will come right off. You can also try squirting the ring with some liquid dish soap to loosen it up.

4. An easy way to store necklaces is on a man's tie rack. The chains will hang neatly from the rack.

5. An old plastic ice cube tray is a great way to organize earrings. Put a pair in each of the compartments. No more digging around for a match.