Bronze, White Bronze & Copper
Do not shower, swim, or handle chemicals while wearing your jewelry. Chemicals will wear away and damage materials used in the fabrication of your piece.
- Remove your jewelry before engaging in high impact activities, sports or heavy lifting.
- Put jewelry on after make-up, lotion and hairspray.
- Do not remove your jewelry by pulling on your gems.
- Never store your jewelry in piles, they will scratch each other.
Cleaning Bronze or Copper is pretty straightforward. First, use a jewelry polishing cloth to wipe your bronze jewelry. If your piece of jewelry has a patina, this is enough as further cleaning can remove the patina. If you would like a shiny finish, then apply some mild soap to the piece, and rub it to take out any dirt that has accumulated. After the item is cleaned, rinse it with water, and dry it using a towel.
Pure Silver Care
Do not shower, swim, or handle chemicals while wearing your jewelry. Chemicals will wear away and damage materials used in the fabrication of your piece.
- Remove your jewelry before engaging in high impact activities.
- Put jewelry on after make-up, lotion and hairspray.
- Do not remove your jewelry by pulling on your gems.
- Never store your jewelry in piles, they will scratch each other.
If your piece does not have any patina and it is all high shine silver, the safest method to clean most jewelry is with warm mildly soapy water and a soft brush. If your piece has a patina it will remove through regular cleaning and therefore should only be gently wiped clean with a dry soft cloth when necessary. Even wiping with too much pressure can remove the patina. Wearing a patina piece over various fabrics can wear the patina away on the back side. If your piece has a patina, but there are silver polished high spots, use a polishing cloth and gently wipe the silver parts of the piece careful not to remove the patina in the low areas.
Sterling Silver Care
Why is silver jewelry loosing it glow after some time?
Silver tends to tarnish after a long time and stones lose their shine with inappropriate use. Tarnishing occurs as a normal chemical reaction of silver metal with sulfur, which can be easily found in the air. Remember that jewelry is for decoration and should be treated like an exclusive item.
Wear your sterling silver jewelry as often as you can instead of putting it aside in jewelry boxes. If silver is constantly exposed to the skin's oil it helps to coat it and prevent your jewelry pieces from getting tarnished.
- Do not shower, swim, or handle chemicals while wearing your sterling silver jewelry. Chemicals will wear away and damage materials used in the fabrication of your piece. Be aware that some ingredients and chemicals commonly used in everyday household routine may considerably accelerate silver tarnishing.
- Put sterling silver jewelry on after make-up, lotion and hairspray. On the other hand please always take off your sterling silver jewelry first when you get home- it will help to protect it even better.
- Keep your sterling silver in an airtight container. Since the air speeds up the tarnishing your silver jewelry should be kept in an air-tight container instead of a regular jewelry box, especially if you do not wear them very often. A great and simple method is to just use a zip lock bag to store your silver jewelry - it really works! Just please make sure they are air-tight.
How to deal with it when it is too late?
Do not worry, fortunately tarnished sterling silver may be very easily cleaned. Always try to find a good silver cleaner. You have many great products available in most jewelry and pharmacy stores. Look for a silver cleaner that is gentle not only on the silver but on the gemstones as well.
Gemstone Handling and Care
Although gemstones are among the most durable of substances, they do need some care. Following a few general rules will make sure that they last for generations, still looking like the day you bought them.
First of all: keep them clean! Rings in particular tend to collect dust and soap behind the stone, particularly if you wear them all the time. To clean transparent crystalline gemstones, gently clean them in water with a touch of gentle soap. If necessary, use a soft toothbrush to scrub behind the stone. If the piece is pure silver and has a patina finish, be careful where you brush as not to brush the patina off while cleaning your stones.
Even the hardest gemstone variety can be vulnerable to breakage if it has inclusions that weaken the crystal structure. Exercise common sense: if you have a ring set with a softer gem variety or an included stone, take it off before strenuous exercise.
Think twice before putting gems in an ultrasonic cleaner. Diamonds, rubies and sapphires will be fine but many other gems may not be: when in doubt, leave it out.
All opaque gemstones (i.e. lapis lazuli, turquoise, malachite) require special care. Never use an ultrasonic cleaner and never use ammonia or any chemical solution. These gem materials should just be wiped clean gently with a moist cloth. These gemstones can be porous and may absorb chemicals, even soap, and they may build up inside the stone and discolor it.
The reason why these materials need more care than transparent gemstones is that these materials are essentially rocks, not crystals of a single mineral. Think about it: when you put a rock in water, it absorbs the water and becomes moist. A single crystal gem like sapphire will not absorb water: all the molecules are lined up so tightly in the crystal that there is no room for water to enter.
Opals also require special care. Never use an ultrasonic, never use ammonia, and avoid heat and strong light which can dry out the water in opals.
Organic gems like pearls, coral, and amber should only be wiped clean with a moist cloth. Due to their organic nature, these gems are both soft and porous. Be careful about chemicals in hairspray, cosmetics, or perfume: they can, over time, damage pearls in particular.
Store each piece of gemstone jewelry separately so that harder stones don't scratch softer ones. Almost every gemstone is much harder than the metal it is set in. Gems can scratch the finish on your gold, silver or platinum if you throw your jewelry in a heap in a drawer or jewelry box.
What Is PMC?
Precious Metal Clay (PMC) is a revolutionary material in the jewelry world developed by Mitsubishi Materials in the early 1990's. The ingredients of PMC are micro-particles of pure silver, copper or pure gold suspended in binder they call "clay." The binder consists of water and organic plant-based materials which feels like a soft clay to the touch. The binder or "clay" is inert and non-toxic in both its raw and fired form. The clay is pliable and similar to molding clay. PMC is can be worked with fingers and simple tools to create jewelry designs that would be unattainable or laborious with traditional techniques. The crafted piece is fired in a kiln where the binder burns away and the micro-fibers of metal fuse together leaving .999 pure silver jewelry. It is also available in Bronze, Copper, Steel and Sterling Silver.
What is Fine Silver?
It is 99.9% pure silver. This grade of silver is used to make bullion bars for international commodities trading. As the purity level increases, the problem of tarnishing or corrosion lessens. It is the copper filler in gold and sterling silver that causes the tarnishing. Fine silver is not very reactive. It does not react with oxygen or water at ordinary temperatures so it does not easily form a silver oxide or tarnish.
What is Copper?
Copper is a reddish brown nonferrous mineral which has been used for thousands of years by many cultures. The metal is closely related with silver and gold, with many properties being shared among these metals. Jewelry has been made from copper for thousands of years and is thought to be the earliest metal man used to make jewelry.
What is Bronze?
Bronze smiths make bronze by melting two different and metals mixing them. The two metals are copper and tin. White Bronze looks looks like silver because aluminum or zinc is added to the mix.