Cloudy diamond- just dusty?

[cammy85]

In my engagement ring, I have a three-stone ring where the center stone sits up relatively high in a 4-prong setting. I have been in the middle of home renovations and consequently have been sanding a lot and doing all sorts of other projects. I know a little paint accidentally got on the diamond as well, but I know I need it professionally cleaned. I wore gloves whenever I used cleaners or anything stronger than dish soap in water.

However, my center diamond looks almost ''cloudy'' on the bottom of the diamond, the top is fine. It looks like it has a thin ''film'' of something on it. Is this something a good cleaning from my jeweler can fix or could something have happened that is a permanent effect on my stone?

I''ve tried cleaning it in water and soap, and the little ''dip basket'' cleaner (don''t have a U/S cleaner) but I don''t know what else I could do to try and clean it, or if I should just see what my jeweler says.

TIA!

 

[Ellen]

Did you take a brush and scrub the bottom part too? If so, then just have it professionally cleaned. If not, scrub it''s little bottom.

 

[Pandora II]

Try soaking it for an hour or so in a mix of jewellery cleaner, warm water and a bit of dishsoap. Then use a baby toothbrush and give it a good clean on the pavillion - adult toothbrushes are a bit too harsh on the settings (and be extra careful if you have pave).

I did this to a friend's ring last week (hadn't been cleaned in almost a year) and it took about 30 minutes of scrubbing. I also put it through a u/s 4 times, but that didn't shift the major part of the gunk. Things like hand lotion and the oils from your skin can form a layer over the stone and then trap dust etc (the talc inside gloves is a real bugger). I find using a loupe helpful to keep checking which bits are still bad!

A jeweller will be able to do it for you as well.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 5/6/2009 8:43:17 AM
Author: Ellen
Did you take a brush and scrub the bottom part too? If so, then just have it professionally cleaned. If not, scrub it''s little bottom.

* snort!!!*

Yes Ellen is right, also try some sudsy ammonia if you can get it as long as your setting isn''t white gold. Try one third ammonia to two thirds hot water, soak for half an hour or so then get scrubbing, rinse and dry. If that doesn''t work then a pro cleaning is in order.

 

[cammy85]

Thanks for the suggestions so far y''all!

Ellen, haha, that cracked me up. My ring is white gold (which DEFINITELY needs replating soon) with some pave, and I did use the little brushy thing that came with my dip cleaner, but definitely not nearly the 30 minutes you mentioned, Pandora. And my cleaner said to have it in there approx 2 minutes, so I doubt it was in there long enough to start working it''s magic on all the crapola on my ring. I want to try the mix Pandora suggests and leave it to soak for an hour, see if that helps.

I want it nice and sparkly again!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

If it needs to be replated anyway, why don''t you just take it in now? The jeweler will need to clean it in order to replate it.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 5/6/2009 9:03:56 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
If it needs to be replated anyway, why don''t you just take it in now? The jeweler will need to clean it in order to replate it.

Ditto. I''d just tell them it''s really dirty and let them deal with it.

Glad you got a chuckle!