5 Simple Tips for Cleaning and Curating Your Jewelry Box
Every treasure in your jewelry box should make your heart happy and make you feel good wearing it. This selection of one-of-a-kind and limited edition jewelry pieces by Michelle Pajak-Reynolds is perfectly suited for wearing every day and on special occasions. Photo credit: Michelle Pajak-Reynolds Studios
When the calendar turns and we step into a fresh new year, I like to think about more than just resolutions for health or home. I think about the treasures we wear close to us—our jewelry.
Our jewelry boxes often go untouched for years, yet they hold so much: stories, milestones, memories. Unlike tackling an overstuffed closet, spending an afternoon with your jewels is pure pleasure. You get to hold each one, remember where it came from, and decide how it will move forward with you.
Here’s 5 tip for how I walk my clients through refreshing and caring for their collections so their pieces stay beautiful—and meaningful—for years to come.
1. Give Your Jewelry a Beautiful Home-Let’s talk jewelry storage!
If your jewelry lives in little dishes, tangled in drawers, or draped over a dresser, it’s time to give it the storage it deserves. A good jewelry box keeps everything in one place and saves you from hunting for a missing earring or untangling necklaces that somehow knot themselves overnight.
Look for compartments of different sizes—ring rolls, earring sections, hooks for chains, and flat spaces for pearls or silk-strung pieces (those should always lie flat so the silk stays strong).
If you already have a box, empty it completely. Dust and pet hair love to hide in there. I use a lint roller or a vacuum brush for velvet interiors, a little glass cleaner for mirrors, and a soft cloth for the outside. Your jewelry box should feel like a welcoming little home for your treasures.
A soft polishing cloth is the safest way to remove tarnish and keep your sterling silver jewelry sparkling. Photo credit: Michelle Pajak-Reynolds
2. Clean Your Jewelry
Once everything’s out, give your jewelry a little spa day. A soft polishing cloth works wonders on silver, gold, platinum, and well-made costume pieces.
If a piece needs more than a polish, mix a drop of baby shampoo in warm water and use a soft toothbrush. Just remember— any beads or pearls strung on silk should never go in water. The silk and thread can stretch when wet.
And please be careful with ultrasonic cleaners. They can loosen stones in their settings. Early in my career, I made the mistake of putting my grandmother’s ring in one without checking the stones first. A tiny rose-cut diamond came loose, and I never found it. Even after replacing it, it never felt quite the same and my heart is still broken about it…
Some gemstones like emeralds, pearls and opals, can be permanently damaged by ultrasonic cleaners. More information about how to care for and clean specific gemstones and birthstone jewelry is available on my Jewelry Care Tips page.
3. Sort and Check Your Jewelry
After everything is clean and sparkling again, it’s time to sort your jewels, making sure earrings have their backings and mates, and clasps on bracelets, necklaces, and watches are all in working order. Try on your rings and make sure they fit comfortably and securely. Put aside any pieces that need repair/sizing and set a date on your calendar to take them to your favorite local jewelry store, ideally one offering onsite repairs. If you know the jewelry designer who made your jewelry, contact them about the repair and sizing services you need, they know their work inside and out!
One of a kind jewelry pieces, such as this 14K Fairmined gold, red zircon and Songea sapphire necklace from Michelle Pajak-Reynolds’s Elementals Fire Collection, make any jewelry collection a special treasure for jewelry lovers. Photo credit: Julie Stanley/JuleImages
4. Edit Your Jewelry Collection
After jewelry pieces needing servicing are put aside, it’s time to evaluate each item in your collection. Create three piles for each jewelry category you own:
LOVE IT! – “Must have,” “Live my life in this,” “I would feel naked without it,” “Makes me smile just thinking about it,” etc.
Maybe…. – “I feel attached to this and just can’t part with it, even though I don’t wear it.” Put these items in a special place in your jewelry box and think about how you might wear them in rotation with pieces from your LOVE IT designs.
Not me anymore – “This doesn’t suit my me, my style, or my life anymore.” Time to think about handing these jewelry items down to a loved one or redesigning them so they move to the LOVE IT pile.
When sorting, don’t be hard on yourself or stress out. This process is about creating a collection of pieces that you deeply love, enjoy wearing and making room for jewelry that makes you feel like you.
Statement jewelry isn’t only for special occasions. A bold yet neutral necklace, like Michelle Pajak-Reynolds’s Undina Collection Venus necklace, looks amazing worn with a nice t-shirt and jeans, suit, little black dress or formal occasion gown. Photo credit: Julie Stanley/JuleImages
5. Dream a Little: Curate Your Ideal Jewelry Collection
Now that your jewelry collection is full of pieces that make your heart do a little tap-dance, it’s time to create a wish list to fill in any gaps. I like using the Rule of Three as a guideline and think long-term style, not trends.
To maximize the versatility of each jewelry category in your collection, it’s a good idea to have:
1 casual piece
1 statement piece
1 in-between piece
When it comes to crafting your personal style, you know yourself and your needs best. So if a particular gemstone, or all statement pieces, or only minimalist designs are “your thing,” then totally go for it.
As you think about your wish list, are there gemstones or designers you have a lot of, or ones missing from your collection? Think long term, because a jewelry collection is part art collection and part autobiography. Well-made jewelry is worth the investment – because it will last and become treasured family heirlooms for current and future generations that will also include priceless stories of family history.
Every treasure in your collection doesn’t have to be extraordinary or unique. It should make your heart happy and make you feel good wearing it.
Jewelry featuring raw gemstones like these 14K Fairmined gold, Umba sapphire and champagne zircon Taygeta dangle earrings from Michelle Pajak-Reynolds’s Pleiades Collection adds a pop of color and gorgeous texture to your jewelry wardrobe. Photo credit: Julie Stanley/JuleImages
Visit Michelle Pajak-Reynolds’s online shop to discover something new to add and love in your jewelry box.
