Sea Surf Rock’s TOP TIPS on keeping your jewellery looking it’s best!
To start, the basics in caring for all your Jewellery
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Prevention is better than cure, when you’re not wearing your jewellery, to keep the metals and gemstones from scratching or tarnishing it’s best to store your jewellery in individual boxes or soft pouches (try not to use tissue as it can scratch your metal) and keep these in a cool, dry place. Warm damp environments will speed up the tarnishing process.
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It’s best to avoid wearing your jewellery when swimming, chlorinated and salt water can sometimes damage the surface of your metal.
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Remove your jewellery when cleaning and avoid contact between your jewellery and domestic cleaning products, they can react with the metal turning it black.
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Lastly, some everyday items can be the worst for causing your sparkly silver jewellery to tarnish, avoid close encounters with things like perfume, hairspray and sunscreen, and even be careful when handling foods including onion, egg yolk, mustard, salt, vinegar, salad dressings and olives, the naturally occurring sulphurs can do the dirty on your rings!
Keep your Silver Sparkling
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The best way to keep your silver sparkling is to wear it! Wearing your silver gems will keep them polished and stop them from oxidising as quickly.
Invest in a silver polishing cloth, a quick buff and they’ll be back bright as new.
So now you know how to prevent it you might want to know what tarnish is?
It’s most likely to happen to your sterling silver jewellery, although it can happen to some golds too. Exposure to different gases in the air causes a reaction with the copper content in the 925 sterling silver.
Sterling silver is made up from 92.5% silver and the remaining 7.5% can vary between a mix of alloys (other metals). Pure silver is quite a soft metal so by mixing it with the copper it creates a much more durable and harder wearing metal ideal for jewellery that needs to keep up with everyday wear.
Very rarely the pH levels of your skin may affect the tarnish rate of your jewellery; it’s been noted that this affects about 2-3% of people and when the silver makes contact with their skin it can cause it to leave a black or green mark (which is often associated with plated jewellery). I can assure you that all Sea Surf Rocks silver jewellery is made from solid 925 sterling silver, never silver plated.
Yellow & Rose Gold Care
Yellow and rose gold should be kept in separate boxes or soft pouches to keep it from scratching. Avoid contact with soap, as it can give gold jewellery a dull appearance. This can be easily rectified by polishing with a specialist jewellery cloth or dip.
Looking after your gemstones
Different gemstones have varying properties, some are more resilient than others.
Opals, turquoise and pearls are all on the softer side so extra care should be taken to avoid damaging them by knocking them or exposing them to moisture for prolonged periods.
At sea surf rocks we use a few varieties of opal, Australian, Ethiopian (welo) & Peruvian. Ethiopian is the most porous of these and exposure to moisture should be avoided to maintain the bright coloured fire in the opal. If you do accidently get your welo opal wet , don’t fear too much, if you dry them out in a mild dry place or in a container of rice the colour should reappear. But to be on the safe side we always recommend removing items with these stones before bathing, swimming or showering.
Now you know how to keep your jewellery looking tip top you can enjoy wearing it!
