How To Take Care of Amber

Everyone likes to buy or receive gifts and jewelry made of natural amber. But for the amber products to please us for the longest time, preserving its natural beauty and fascinating brilliance, we need not only to wear and admire them, but also to store and take care of them properly. It is necessary that care for amber products becomes a pleasant and constant habit for their owners. After all, observing how, with the help of simple manipulations, the stones acquire a former luster, play and sparkle in the sunshine – this is real pleasure!

Before you learn how to store amber products, and also effectively care for them, you need to learn that this sun stone is one of the most delicate and soft gems used in jewelry. Amazingly warm, a small piece of the sun plays with all shades of honey color, golden yellow, warm brown and red. Amber is able to please the eye with its overflows and a truly divine, mysterious light. At the same time amber is extremely capricious, both in terms of use, and in terms of storage and cleaning. Therefore, it is necessary to treat with amber carefully, without in any way harming him.

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Amber can grow dull with time, so if you keep it long enough, do not be upset, but better find out how to bring back the stone shine. It is recommended to adhere to several simple rules for storing amber, so that it does not lose its original appearance for the longest time, does not become cloudy and damaged.

How To Wear Amber?

1. Keep amber jewelry as far away as possible from sources of extremely high or low temperatures. Do not leave stones on cold windowsills in the cold season, do not put them next to the heaters or air conditioners, avoid direct active sunlight. Especially dangerous for this sun mineral are sharp temperature changes. Do not run out wearing amber in the frost in winter, take amber jewelry off before entering the sauna, etc. It is a good idea to remove amber jewelry while cooking to avoid excessive heat.
2. Amber can easily be deformed under the mechanical influences, so handling it should be quite gentle, careful and attentive. You should not drop them or carelessly throw them on the table, because they can easily crack.
3. Remember never to wear jewelry you value when doing strenuous, physical activity (e.g. gardening).
4. Do not put your amber jewelry on before hairspray and perfume is applied, because it will likely create a whitish coating on the amber that may be permanent. Contacts of amber with household detergents are also very undesirable. Try to scent before you put on jewelry made of amber, because a stone can only be harmed by a few drops of perfume. Never do household chores that require the use of chemical compounds wearing amber jewelry.
5. Do not touch amber jewelry with dirty hands, for example stained with food. Sunflower oil, lard and other edible fats are especially harmful to this sun stone. Amber should be kept as far as possible from these products. In general, you always need to touch amber only with clean hands.

How To Store Amber?

1. Despite the fact that amber is called a “sun stone”, it reacts badly to the intensive and prolonged contact with the sun. As we said before, it should not be left for long under the scorching sun. Therefore, along with other natural stones, amber must be stored in a dark box. Amber preserves moisture that can vapor in direct sunlight, as a result amber looses color in time, beads may loose its shiny polish.
   The only important nuance is that from time to time, amber is still needed to be “walked“, because a moderate contact with the sun is simply necessary for this stone to recharge itself with the sun and find its magic inner light. Otherwise, amber can lose fantastic brilliance. Moreover, some say that only due to the saturation of solar energy, amber acquires its healing properties. If you want to know more about Amber Healing Properties, check our previous post.
2. Try not to leave amber for a long time in the open air – it can become covered with cracks and lose its fantastic brilliance. And as we said above, keep amber jewelry as far away as possible from sources of extremely high or low temperatures.
3. Amber is a soft and fragile mineral, so it’s best to keep each amber decoration separate from the rest, in a solid box with a velvet lining, so that the stones are not damaged, not scratching against each other, and not cracked when struck.
4. Individual pouches for storing jewelry do not fit amber: it is too soft and fragile, it can be accidentally damaged. As we said above, it is best to store each decoration in a separate solid box, upholstered in velvet, so that the stones do not crack with an accidental impact, and amber beads are not scratched against each other.
5. Do not store amber jewelry along with other jewelry made from other stones or metals – amber darkens fro this”neighborhood”.

How To Clean Amber?

If jewelry for you is passion and a favorite hobby, then cleaning it always causes extremely positive emotions. If you adore your jewelry, and do not get tired of admiring it – no doubt, you want to learn how to care for amber products.

A real pleasure is to take care of your treasures every time after they “go out into the light.” By the way, this is the easiest and safest cleaning that can be done, because as a rule, it does not require the use of any detergents. If you take the rule of clearing jewelry of dust, grease, sweat and other contaminants after each use, then you will have no problems with their appearance during the longest possible term. With regular cleaning it is possible to wipe them thoroughly with a soft cloth, without using hard woolen or hard brushes.

While talking about cleaning, we can say that there are different suggestions and options for those who are interested. Furthermore, there are many contradicting opinions regarding water and amber. While some jewelers recommend, for example, using soapy water to clean amber, others strongly advise against it. If your piece is particularly dirty and you wish to try any of the presented below method, you should consider performing a test on an inconspicuous area of the amber, or on a bead in the back of the necklace.

From our side, we want to warn you that amber is very, very and very soft, fragile and special mineral that react badly to all the chemicals presented currently on the market. We suggest you to avoid completely using of any chemical cleaners or even soap for cleaning amber, use simple water. It is not recommended to clean amber in a soap solution, as it is an extremely sensitive mineral, and the modern composition of soap almost always contains chemical compounds. Do not put amber into the water for more than 10 minutes, because due to its structure amber absorbs water. However, if you still feel the need to use more aggressive methods, here are the general recommendations you can use:

1. Due to its structure, amber absorbs water. So, if you’re cleaning amber using it, try not to extend this process for more than 10 minutes.
2. Amber, like turquoise, mother of pearl and other porous minerals, is panically “afraid” of the destructive effects of chemicals. The sun stone can immediately become covered with a white coating and then it can not be cleaned with anything, since the composition of the mineral will change irrevocably.
3. Polish your amber with some olive or almond oil. This not only removes grease marks, but also helps polish the amber. Apply a small amount of oil to your hands, and then rub the oil over the amber. Wipe it away immediately afterwards with a soft, dry cloth. If you do not have olive oil, you can use almond oil instead.
4. Never put amber jewelry in an ultrasonic or steam cleaner, which would shatter the gem. And again, as we said above, never let amber come in contact with strong solutions, soaps, detergents, commercial jewelry cleaning solutions, perfume, or hairspray. All of these can dull the finish and/or give a whitish coating. Keep the amber away from common kitchen substances such as lard, salad oil, butter and excessive heat of ovens and burners.
5. Especially valuable products are not wetted in water, but rather briefly wrapped with wet napkins (regular, simple white napkin soaked in drinking water, not a wet napkins sold for hand cleaning in shops as they contain chemicals and oils), and then wiped with a soft cloth to enhance the shine.

As we already said above, choosing the cleaning method for amber should be wise. Among the options you can use to your own risk are:

• Cleaning amber with water. The only option we recommend. It is recommended to rinse amber under clean water from time to time. Pay attention – the water should not be hot! Slightly warm or cold. Do not use brushes and scourts for cleaning amber – they leave scratches. Only soft flannel and woolen fabrics are like. In this way, the stones are not only cleaned externally, but also allegedly get rid of the negative energy that they have absorbed, protecting their owner from it.
• Cleaning amber with soapy water. Fill a bowl with lukewarm water and add a few drops of liquid soap into it. Stir the solution enough so that the soap and water combine but not so much that it begins to foam. Use a mild liquid soap, such as hand soap or dish soap. Avoid harsh detergents as they can damage the amber. Find a soft, clean cloth. Microfiber or flannel work best. Dip the cloth into the bowl and wring it out so that there is no dripping water left. You want the cloth to be damp, not wet. Wipe the cloth over the amber jewelry to remove any dirt. Wipe the jewelry again immediately afterward with a dry cloth to dry it.If you are cleaning more than one piece of jewelry, clean and dry each piece separately. Do not leave the amber to dry by itself, or you risk it turning cloudy.
• Cleaning amber jewelry with a silver polishing cloth. Obtain a silver polishing cloth. You can find one in the beading department of an arts and crafts store, or in a jewelry supply shop. You can also purchase one online. Choose a polishing cloth that has both light and dark panels. The light panel will be used to remove any surface dirt or tarnish, and the dark panel will be used to polish the amber. Buff your jewelry with the light side of the polishing cloth.If your jewelry also contains silver, you may see dark smudges appear on the cloth. This is tarnish, and means that your jewelry is becoming clean. Keep rubbing your amber jewelry until you can no longer see any tarnish, or until it looks clean. Polish your amber with the dark panel of the polishing cloth. Rub the cloth over the amber, using quick, circular movements. Do this until the amber looks clean and shiny, and its glow is restored.
• Cleaning amber with ammonia. Following method considered to be quite aggressive. Some suggest that heavily soiled jewelry with amber are well purified in water with ammonia. It is necessary to soak the product in a liquid ammonia for several minutes. And proceed with the typical cleaning process. Do not forget to clean amber in water after soaking it in ammonia.

How To Restore Amber?

If you have an experience with amber, you might know that amber losses its shine with time. If not, don’t worry it is not hard to make amber shine again. Each piece of amber becomes turbid with time, but this is not a cause for grief, because of this unpleasant phenomenon is very easy to get rid of. We offer several options.

• The turbid amber is gently polished with a mixture of tooth powder and paraffin. It is necessary to grate a bit of paraffin on a piece of flannel fabric, add a little tooth powder (not pasta!). Then you need to grind everything to the maximum homogeneous mass. Polish the surface carefully, without strong pressure, with light movements. After that, the residues of the polishing compound are completely removed with a napkin or any other soft cloth. And again, rub the surface of the stone with a soft, soft flannel. Amber will shine as new.

What if the amber is cracked?

If an accident happened, and your amber got serious damage, do not be upset at once. Most importantly, do not try to repair the stone yourself. In such cases, you must immediately give amber to the hands of the jeweler, until the edges of the mineral began to change their properties under the influence of the environment. Jewelers have everything you need for quick and high-quality repairs and your stone will be as new!

Amber is an unusual and slightly magical stone, so it should be treated with love and attention. This is a real miracle of nature, which should not be hidden in caskets, so it must be carried, taken care of, saturated with sunlight and energy, and cleaned with running water and gently polished. An amber stone, in gratitude for this, will give you its warmth and wonderful shimmer.