Cleaning your Jewelry in the Dishwasher?
That’s what I said! When I met Jacque Egnatic, the inventor of Jeweler in the Dishwasher, at a recent trade show, I’m sure that I had this dumb, questioning look on my face. What? Clean my fine jewels in the… dishwasher? With my…dirty dishes? Well, Jacque was quick to present enough evidence to have me wipe that look off my face in just a few moments.
Turns out that Jacque is a second generation jeweler with 37 years of experience making, repairing and designing fine jewelry. She KNOWS jewelry and all the tricks to maintain it. Cleaning is one of them. She says that cleaning jewelry is a lot like washing a car. You need hot water combined with a good degreaser to remove caked on dirt that is trapped in crevices… whether of car details or of jewelry!
Jacque sent me a Jeweler in the Dishwasher unit to try at home. I put in only one earring from a pair (to compare the two), a tennis bracelet, my wedding ring and some ancient gold chains that had never been cleaned. I felt that the whole process was very safe, because the 
jewelry is encased in two layers of baskets and the water does not blast into the Jeweler in the Dishwasher. Instead, the water trickles into the baskets and the “eggs” and allows the jewelry to soak in the heated solution, and then it slowly drains out. After the wash, I took a small brush to loosen up any remaining debris and I was done.
The results are superior to using an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. Plus there are no additional cleaning chemicals to buy. Though remarkable to the eye, I could not capture the comparison of the cleaned vs. not cleaned earrings on camera. But it was very noticeable, much like what Jacque describes in her blog. The “magic” in Jacque’s invention is that the Jeweler in the Dishwasher is designed to take advantage of what the dishwasher’s environment naturally offers: the degreaser in the detergent along with the hot water in the dishwasher. A perfect storm of cleaning power. And, if you use green detergent in your dishwasher, that should work just as well as the commercial brands.
The Jeweler in the Dishwasher works great for fine karat jewelry that contains rubies, diamonds, or sapphires. Sterling silver is safe to be placed in the cleaner too, but jewelry should be removed immediately after the wash cycle, and dried with a soft cloth. Go here see about other types of stones that can and cannot be cleaned using this method.
Purchase the basket kit on the Jeweler in the Dishwasher site for $19.95.
Wow. This is awesome! I will definitely be trying this myself. Pretty much effortless jewelry cleaning – that is right up my alley. Thanks for sharing!
This sounds interesting, but it makes me nervous…what if a gem became loose??
In response to splendid market’s question: I am the inventor of Jeweler in the Dishwasher and I think you have a very good question. First off, all mountings should be inspected every six months by your jeweler to make sure that all stones are secure in their settings. If you have not had your stones inspected but still want to use the Jeweler in the Dishwasher, place jewelry containing larger stones inside the Jeweler in the Dishwasher egg shaped unit. If your jewelry contains extremely small stones, place it inside the soaker tank. If the stones are smaller than the holes in the bottom of the soaker tank, then I would wait until you have had the mountings checked.
Jeweler in the Dishwasher is a very gentle way to clean fine jewelry. The enclosed jewelry does not get cleaned via vibration to loosen the dirt like using an ultrasonic. Jeweler in the Dishwasher acts as a soaking mechanism, the solution trickles in and slowly drains out.
I would also worry if a gem became loose….or if any leftover residue soap got on my jewelry. If you have jewelry you care about, and want to keep it clean, I’d recommend an Ultrasonic Branson Cleaner (you can get them online from sonicsonline.com). Love all the ideas being shared!
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