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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bronwen, post: 4016071, member: 5833&quot;]I put a dab of dish washing liquid soap &amp; some tap water into a small dish &amp; let it soak.&nbsp; When a cameo needs washing, &amp; many are just plain dirty, I usually let them soak for several hours; severe cases may soak overnight.&nbsp; In this case I was so eager to see how Cecilia was going to look that I only let her bathe for about an hour before rinsing &amp; going at her with the little child&#039;s toothbrush.&nbsp; Found that the brown film cleaned off easily, water soluble, &amp; she was quite clean otherwise.&nbsp; On some the grime is so tenacious that it takes several rounds of soaking &amp; brushing to clear out the last crevices.&nbsp; Pat the water off &amp; if in a setting allow to air dry.</p><p><br /></p><p>Shell cameos by themselves are not generally afraid of soap &amp; water.&nbsp; Soaking is not a good idea for ones in a setting that can let water in easily but not readily let it out again.&nbsp; I once had the &#039;diamond&#039; (read &#039;rhinestone&#039;) in a cameo that was <i>en habille</i> wash out of its mount.&nbsp; Think it was being held in by grunge.&nbsp; Fortunately I heard it fall in the sink &amp; was able to find it to be restored to its place.&nbsp; So that&#039;s a cautionary tale about judgement needed with pieces of mixed materials.&nbsp; But the vast majority of cameos can be soaked &amp; brushed without worry.</p><p><br /></p><p>This simple method would probably horrify a museum curator.&nbsp; They hold things in trust &amp; don&#039;t like to lose a single molecule of their holdings, so they use extremely conservative techniques.&nbsp; You may come across advice to use distilled or de-ionized water.&nbsp; There&#039;s nothing at all wrong with this.&nbsp; You probably would not want to subject a cameo to chlorinated tap water once a month.&nbsp; However, for a first wash, it can&#039;t do appreciable harm.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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