November Blog Challenge Day 2 - Keeping Your Jewellery Sparkling ✨

How to take care of your jewellery is something I often get asked, but the cool thing about metal, is that its really pretty tough. It’s also (depending on which particular precious metal) fairly bendy, and so if it does get trodden on/shut in a drawer/run over etc etc it can often be gently hammered back into shape. It can also be joined with solder (not electrical!), so if it needs to be altered or put back together for any reason, it very often* can be. *I’ve said “very often” as there are always exceptions!

So, obviously my advice would be to try and not do anything of the above things to it in the first place, but if the worst does happen, it’s not always the end game for your precious jewels.  I would ALWAYS advise taking your broken jewellery to an expert though, as what you might think is an tiny and easy soldering job, may well end up in a blob of molten metal if you haven’t had plenty of practice!

The thing you can sort out at home though, is keeping your jewellery clean.

If your jewellery is gold, platinum or palladium, its much less of a problem, but if it’s silver, its always going to be prone to tarnishing. There are things you can do to minimise the effect though, such as not wearing your jewellery when you’re using any cleaning products, or doing your hair/makeup, as the chemicals (even the natural ones) in the products you’re using will help speed up the tarnishing process. Also, swimming in a pool where they put chlorine in the water is a sure fire way to turn your silver black in minutes!

There are loads of different products and gadgets, and in my workshop, I have a polishing motor, that has round mops and various grades of polish. I then have an ultrasonic cleaner, that I use to get all the polish off that gets stuck behind the stones/detailing, and a few polish-impregnated cleaning cloths, for giving it all a final buff and finish. The last of these things is all you really need at home though, and even that’s not “really” necessary. Most of the time, just an old soft toothbrush, some washing up liquid, hot water, and a bit of good old elbow grease is all you need to get your jewellery sparkling again!