What’s the Safest Way to Clean Foil Backed Crystals?

by Sharon Berg.

I have many necklaces that I would like to clean that have silver / rhinestone spacers where the silver plating has slightly tarnished.

It’s almost impossible to remove this with a dry polishing cloth.

I’m also concerned about immersing these in liquid.

I wondered if the ionic cleaners would be safe for foil backed crystals.

I contacted SpeedBright (manufacturer of ionic cleaners) and below is their response.

“Hi Sharon,

Thanks for your contact. It would be a good idea to keep all foil back stones dry. The silvering can come loose from the backs and they would not sparkle.

Rhinestones can be safely cleaned with the Speed Brite Cleaner since they don’t have silvering. For the foil backed stones, a damp smooth cloth should help.

Thanks for reminding us to add this to our do’s and don’ts list.

Regards, jim@sb”

My take away is that rhinestones can be either foiled glass or foiled crystal (Swarovski), but some rhinestones (probably crystal) have enough sparkle that they don’t need to be foiled. What do you think…?

Anyway, he’s saying ionic cleaning of foil backed rhinestones is a no-no…

Sad, as I think many of us would like to find a way to clean those little rhinestone/silver plate spacers.

I’ve got several necklaces where they are showing a little tarnish.

And some loose that need polishing and that is going to be uber tedious.

What’s the safest way to clean foil backed crystals?

Sharon Berg