Jewelry Care
The advantage of silver, brass, and copper jewelry is that it is less expensive than gold, but such pieces can tarnish more than high karat gold jewelry. With most metals, natural discoloration is unavoidable. However, there are some ways to make sure that your jewelry keeps its luster longer.
tips to prevent tarnish
- Store each piece of jewelry in its own anti-tarnish bag, soft pouch, or box. Avoid having your pieces touch to prevent rubbing, chipping, and flaking.
- If using an anti-tarnish bag (specifically good for sterling silver), you can place a small piece of chalk in the anti-tarnish bag help absorb any additional moisture.
- Put jewelry on after spraying perfume to prevent your fragrance from landing on your jewelry.
- Wear your jewelry! Due to friction, wearing your sterling silver jewelry slows down tarnishing, which means the more you wear it, the more it'll shine.
- Never use harsh chemicals to clean your jewelry. Instead, opt for gold-plated jewelry cleaner or mild dishwashing liquid and soft microfiber cloths.
sterling silver
Polishing Cloth
Sometimes, all you need is a jewelry cleaning cloth to clean and polish your silver.
If your sterling silver jewelry is significantly tarnished, you can give it a bath!
what you need
- Get an aluminum tray or line a glass bowl with aluminum foil.
- 1 cup very hot water
- 1 Tablespoon baking soda
- 1 Tablespoon Sea salt
- ½ cup white vinegar (optional, but will speed up the process if your silver is highly tarnished)
- Tongs (to remove silverware from hot water)
- Polishing rag
how
- In the tray or foil lined bowl, combine the salt and baking soda, slowly pour the vinegar (optional). This will cause a slight bubbling reaction.
- Add the hot water
- Add your jewelry, try not to let pieces overlap. Let the jewelry soak for approximately 30 seconds. If your piece is heavily tarnished, you may need to let the jewelry soak for a couple minutes.
- Remove jewelry with your tongs, rinse under cool water.
- Use your silver jewelry cleaning cloth to polish your jewelry.
NOTE: using baking soda to clean silver jewelry containing diamonds, pearls, rubies, or other delicate gems will cause damage. Only use this method to clean plain sterling silver jewelry.Alternative bath soak:Soak silver jewelry for a couple hours in a mixture of 1 cup white vinegar and 3 Tablespoons baking soda. Rinse well with cool water. Buff dry with a soft cloth.
important note
Using baking soda to clean silver jewelry containing diamonds, pearls, rubies, or other delicate gems will cause damage. Only use this method to clean plain sterling silver jewelry.
alternative bath soak
Soak silver jewelry for a couple hours in a mixture of 1 cup white vinegar and 3 Tablespoons baking soda. Rinse well with cool water. Buff dry with a soft cloth.
brass or copper jewelry
Use a mild soap or dishwashing detergent and hot (not boiling) water to clean up tarnished brass or copper jewelry. Immediately dry your jewelry to prevent water marks.
for heavily tarnished brass or copper
- Sprinkle some salt on a lemon half. Gently rub the salted lemon in the direction of the grain in your brass or copper jewelry.
- If necessary, use a soft toothbrush to get into small places of the jewelry.
- Rinse all lemon and salt residue off using hot water.
- Dry immediately and thoroughly.
gold jewelry
Pure gold doesn’t tarnish. However, a lot of gold jewelry is mixed with other base metals to add strength and make gold jewelry more affordable. The base metals are what react to oxygen and chemicals and lead to tarnishing in lower karat gold jewelry. As such, you will 14-karat gold jewelry and higher will see very little tarnishing, if at all. Gold jewelry below 14-karat have less pure gold and will likely tarnish over time. Alternatively, 18-karat gold will take a long time to tarnish because of a higher gold content. As the karat goes up, the base metals go down meaning the jewelry is less likely to tarnish.
when cleaning is necessary
To remove any tarnishing, use a small amount of dishwashing liquid (make sure it does not contain phosphate) and warm water. Gently wipe away any tarnish with your fingers or cotton swaps. Never use baking soda or toothpaste as that can scratch your gold jewelry. Use a 100% cotton rag to dry your jewelry or let it air dry.
gold-plated
gold-plated
gold-plated
Gold-plated jewelry is typically made by dipping a base material into a solution that contains gold or a gold-colored alloy then zapped with a current to deposit the gold onto the base material. This layer of gold could be very thin and there are no industry standards regarding gold-plated jewelry.
gold-filled
gold-plated
gold-plated
Gold-filled jewelry follows industry standards that requires a 5% minimum of gold by weight. Typically, gold-filled jewelry is also made with higher-quality base metals that are less likely to tarnish or cause allergic reactions for sensitive people. Gold-filled jewelry is a wonderful alternative to "solid" gold.
If you have questions about gold-plated versus gold-filled jewelry, please contact me.
If you have questions about gold-plated versus gold-filled jewelry, please contact me.
If you have questions about gold-plated versus gold-filled jewelry, please contact me.
If you have questions about gold-plated versus gold-filled jewelry, please contact me.
If you have questions about gold-plated versus gold-filled jewelry, please contact me.
If you have questions about gold-plated versus gold-filled jewelry, please contact me.
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