HOW TO POLISH AND CLEAN WIRE

 First, let's make sure we understand the term polish-------it means to make brighter------to make glossy. Cleaning is not polishing and visa versa. To neglect to finish your jewelry properly is to leave your jewelry uncompleted. Let's look at some simple techniques for polishing your wire. HAND POLISHING This is a very simple method of using a cloth (an old 100% cotton T-shirt will do) with a dab of red rouge. If you are running the wire through a polishing cloth with red rouge on it before building your project, you can get a pretty good glow to your gold or silver wire. But you should also rub your finished project briskly with the same cloth after it is completed. This method will work out fine and does not require any expensive equipment.

POLISHING WITH A ROTARY TOOL This is a very professional way to polish your jewelry and the cost can be moderate about $30 total for a good rotary tool. Use a small buffing wheel made with the hole in the center. Usually the wider the buffing pad, the less problem you will have with the wire getting caught in the jewelry wires. Use a soft buffing wheel about the size of a quarter. Remember at 10,000 rpms you're going to have red rouge flying everywhere so make sure it's in a place where you won't ruin the new drapes. Red rouge turns into a fine dust that will be easily inhaled if you don't have some type of face mask -- even a very cheap one will help. All these cleaning agents are rather toxic so be careful when polishing and buffing. You should do it outside if you can or inside with lots of ventilation.

THE CLEANING PROCESS The cleaning process which one would think would appear to be a simple chore can sometimes be a little difficult to do properly. All wire jewelry needs to be cleaned properly after polishing. Just remember, if there is a small speck of goo hidden between the wires that you cannot see, it will eventually melt due to the heat of the human body and perspiration. When this happens, it will appear that the gold ring or bracelet is tarnishing. So with this in mind you should not take this process lightly.

SONIC CLEANERS For bench jewelers who work with 14k gold and platinum sonic cleaners are by far the most popular, most efficient, and fastest cleaning method to use but for wire jewelers who work mostly with gold filled, you should probably re-evaluate using sonic cleaners for several big reasons. A sonic cleaner can break an opal, emerald, or other gemstone. If the stone has a hairline crack, the sonic cleaner can break it right along the fracture line. This crack or fracture could be invisible to the human eye. If your customer gives you a valuable stone to set and it breaks in a sonic cleaner, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE! Choose wisely.

HAND CLEANERS If you're just starting out, all the fancy equipment might be a bit much financially so let's talk about good ole' fashion hand cleaning. Just fix up a solution of VERY WEAK ammonia and warm water. Soak the polished jewelry for only about 2 or 3 minutes. Note: I do stress ONLY for a very short time. If left overnight, it could destroy your gold-filled wire. After soaking, take a soft bristle toothbrush and scrub thoroughly. Rinse with clean water and dry thoroughly.

IONIC CLEANERS If you have the cash and want the fastest and safest way to clean your wire jewelry, you might consider getting an ionic cleaner. These cleaners work on an entirely different method than a sonic cleaner and will not break a stone, that means cracked ones, opals, pearls, whatever. As compared to Sonic they are less expensive. There are no potentially damaging sound waves with ionic cleaners, which use a chemical reaction by passing a mild electrical current through the ionic cleaning solution. This method will actually remove polishing residue from between the wire and will PULL it completely out. When it's working, it looks something like a bubbling Alka Seltzer. The ionic cleaners come in several different models. The mini ionic cleaner is the least expensive. This unit runs on batteries and, frankly, I think it's fine for a personal cleaner that's used 3 or 4 times a year but not for wire artists. I just don't think it's got the power for a commercial cleaner and I would not recommend it as a commercial cleaner. The shop model is about 9 inches long and about 5 inches wide and can hold lots of jewelry connected by a wire that comes with the unit. All the units come with commercial cleaning solution called gem sparkle. This is the unit I use in my home studio and am quite pleased with it. Cleaning time for $50,000 of retail jewelry used to be about two days. After we purchased the shop model, cleaning time for the jewelry went to about 2 hours. .I purchased the shop model years ago and love the way it works. Several months into ownership my unit broke and I sent it into the factory-------they rebuilt it at NO CHARGE. I was so impressed with the unit and the service, we are now dealers for the company. The shop model is approximately $132.00. There is another unit called the counter model that is round like the mini model but just as powerful as the large unit and is great to bring on the road to gem shows, etc. It is big enough to hold a big bracelet and maybe a couple of pendants. For my money the counter model or the shop model would work out for any wire artist. The only difference is the size. The power and motor is exactly the same. It uses the same Gem Sparkle solution--- just a little less. The counter model sells for approximately $96. Whatever you decide, make sure your wire jewelry is polished and well cleaned. It's the difference between a professional and an amateur.