KNOWLEDGE BASE
* Take Care of Your Silver Jewelry
* Take Care of Your Costume Jewellery
* Washing Instructions
* TAKE CARE OF YOUR SILVER JEWELLERY
Pure Silver, a precious and malleable metal, is usually alloyed
with copper to enhance its durability and prevent damage
to the metal. Typically, sterling silver consists of 92.5
percent silver and 7.5 percent copper. Over time oxidation
reactions will occur, especially with sulfur and oxygen,
causing silver to become tarnished. Care should be taken
to prevent this tarnishing, and many commercial products
are available that will easily remove tarnish buildup that
silver naturally acquires.
When cared for properly, your fine quality silver will last
a lifetime. Simply wearing your jewelry helps prevent, or
at least slow, the oxidation process keeping your jewelry
looking new. To minimize scratches, silver jewelry can be
stored in cloth pouches, small zip lock bags, or in separate
compartments in your jewelry box.
If your jewelry appears to have dulled with age, or requires
deep cleaning, we highly recommend using a jewelry cleaning
cloth, followed by your jewelry polishing cloth. The cleaning
cloth can be used on gold, sterling silver, and sterling
silver finished with rhodium. Or you may simply wash the
silver with warm water and a little mild soap, rinsing and
then patting dry with a fine, soft cloth.
Avoid exposing your silver to household chemicals when cleaning
with bleach or ammonia, or when swimming in chlorinated
water, as these chemicals can damage silver. Your professional
jeweler should be able to provide you with silver-cleaning
materials as well as directions for their proper use.
Do not use silver dip as this will damage the rhodium finish
and is known to remove color and polish from certain gemstones,
including turquoise and onyx. Moreover, it will remove the
oxidized antique look that is applied to give it the ageless
appeal. Simply put, we do not recommend using silver dip
on our jewelry.
Never use toothpaste as it is very abrasive! Some have recommended
using toothpaste to clean silver jewelry; we do not suggest
doing this because toothpaste contains small abrasive granules
which can leave scratches on your silver.
* Take good care of your precious
costume jewels and preserve them for the next generation
to love and enjoy.
* " Put your costume jewel in a soft zipped up pouch
so that the dust won't easily get to it.
* " Dust is abrasive to your jewels and weather elements
cause deterioration. Store your costume jewelry in a dry,
cool and dust-free environment. Ideally in a fire proof
safe.
* " Despite your efforts, dust will sooner or later
find its way to your beloved jewels. Therefore, you'll need
to do some slight cleaning from time to time. Here are some
cleaning tips:
* " Use Windex or similar products as a cleaning agent.
Mild soapy water is also okay. However, please remember
do not spray the Windex directly to your jewel or submerge
the piece into soapy water or a running faucet. Rhinestone
jewelry with foil backing should never be submerged into
water.
* " Spray a little of the Windex onto a soft clean
cloth. Make sure that it is not too wet, just barely enough
to get the dust off the piece. For the hard to get to places,
use a soft tooth brush or Q-tip with tiny little bit of
Windex. Squeeze the excess wetness off the Q-tip or soft
toothbrush so that it is barely damp.
* " Make sure that you are gentle when cleaning your
jewelry. If you use a toothbrush, make sure that it is soft
and not scratchy. Be particularly careful with Aurora Borealis
stones as they can be scratched easily.
* " After you clean your jewels, leave them out for
at least an hour. Make sure that they are completely dry
before you put them away. This is very important because
moisture causes deterioration to your jewels.
* " We would also highly recommend cleaning your jewels
with Sunshine Polishing Cloth. It is inexpensive, only a
few dollars a piece and a cloth can clean quite a bit of
jewelry. If the cloth is getting dirty, please do not re-use
it, it is time to get a new one. Otherwise, you'll just
be applying dirt to the jewels. You can purchase Sunshine
Polishing Cloth at some jewelry stores or through internet
mail orders. We recommend the Cloth because it is safe,
inexpensive and easy to use. It also makes your beautiful
jewels look almost like brand new!
* " Because the jewelry is costume, during the course
of time, a stone or two might fall off. It is a small repair
job and you can easily glue it back yourself without hiring
a professional. However, you should know how to do it correctly
and to use the right kind of glue so that the stone will
stay glued and won't turn yellow.
