SILVER CARE

Maintaining the original look of your silver jewellery is very important.

Here are a few tips on how to maintain your silver jewellery in top condition:

* Never dip any silver jewellery in a commercial cleaning solutions for any cleaning, even if the manufacturer advertises that it was made for silver jewellery.

'Dip' cleaners (solutions) will work OK for the first few times, but after that there seems to be some weird chemical change and the metal gets funny marks on it that are hard to remove. Also, any porus or organic stones (like turquoise, lapis, malachite, coral, pearls, amber etc.) will be damaged forever. Commercial cleaners actually leave pits and holes in your stones.

* Never clean silver jewellery with toothpaste and a toothbrush.....no matter how 'soft' the brush is - you will be scratching the silver.

* The one and ONLY way to clean silver jewellery is with a professional cloth. The cloth is treated with cleaning chemicals and not only will it last for a long time, but it will give you an amazing shine each and ever time.

* If your jewellery is really dirty or has minor scratches, you can use a general metal cleaner in a paste form. Please ensure the cleaner is suitable for 925 sterling silver.

* Buffing is also an option, and should always be followed with an ultrasonic dip wash and final dip in tap water. Remember: ultrasonic dip cleaning by itself will not do much unless the jewellery was buffed before.

* Sand blasted or Satin finished silver jewellery, which is not plated with E-Coat, will oxidize extremely fast and you'll find it doesn't clean very will by normal means.

These products can be cleaned with a pencil eraser....yes, pencil eraser. Just make sure the eraser is soft. After cleaning the item with an eraser the product should be fine and no extra steps are necessary, so don't go over it with a cloth or paste.

ABOUT TARNISH

Tarnish is caused by the interaction of the alloys used to strengthen the metal with varous chemicals either in the air or from direct human contact.

Some people have acid skin and sliver will darken or have funny chemical reactions no matter what they do. Those people can try painting the inside of a ring or the backside of the pendant with a coat of clear nail polish, which can be removed and renewed as needed. This is good for allergies, too.