How to maintain your jewelry?

A jewel that accompanies you on a daily or occasional basis finds itself stressed by hard objects, cosmetic products, cleaning products, and many more. This is why your jewelry ends up tarnishing, the metal no longer shines or has darkened, the stones no longer sparkle. But there are always solutions to give them a second life.

As said before, you should avoid wearing your jewelry as much as possible when:

  • You clean up
  • Use household products, e.g. bleach blackens silver jewelry.
  • You take a shower or when you put on makeup, the powders tend to settle under your stones and become dull.
  • You practice a physical activity, the sweat can damage certain stones, and blacken the silver. If you practice combat sports, your jewelry may be deformed by shocks.

If your jewelry is dull

Silver and platinum jewellery, which is more malleable than 750/1000 gold, will tend to tarnish more quickly if you wear it daily from shocks with coins, mobile phones, keys or any other everyday hard objects will create micro shocks that will give your jewelry a dull surface.

For this you can:

  • Toothpaste + Toothbrush:Take a soft-bristled toothbrush with toothpaste. Simply rub your jewel in circular motions and rinse it with clean water. To dry it you can use a handkerchief or chamois.
  • Silverware Products: you have good products in drugstores to polish silverware that can work well on jewelry. Be careful if you have fragile stones not to rub them too much with this type of product and read the instructions carefully before use.

If your silver jewelry turns black

Today we use plating techniques that allow your silver jewelry to keep its whiteness for a long time. But worn on a daily basis, this plating will tend to disappear and your jewelry may darken.

Silver jewelry tends to blacken in the ambient air. But you should know that jewelry does not oxidize, it is not a reaction with oxygen but with the hydrogen sulphide present in small quantities in the ambient air. The chemical reaction that occurs is a sulphidation of the silver and not an oxidation.

Cleaning products, in particular bleach through a chemical reaction between silver and chlorine, will sometimes cause your jewelry to darken. The same thing can happen with your silver jewelry when you go to the swimming pool which often has water containing chlorine.

For this there are 2 rather effective ways to restore their white appearance:

  • Detergent + water : You can clean your silver jewelry by putting it in a pot with water and lye. There must be enough water to cover the jewelry. Bring to a boil and wait for the solution to cool. Once cool, simply brush your jewelry with a soft-bristled toothbrush and rinse.
  • Aluminium foil + baking soda: Simply place your jewelry in a bowl on a sheet of aluminum foil and cover it with baking soda. Then pour boiling water over the jewelry and close the sheet of aluminum foil (as if you were making a papillote). Once cooled open the sheet of aluminum foil and your jewelry will have regained a white appearance.All you have to do is rinse them with clear water and dry them with a tissue or chamois

If your stones no longer sparkle

If the stones that adorn your jewelry are dull, it is certainly that the underside of the stones is clogged with a deposit of cosmetic products.

We offer 2 solutions to restore their shine:

  • Liquid soap + toothbrush: the easiest way is to take a brush with soft bristles, prepare a solution with hot water (but bearable to be able to put the hands in it) and washing-up liquid. Immerse your jewelry in it and clean the underside of your stones using the soft-bristled toothbrush. Once the operation has been completed, rinse your jewelry with clean water and dry it with a tissue or chamois leather.
  • Ultrasonic baths: you can find small ultrasonic baths on the internet that can effectively clean your jewelry. For around fifty euros you will start to find effective ultrasounds for home use. The little trick is to use hot water (which remains bearable on the skin) with a little washing-up liquid.

GOOD TO KNOW

  • To ensure that your jewelry retains its original shine for the longest time, avoid storing it together. Otherwise the friction of the jewels between them may scratch them and, more annoying, the fragile stones may become scratched or even break
  • Try to maintain your jewelry regularly, every 2 to 3 months for example. It will also allow you to check if a stone is not moving, if the jewel is not deformed, in short if your jewel is in great shape!
  • The cleaning methods mentioned in this guide, which use boiling water, are to be avoided for jewelery set with stones or adorned with pearls.
  • We use a simple technique in the workshop to prevent the jewelry from having white marks. Once cleaned and rinsed with clear water, just rinse your jewelry one last time in demineralised water. It is a water that does not contain limestone, responsible for these white spots. Once rinsed you can wrap them in a paper towel and dry them with a hair dryer. Once the handkerchief is dry the jewelry will be dry and free of limescale
  • If you don't have a chamois, you can use the dry cloths used to clean your glasses. Very soft to avoid scratching the glasses they will be just as soft not to scratch your jewelry!
.