Caring For Your Jewelry

How to Care for Your Personalized Sterling Silver Jewelry and More

Facts about Sterling Silver

All Sterling Silver is made up of 92.5% silver, the other 7.5% is made up of copper. Copper is added to silver to give it durability. The copper content is what causes silver to tarnish. Fine silver (our .999% fine silver) is pure silver and will not tarnish like sterling silver. It will dull over time as it gets dirty, but can be cleaned and shined. Sterling silver will tarnish. This is not a defect but the result of a natural chemical process that occurs when sterling silver is exposed to chemicals in the air. Other common tarnish causing elements are wool, rubber bands and latex gloves. Humid environments will accelerate tarnishing as well.

How You Should Care for Your Sterling Silver

The easiest way to keep your sterling silver looking great is preventative maintenance. Avoid exposing your sterling silver jewelry to harsh chemicals such as chlorine, cosmetics, hair spray, and perfume. Keep with non-tarnish paper or in sealed polyethylene/zip lock bags when not being worn. Washing your jewelry periodically with mild dish soap and warm water is a quick and easy way to prevent tarnishing. Be sure to rinse well and dry completely with a soft cloth before storing. Use of a polishing cloth, such as the Sunshine Polishing Cloth, makes cleaning your sterling quick and easy. Frequent light polishing with one of these cloths will also help minimize tarnish. Tarnish is easily removed when first noticed (generally a yellowish tint) but will become more difficult to remove as it turns brown and eventually black-requiring professional cleaning and/or harsher chemicals that can harm the jewelry. We do not recommend you use tarnish-removing dips. Using these may remove the tarnish that gives your piece its look. Never use silver cleaners on pearls or semi-precious stones because they can ruin the stone. If you want to maintain the life of your jewelry do not wear while swimming, bathing, doing dishes or cleaning. Do not expose your bracelet to bleach, chlorine or extended time in water, as this can weaken the strength of your bracelet.

All of our Sterling Silver pieces are made out of the finest quality, .925 or .999 Silver(our pure silver is identified as such in our item descriptions). Please remember that buffing your personalized jewelry can cause your monogram to be damaged so light polishing around the monogram is always recommended. Should you incur scratch damage to your jewelry around your monogram, please consult a jeweler for repair.

Cleaning Sterling Silver Plated Jewelry

We offer a small collection of silver plated jewelry (see "Silver Plated Jewelry" in the left hand navigation column). To remove tarnish from silver plate, use the same techniques or solutions that you would with solid sterling silver items. However use the least amount of polishing (or shortest exposure time needed to liquid dips) as necessary because any process that removes tarnish also removes minute amounts of silver on the surface. Over time the plate will eventually wear, some plates are thicker than others so a heavy plate, such as the jewelry we offer, will most likely last a lifetime with proper care. Our best advice though to extend the life of a plated item is to use techniques that minimize or slow down the build up or exposure to tarnish in between wearing. The less you have to polish the longer life your item will have. Store in plastic air tight zip lock bags with anti tarnish paper, anti-tarnish cloth jewelry bags, or at least in an air tight, low humidity environment.

Cleaning Brass and Copper Jewelry

Brass and copper components will patina over time. This is a natural occurrence. However, copper and brass are very simple to care for. While they do tarnish more quickly than sterling silver, they can be restored to their original shine easily. Methods for cleaning and shining copper and brass jewelry are: Commercial copper/brass cleaner. Be sure that any stones in the jewelry can withstand the chemicals in the cleaner or do not use it. Worcestershire sauce does a great job of cleaning copper and brass jewelry. This method should not be used with gemstones or pearls that cannot be cleaned with chemical cleaners, as the acid in the sauce may affect more delicate stones. The acid in the tomato of the ketchup shines up copper and brass quite nicely. This method can be messier than the Worcestershire. Apply it with a toothbrush or soft cloth, then rinse thoroughly. Avoid getting ketchup on the same types of stones as should not be used with chemical cleaners. As with sterling silver, copper and brass jewelry will tarnish more slowly if stored in an airtight zip lock plastic bag or jewelry case with anti-tarnish paper.