Tips for Care and Cleaning of Your Sterling Silver Jewelry
With common sense and a few minutes of time, you can keep your sterling silver jewelry beautiful for years to come.
- Clean your jewelry before it becomes badly tarnished.
Our two and most important suggestions are:
- Is to periodically wipe down/ polish your jewelry, using Jewelry Wipes (specialty cloths) to clean your pieces. Some may be white or yellow but these are cloths, gloves or pads are developed specifically for silver jewelry.
- Our next suggestion is to store your silver jewelry in a container: armoire, jewelry box, safe, ziplocked bag, anything that helps keep your jewelry away from airborne contaminates/ oxidizers.
It is much easier to remove tarnish and soil when you do it early on.
The longer you go between cleanings the harder it is to restore it to its original or desired luster.
- Always remove your jewelry before using any product that contains bleach, ammonia, alcohol, citrus juice, salt, detergent or turpentine.
Avoid wearing your jewelry while swimming, bathing of doing dishes. Prolonged or repeated soaking in water can loosen stones in their settings and various chemicals can damage porous stones like turquoise.
- Ultrasonic cleaners can cause damage.
Only very hard stones like diamonds can be cleaned using ultrasonic cleaners. Coral, Turquoise, Shells Opal, Lapis Lazuli and lots of other stones can be permanently altered.
- Store your jewelry in the proper manner.
Avoid storing your sterling silver in the open air. Air borne chemicals like sulfur gas (well and irrigation systems) can tarnish your silver. It is much better to store it in a jewelry box, safe, armoire or even a zip lock bag. Protect your jewelry when traveling by wrapping your pieces in tissue to help avoid scratches and fractures.
- Periodically check for loose stones or links and have them repaired as soon as possible.
With normal wear and tear, travel, and especially bending the jewelry can cause the stones to loosen over time. If a stone loosens in its setting you will need to tighten the bezel around the stone to prevent the loss of your precious gemstones. Sometimes you can tighten them yourself, if you use care. A bezel too is best but the back of a spoon or handle of a butter knife could work to run along the bezel edge to press it down on the gemstone and secure it again. Most bezel set stones have a layer of padding, often sawdust is used beneath the stone to cushion it. If this padding is missing or gets wet and compacted, the stone will lower in the setting. In this case, it is advisable to consult a local jeweler to re-set the stone and or tighten the bezel. If you notice a stone is missing, and you can find it, replacing it is and option, often we can help you with getting it replaced.
- Put your jewelry on last & take it off first.
Lotions, hairspray, perfume, makeup and even chlorinated water can all affect your jewelry. Ideally you should put your jewelry on after dressing and grooming. When you are in for the evening and ready to retire remove your jewelry before going to bed. It’s not a good idea to sleep with your chains or earrings on. Chains can tangle or kink and earring posts can bend or break.
- With a little care you can enjoy your jewelry for years to come.
Native American jewelry is a classic American art form that is not dependent upon trends and passing fads. A beautiful, handcrafted piece of sterling silver jewelry with genuine stones will hold its value and remain an important part of your jewelry wardrobe. Often these pieces are handed down from generation to generation and can often increase in value.
