Cleaning and Caring For Your Jewellery

How to look after your new precious jewels

When you’re not wearing your jewellery it is best to store it in a soft pouch or jewellery box where it can’t scratch or be scratched by other jewellery. For silver jewellery you can include a small square of anti-tarnish paper in your jewellery box/pouch to help minimise (but not completely prevent) the metal reacting to air.

To clean your jewellery you can simply soak the piece in warm soapy water for half an hour and then dry with a soft clean dry towel. This should get rid of light tarnish and loosen any dirt in stone settings. You can use a cotton bud or soft toothbrush to clean any hard to reach places. If you want to invest, you can buy sonic cleaners pretty inexpensively which will make stones sparkle.

Please note: not all stones like getting wet or survive a sonic cleaner – it can crack them! This mainly applies to very soft/delicate/porous stones. If in doubt, please ask.

Everyday wear will show as scuffs and scratches on any metal over time. The speed at which this happens will depend on the type of metal, how often the piece is worn and where the jewellery is worn, e.g. rings worn everyday will wear quicker than pendants as they come into contact with lots of different surfaces. Try to remember to take your jewellery off when exercising, gardening, showering and when applying any lotions/perfumes.

You will find that a highly polished finish will dull over time whereas a brushed/satin finish will become more shiny with wear. These finishes can be re-applied - please contact me for advice and to arrange a free re-finish.

If your silver jewellery very suddenly tarnishes/turns black, it has reacted to something it's come into contact with. This could be a cleaning product, perfume or it could simply be you - diet or medications may mean that silver jewellery is best avoided for you. I'm happy to help, please just ask if you have any queries or concerns.

If you would like your jewellery to be returned to it's original finish, please get in touch for advice. It may be that you can achieve this yourself or I'm happy to refinish for you for free, other than the cost of postage.