Jewelry Care
Please wear and treat your jewelry item as you would a fine watch. Put your jewelry on last. Exposing your jewelry to hair spray, cosmetics and perfumes can cause spots. In addition, jewelry should be removed before swimming (chlorine), showering, dish washing and handling bleaches, alcohols or cleansers. For safety reasons and to minimize scratching, jewelry should also be removed when participating in yard work, cleaning or sports activities.
The bright, shiny surface of sterling silver and other metals such as copper and gold-fill naturally darken over time and become less shiny. This happens because the metal undergoes a chemical reaction with substances in the air; the occasional use of a nonabrasive polishing cloth will remove all tarnish and rekindle the natural glow.You can also clean your jewelry in a basic solution of warm soapy water and dry with a soft cloth. The use of over-the-counter cleansers and chemical dips are not recommended as this may remove any oxidized (antiqued) finish from the metal. These dips can also create microscopic “pitting” or marks in your jewelry and are not safe for all stones or beads.Please store your jewelry in an airtight compartment or plastic bag to minimize tarnishing
The materials I use:
Gold filled is unlike gold-plate in that gold-fill is generally considered a lifetime product and will not tarnish or wear off like electroplated products will. It is made by using heat and pressure to apply a layer of karat gold to a base of less costly metal.
What's the difference between gold plate and gold fill?
Gold fill is 50 to 100,000 times thicker than regular gold plating, and about 17 to 25,000 times thicker than heavy gold electroplate.
Sterling silver sometimes stamped .925, is an alloy of at least 92.5% silver, and (usually) copper. It is a soft, easy to work with metal, which can be antiqued to a dark black or given a high polish.
Fine silver, sometimes stamped .999, is at least 99.9% silver, which means it is softer and more malleable than sterling.
Copper is a reddish-orange metal. Because it is soft, it is a nice metal to use for wire wrapping. However, it isn't very durable when made into lightweight charms and other findings. We now carry a small line of copper-plated findings and beads — inexpensive but fairly durable.
Brass is 70% copper and 30% zinc. Our red brass wire is 90% copper, and 10% zinc, which gives it a bit warmer color. “Nickel silver” contains no sterling silver, although it is silver in color. Our nickel silver wire is 65% copper, 18% nickel, and 17% zinc. Steel is an alloy of iron and other metals; the surgical stainless steel used in jewelry has approximately 8% nickel.
Pewter includes any of the numerous silver-gray alloys of tin with various amounts of antimony and copper.
Nickel silver is a metal alloy of Cooper with nickel and often but not always zinc. The usual formulation is 60% / 20% / 20% Copper / Nickel / Zinc. It is named for its silvery appearance, but contains no elemental silver. Other common name for this alloy is German silver.
Natural gemstones - A gemstone formed in nature, with no assistance from humans.
Laboratory grown gemstones are unlike most laboratory created gemstones in that the lab-grown stones are made from the exact same gemstone material that mother nature uses. Lab-grown gemstones are precision cut and calibrated from crystal clusters which are formed by the same complex, time-consuming process that duplicates the heat and pressurized conditions that cause crystals to form in nature. Laboratory grown gemstones are real stones and should not be confused with pressed glass or simulated/lab-created stones.
Dichroic glass is glass containing multiple micro-layers of metal oxides which give the glass dichroic optical properties.
Lampwork Beads - Lampworking is a type of glasswork that uses a gas fueled torch to melt rods and tubes of clear and colored glass. Once in a molten state, the glass is formed by blowing and shaping with a variety of tools and hand movements. It is also known as flameworking or torchworking, as the modern practice no longer uses oil-fueled lamps. Although the art form has been practiced since ancient times, it became widely practiced in Murano Italy in the 14th century.
