Everyday, I put my heart into designing and making robust pieces of jewelry with the most beautiful finish for you. However, precious metals and gemstones are delicate materials that need to be treated with respect. Every piece comes with everything you need to keep it in perfect condition. Follow these simple guidelines and your jewelry will last a lifetime.
Wearing your jewelry
Most precious metals, especially silver, are quite soft and you can scratch them easily if you aren’t careful. Scratches and knocks are part of normal signs of everyday wear, but you can minimize them by following these rules.
DO’S
- Your jewelry should be the last thing you put on before leaving the house, and the first thing removed when returning home.
- Remove jewellery when applying make-up and creams to avoid the residue getting into the texture of the piece or gemstone setting.
- After taking off your jewelry, clean it with a dry soft cloth.
DON’TS
- Impacts are the biggest danger to jewelry: avoid shocking and dropping it on hard surfaces at all costs.
- Don’t wear your jewelry while doing physical work like cooking, gardening, exercising, housekeeping, etc. to prevent shocks and scratches.
- Don’t wear it in the shower, swimming pool or hot tub. Remove your jewelry before washing your hands too. A film can form if soap or cleaning agents are not washed off completely. This film will become a magnet for dirt, dust and other contaminants.
- Don’t wear your jewelry at the beach or in the sea.
- Don’t expose your jewelry to acidic foods, perfumes, lotions, or any other chemicals and cosmetics: they can be harmful to precious metal and gemstones.
- Don’t expose your jewelry to extreme temperatures and humidity.
Storage
DO’S
- Keep all of your jewelry in the box provided with every shipment: be sure to keep it. Preventative care will save you precious time on cleaning.
- When traveling, protect your jewelry from scratches or other impact damage by padding it in a separate box or case.
- If you plan to store your jewelry for a long time, the best to prevent tarnishing is to store it clean and dry in a dry airtight container, like a ziplock bag. Storing it away from light and oxygen helps prevent tarnishing and oxidization. An anti-tarnish strip in the ziplock bag will make perfect.
DON’TS
- Jewelry should never be tossed into a drawer or on top of a dresser − that’s asking for scratches and damaged gems.
- Don’t leave silver jewelry in the bathroom. Humidity can speed up the oxidation process that produces tarnish.
Cleaning
DO’S
- Clean you piece by rubbing it very gently with your fingers between a special silver or gold polish cloth like the one included in the original package.
- If the polish cloth isn’t enough:
- You can wash your jewelry (without gemstones) in warm water containing a few drops of mild dishwashing liquid. Immerse the piece in the water and gently hand wash. Use a cotton swab for tight corners. A very soft toothbrush can be used for more abrasive cleaning when needed.
- If the jewelry contains gemstones or pearls, do not submerge the entire piece into water. Instead, use a cotton swab with mild dishwashing liquid to wash only the metal.
- In both cases, thoroughly rinse (in a container, not directly in a sink, at the risk of losing it) and completely dry the piece before storing, as moisture is one of the factors that contribute to tarnishing.
- You can clean non-porous stones with a clean, soft, damp cloth after wearing. Very porous stones such as turquoise and emeralds should be cleaned using an untreated, dry, soft cloth only.
- Clean your jewelry regularly. It will be much easier to clean if you do not let the tarnish build up.
- If the previous steps are not enough, it is time for a visit to a professional jeweler who will be able to clean your piece perfectly and polish it again if needed. Look for a jeweler with professional training and a good reputation – asking friends or relatives for recommendations is a good place to start.
DON’TS
- Don’t rub the polish cloth on gemstones. Polish clothes are treated with a chemical cleaner that can be harmful to stones.
- Don’t use liquid cleaners. They will ruin the oxidation included purposely in some of my designs, and in the long run they will deteriorate your pieces and accelerate tarnishing.
- Today, ultrasonic cleaners are getting cheap: don’t use them unless you know exactly what you do. Not all gems and jewelry can be safely cleaned in it.
- Don’t use paper, polyester, or coarse fabrics: they often contain wood fibers or synthetics that can cause tiny scratches in the surface of your fine jewelry. Dirt left over from previous cleanings can also scratch the surface.
- Never clean your jewelry with chlorine bleach, denatured alcohol, turpentine, acetone, ammonia or any other hazardous chemical: they are all harmful to gemstones and pearls. These chemicals can dull or even pit the surface on softer gemstones, like amber, turquoise, lapis, and more.
- Never use toothpaste or other abrasives to clean metal or stones. The abrasives in toothpaste will ruin the mirror polish of the metal and the reflections of stones.
Repairs
Accidents happen. If by some misfortune any damage happens, I won’t let you down. I strongly advise you to contact me personnaly before going to any other jeweller, since I have spent years inventing and perfecting personnal assembly and setting techniques that other jewellers will have a hard time figuring out. Be aware that some damage is irreversible, but if repairing is possible, depending on where you live and on the kind of damage, we’ll find the best solution for you together, whether it is sending it back to me or going to a jeweller closer to you.