My last post included a picture of a before and after with a brief description of how I clean. I just received a locket and took pictures of my cleaning "updates" and I thought I'd share the process more thoroughly!
The locket.
This is the locket how I received it, a bit dirty. Actually, a lot dirty. I also notice that yellow gold fill lockets if not cleaned in awhile have an orange-y dinge look. Some call that patina, I call that dinge in this case. Though don't get me wrong, I love patina when it's aged just right. Aged wine - delicious. Aged pepsi - speaks for itself. Patina on a locket can either be aged wine or pepsi... just depends on the product. Notice the staining below the motif on the locket - also a little by the loop and bail. Around her hair and throughout the leaves in the locket is dirty as well.
First wash.
I take a toothbrush and put a little hand soap or dish soap on it. I like to do it in a small sink so I can close the drain when scrubbing (just in case if any stones were loose before I washed and they fall out - an easy fix if they do). Sometimes I can be a violent scrubber but as long as I close the drain, and hold/push the locket tight. That way when I scrub the hinge won't wiggle. I find it works best when I wash the locket first because it gets rid of the dirt. That way when I polish I'm polishing the locket, not the dirt and the locket. Also it's good because it leaves some of the patina on the locket - and then you can determine whether you want to leave it or not as is. Though since this has the darker spots below and above the locket, I had to polish.
Polish & wash.
Now the locket is gleaming! In all the photographs I have a white sheet of paper in front of it so everything can be closely examined. After the polish and clean it really brightens. I like to use my rouge cloth, Fabulustre. It works really great. I was able to get in corners with my fingers and get out the darker areas. Notice the bottom of the locket - lightened a ton. After I polish I immediately do step two again, wash it with some soap and a toothbrush. I find it works better than using the other side of the rouge cloth (which is intended to get all of the rouge out leaving a sparkly clean finish). But I'd rather skip that step and just wash the rouge off. Sometimes I go in again and polish after it dries - especially around the corners. I like to take a toothpick and put it under the polishing cloth so I can get in the crevices. But I'm quite happy with how it turned out so I'll leave as is.
Voila!
