How to Take Care of Amber Jewellery
When you take care of amber jewelery it’s always good to keep in mind its origins as petrified tree sap. It’s not a mineral stone. Amber is relatively brittle and it’s important to protect it against fast oxidization and contact with chemicals. Amber oxidizes naturally and its color deepens over time. When this process is artificially sped up, it causes degradation of quality. Amber is quite soft, only around 2.5-3 on the Mohs scale of hardness, and can easily be scratched or damaged.
If you follow a few simple instructions, your jewelery will stay as beautiful as the day you bought it.
Clean it regularly
The best way to clean it is with a 100% cotton cloth, either dry or gently moistened with room temperature water. We love using classic denim fabric for this. If necessary you can also use a bit of mild soap as well but make sure to rinse the amber well before you store it. In the end polish it dry with a cotton cloth. Avoid microfiber or any synthetic fiber cloths as they can easily scratch the stone. Also stay away from ultrasonic jewellery cleaners, steam machines and all chemical substances.
Keep your jewellery safely stored
Ideally keep each piece in its own cotton or velvet pouch. This will protect the amber from excessive oxidization caused by humidity and sunrays. We also recommend storing your amber separately from your other jewelry, particularly metal pieces, to avoid scratches on the fragile stones.
Keep it away from direct sunlight and heat
Think about this mostly when you plan to sunbathe or when going into a hot tub or sauna. Very cold or freezing water is also bad for amber. The worst is thermal shock, or a rapid change in temperature, which can completely destroy the stone.
Be sure to keep perfume and hairspray away from your jewellery
When amber gets into contact with perfumes, hairspray or other chemicals, a whitish coating may form on the surface which is difficult to remove and you risk irreversible surface damage. In this case, the jewellery would have to be re-sanded and re-polished.
Amber is generally sensitive to chemicals, do not wear your jewellery in swimming pools with chlorinated water, or when you are doing any work where chemicals may affect the amber.
