Tips on Caring for Turquoise Jewelry

Turquoise is quite commonly used making turquoise pendants, earrings, bracelets, and other fashion and fine jewelry. Chemically, turquoise is a formed from phosphatic compounds of copper and aluminum. The characteristic blue color of the stone is due to its copper content. The dark veins are the remnants of the parent rock from which turquoise was formed. It is important to understand that most naturally occurring turquoise is too soft and light to be used in jewelry. It contains a large proportion of pores which tend to absorb moisture and oils. This slowly changes the color of the stone, and with time, causes it to deteriorate. Most turquoise on the market today is stabilized using clear epoxy resin or vaporized silica to improve its hardness, increase its strength, and reduce its porosity. Turquoise is a moderately soft mineral, with a hardness rating ranging from 5 to 6 on the Mohs scale.



After you have bought your turquoise pendant, it is important to take care of it so that you can enjoy its beauty for years to come. On this issue, it really is quite irrelevant whether you paid a few tens of dollars or hundreds of dollars for your jewelry. With time, you tend to develop a bond with your jewelry, and in order to maintain this bond, you need to maintain it. Maintenance need not be expensive at all. With a few clever tricks and some common sense, you will be able to enjoy your turquoise jewelry for many years to come. As noted earlier, turquoise is a moderately soft material. As such, it can be scratched by harder materials like diamonds or quartz. Therefore, when storing your jewelry, wrap each individual piece in a soft cloth. The cloth acts as a cushion and prevents the various materials and stones from coming into contact with each other. When you go for a swim, remember to remove your jewelry. The chlorine in the pool water can sometimes react with the stones and/or the settings. Put on turquoise jewelry after you put on your makeup, and at the end of the day, remove jewelry first. Sprays and other cosmetics can adversely react with turquoise. Keep turquoise away from extreme temperatures. Avoid using ultrasonic cleaners to clean turquoise jewelry.



Modern day trends are to combine gemstones in jewelry. In these instances, it is important to keep both materials in mind when cleaning the jewelry. One popular jewelry design today is to have a white pearl necklace with turquoise pendant. The combination of white pearls and the sky blue pendant really punches up the appearance of this timeless classic. However, when cleaning the necklace, it is important to keep both materials in mind. In this case, pearls are the more delicate to the two materials, and so your plan to clean and maintain the pearl necklace must be mindful of the needs and shortcomings of both gems.