Jewelry Care

Every jewelry owner needs to take steps to preserve and protect their purchase.  Both silver and copper jewelry needs a little TLC to maintain their beauty.  Having the correct tools to clean and polish your jewelry is key to keeping it looking its best and will insure your jewelry last for years and years.

Below I have included a few tips and tricks to help you keep your jewelry looking simply beautiful.

Caring for Silver Jewelry

Silver is a metal that can tarnish (blacken), yellow and dull over time. This is caused by the presents of oxygen and sulfur are in the atmosphere that reacts with the metal.  Some silver metals are more reactive than others and some silver alloys tarnish differently based on the metal contents.   For instance, silver or silver plated metal will yellow and dull if it does not have a protective coating applied over the metal.  But sterling silver tends to blacken because it is an alloy that contains copper.

Below  are a few ways to prevent and/or restore silver to its untarnished luster.

    • The best method for cleaning silver when tarnishing happens is by polishing the item with a silver jewelry cloth. These are inexpensive and available at most places that sell fine jewelry. Simply rub the item gently with the cloth and you will know it is working when the cloth is showing black tarnish.
    • Another product that works well is called Bead Buddy Instant Tarnish Remover.  This item can be found at your local Joann Fabrics Store (linked here).  This is an amazing product that also works well for silver, brass, gold, as well as your copper jewelry.  Simply dip your item in this solution for about 10 seconds, remove and rinse under warm water.  Dry with a soft cloth and its clean of all tarnish.  Also works on costume jewelry that has lost its luster.
      • Note: if using this on something that has a lot of nooks and crannies, you may want to set your item in front of a fan or heater for a short while to remove any excess moisture in those spaces.
      • Also, check the directions to make sure they will not damage your featured stone setting.  This product should NOT be used on items such as pearl or jade as it can damage the finish on these materials

Perfumes, lotions, sprays, oils (even from skin) and humidity can cause silver jewelry to corrode and tarnish. To help avoid this you can gently wipe down your silver jewelry with a soft cloth before storing it. If feasible, store silver in a jewelry bag or plastic bag to avoid them touching any other jewelry. This helps to keep them tarnish free.

There are also anti tarnish strips that you can purchase to include in your jewelry bag that help to keep any moisture away from your jewelry piece.  The piece needs to be tarnish free for these strips to work but they will help prevent tarnishing on freshly cleaned jewelry for up to 1 year.  You can find a link here to see an example of these strips.  

Caring for Copper Jewelry

Many of the jewelry items I create are copper, however, copper jewelry will tarnish and sometimes rather quickly depending on atmospheric conditions (moist air is not coppers friend) or if the copper has an anti-tarnish finish applied to it.  “Raw” copper is when the metal does not have an anti-tarnish finish (lacquer) applied to it and most of my wire wrapped items feature raw copper. 

Below are a few tips and tricks to keep your copper looking bright and rosy pink. 

  • To prevent tarnish on raw copper, store copper jewelry in a re-sealable plastic bag.  This helps to keep moist air from tarnishing your copper jewelry. 
  • Lacquered copper will keep its bright complexion longer but to protect the lacquer, still store in a plastic bag, be sure to remove as much air as possible and for added protection store with an anti-tarnish strip.
  • Do not shower, bath, swim in a pool or ocean with copper jewelry or expose to any solvents. Chlorine and salt can permanently damage copper. 
  • Excessive perspiration causes tarnishing on your pieces as well, keep this in mind when wearing copper in hot and humid weather.

 

 

 

 

When your copper jewelry tarnishes and needs cleaning, purchase a jewelry cloth online made specifically for polishing copper jewelry.  I use a product called the Sunshine Cloth (Amazon link here).  With this cloth you can easily de-tarnish your pieces. Cracks and crevices may be harder to clean so you may still have darker areas but this will give your piece a nice antiqued look.  

Also, as I mentioned above, the Bead Buddy Instant Tarnish Remover (linked here) works great on raw copper pieces.  But again, be wary of the bead type and do not use on pearl or jade pieces.  Glass and most other stones will not have any issues with this product but if you are wary, test it on an inconspicuous spot before doing a full dip.

If you have any questions or need more infomation please feel free to send me a message by clicking on the link below.

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