Hi everyone, I haven’t been able to find much information on this and this community might know. Is it safe to use Renaissance Wax on turquoise (both stabilized and unstabilized) make it less susceptible to changing color from water, oils, etc? Has anyone tried and what were your results?
Renaissance and Johnson’s waxes contain petroleum products (naphtha and toluene, respectively) which softens the wax making it easier to apply. Personally I would not use anything on the turquoise. I would just take care in wearing the pieces and gently wash with soap and water on occasion, being careful not to saturate the stone area as there is usually sawdust or cardboard under the stone.
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I have a lot of jewelry with turquoise, and never have had to clean it. If I get anything on it, I just wipe it with it with a q tip or tissue. I would not clean it with anything. I have had a stone become loose in the setting from getting damp (like StevesTrail said due to sawdust under the stone); I learned that the hard way. I would not put anything on turquoise to try to protect it (not a good idea anyway), but I personally like the look of color change, because it shows that it’s natural. But not everyone is like me!
If it’s stabilized, you shouldn’t have to worry about color change from touching the stones.
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Welcome to the community, @Zephyr, and thanks for your question. @StevesTrail’s answer might be of value to others.
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If a stone is stabilized, it probably will be okay on its own for the most part. I have learned the hard way that with natural stones, that you should not touch or rub them, get lotion on them, wash in them, and so forth. Color change may happen naturally over time, but you can definitely slow it down if you’re not exposing it to a lot of handling and oils.
This is certainly not a direct answer to the question that you had asked originally, but just something that I have learned in handling turquoise over time! And it did not take very long for the pieces that I touched too much to turn color!
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I have a cuff with natural Sleeping Beauty turquoise which is almost all the same color. To me that can look like block (it has a lot of small stones with little matrix) so I have been handling it a lot on purpose to get a little color variation 
Guess I’m a bit odd that way …
@Zephyr, I don’t believe water will hurt the stone (or cause permanent color change), but it can harm the setting. I always take my rings with stones off when I wash my hands (and put them in a pocket so I don’t accidentally leave them).
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Hi all, thanks so much for the warm welcome and for sharing your experiences and inputs. I’m glad to have stumbled across this community of turquoise lovers!
I have some natural unstabilized vintage pieces of different colors. I love the way they look and would be very sad if they started to turn the characteristic dark green/teal since i bought them for their colors (plus they’d start looking similar and they costed a lot 
). I’m one of those people who doesn’t mind or may even prefer stabilization as i like to wear my jewelry more carefreely to fully enjoy it. I have some heishi necklaces l strung - they were fluorescent cyan but very quickly turned teal which is fine, but i wouldn’t want that for my squash blossom 
It seems like there is mixed information on whether water causes color change. Since turquoise is in the ground for millions of years, i would think it has already to been exposed to water and wouldn’t be damaged by it, and it’s the setting that’s susceptible?
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Oh yes, i saw a few cluster bracelets that were all uniform with no matrix. They were so beautiful they looked like they could’ve been block. In the end i didn’t buy because it was too perfect and not interesting enough Am I weird?
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I searched a bit on this site, and found some really helpful threads. This one is mostly about taking care of the silver, but the first post in particular is helpful. Cleaning Turquoise and silver jewlery
I believe water alone will not hurt turquoise, but any that gets under the stone and into the setting (in Native made jewelry) is what causes the problem.
I understand now why you don’t want further color change in your stones, makes sense. I still like that “greasy green” color, but have never had all the stones change to that. The older pieces I bought have done all their color change apparently, because the stones don’t look any different after years of me wearing them.
If that makes you weird, you fit right in here
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A drastic change in color occurred in this turquoise stone. The gold, turquoise ring was purchased by my sister in either Mexico City or Acapulco in the 1960s. At one time, the turquoise stone was a beautiful robin’s egg blue (no matrix). She gave the ring to me and, if I wore it 3 times that was a lot. I’m not fond of turquoise mounted in gold. (I never wash my hands with jewelry on, or shower with it on, or sleep wearing jewelry so I’m not sure why the color change happened.) Only thing I can think of that may have caused this is high humidity.
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That is so strange. I have a ring with a low grade natural stone that was a very, very pale blue. It changed fairly quickly to a deeper shade, but I wore it quite a bit; and when I say quickly, I mean over a couple years. We are pretty humid here also. I’m thinking the lower grade the stone, the more quickly they change. I’m not saying that’s the case with your ring, Patina.
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@Ziacat It certainly could be a low grade turquoise. At least that could be an explanation for the dramatic (ugly) color change. Just because it’s mounted in gold doesn’t mean the turquoise is of the highest caliber, imo. At first, I thought it was just “something” that I could strenuously wipe off. Nah, that didn’t work, lol.
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Good idea @StevesTrail
This would be awesome with a piece of Bisbee or high grade Kingman, #8, Royston…etc etc
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Some time ago I want through a green turquoise phase and picked up quote a few of older pieces with lovely green turquoise. I still am very attracted to great older green turquoise jewelry. I just pulled out this sweet ring from my “need repair” box. I’d pretty much forgotten about it since I doubted I could find a similar replacement stone. Wish I knew the original color…interesting that all the stones are the same color😊
Any one know where I could pick up and older green stone to use for repairs?
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I, too, have an appreciation for color variance among stones in turquoise pieces, and the old greasy greens that signify an older, much worn stone. I have colors ranging from the palest blue all the way to deep pine tree green. I’ve got a few perfectly aqua pieces that I would be very upset if they darkened, and I’m trying to be careful not to touch those; however, I live in a humid environment and some color change is probably inevitable; this is where I am happy to have turquoise that has been stabilized for those that I don’t want to change color!
But on the other hand, any excuse to buy a new piece works for me! 
I agree with others that turquoise pieces that are uniformly colored give me pause to wonder if the stones are real or not.
@Bmpdvm I don’t know what color those stones started out life as, but I think they are aging into a very beautiful color of green! Maybe not what you wanted, but they are unique and tell their own story about their life. Hopefully you can find an acceptably colored replacement stone.
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@Xtina…I love the deep green too. Don’t think I’d be able to choose a favorite “hue” of turquoise, although it seems that recently Blue Gem or dark spiderweb has been calling to me.
Interesting you and @Ziacat mentioned humidity effecting turquoise color change. I’d never heard that, but that could explain why much of my collection haven’t changed color (I live in a very dry environment). Also I think that the way we store turquoise jewelry may also be a contributing factor
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I may be the odd one out here but IMHO, I don’t think that green looks good against gold. I have 40+ year old turquoise and older in jewelry (and turquoise has maintained its color for millions of years since formation) and have never seen a piece go from a nice blue to that color. I think there was an issue with the stone.
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Great color and ring @Bmpdvm . I will see if I have anything nice in that color but I doubt it. Maybe check with Perry Null and see if they have anything to match.
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I was going to say same as @StevesTrail; check with Perry Null. I also agree with him about @Patina’s stone. It’s weird to change so fast. I only had one item change quickly, the one that I mentioned above, and it wasn’t anything like that. And I actually like it better 
It had kind of looked like Dry Creek (although I know it’s Kingman), and I’m not a huge Dry Creek fan.
I don’t have a favorite kind of turquoise either. It all totally depends on the piece that the turquoise is in, the whole look.
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