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Jewellery Care

Jewellery Care

Keeping your pieces looking their best

JEWELLERY CARE

Caring for your jewellery is an important part of keeping it looking stunning for years to come. How you store, care for and wear your jewllery can have a big impact on it’s appearance and durability. Here is our ultimate guide to keeping your jewellery gleaming and protected.

KEEPING YOUR JEWELLERY SAFELY STORED

The most effective way to protect and preserve your jewellery is to make sure that you are storing it in the best way possible. All precious metals over time can be effected by natural elements such as moisture, oils and air. This is from the metal reacting with such elements as sulphur or water particles in the air and tarnishing is the product of this reaction. Whilst some metals are more resistant to tarnishing, eventually all metals can be effected but by reducing the contact your jewellery has with the elements you can greatly delay the effects of tarnishing and the need to clean the jewellery.

So we recommend that you store each piece of Sarah Alexander jewellery in the pouch provided and keep within the original box. For added protection from air particularly if you live in a humid climate you can keep the piece between wearing in the original plastic bag inside the pouch as this will delay reactions with the air.

Try to avoid at all costs storing jewellery mixed together in a box as that can cause scratching of the plating, dulling of a high shine finish and can cause chains to tangle together. When traveling avoid the temptation to mix items together in a travel bag or case, instead pack the individual pieces each in their pouches to avoid damage and items knocking together in transit.

AVOID THE RISKS TO YOUR JEWELLERY

There are pitfalls to avoid in everyday life to maintain your jewellery in perfect condition :

* There are many substances we come into contact with everyday that can be detrimental to your jewellery so avoid wearing your jewellery when coming into contact with cleaning products or any other chemicals.

* Take care to remove jewellery when you shower or bathe as shower gels, oils and even plain water can effect the metals.

* Don’t swim in the sea or a pool whilst wearing the jewellery as Chlorine and other substances can cause tarnishing.

* Put on your jewllery last after any hairspray or hair products and make sure any lotions, suncream or perfume has dried before wearing as these can be the most damaging substances to the metal.

* Be mindful when wearing your rings and bracelets, these suffer more natural wear and tear than other jewellery pieces as we use our arms and hands for most of our everyday life. Try to avoid scratches and wear to the plating by
avoiding wear of these items during times of physical work such as going to the gym, sports, crafting, DIY etc…. Try to mix up what you wear of these items rather than wearing the same one everyday to extend the life of the plating.

CLEANING YOUR JEWELLERY

Even with the best possible care and storage your jewellery may benefit from cleaning once in a while to look its most sparkling. To remove the natural build up of dirt particles and any tarnish follow the below guidelines as there are individual ways to clean depending on the jewellery peice.

CLEANING METAL ONLY JEWELLERY

* Matt or brush finished jewellery is more prone to tarnishing and needs the most upkeep. This is because to keep the brushed, non shiny finish we can’t apply a protective non tarnish layer. If kept within the protective packaging though even this finish of metal should only need cleaning once every year or so.

* High shine jewellery has a protective layer but may still need cleaning from time to time if not keep away from moisture in the air or other harmful substances.

The gentlest way to clean either of the above is with a jewellery polishing cloth. Having tested many on the market we recommend “Town Talk” products as the very best.

For light cleaning use their Microfibre Polishing cloth as this does not contain any chemicals, and light brushing back and forth (not in circles) will make your jewllery shine.

To remove dirt particles or tarnishing we recommend Town Talk Silver Polish cloths. Rub very gently to restore your jewellery to its original condition (do not rub harder than neccessary as this can be harsh on the plating). We found with testing and communication with the manufacturers that the Silver Polishing cloth is the gentlest to use – it has the least strong chemicals compared with the Gold Polishing cloth and can safely be used on Gold and Rose Gold Jewellery to remove tarnishing whilst being gentle on the plating layer.

To restore any jewellery with heavy dirt particles or any dark tarnishing we recommend a deep clean. This should only be done every few years but the results are amazing. This can be done using a Silver Dip such as Goddards or Jonelle. The item should be dipped for only a few seconds before rinsing with clear water and delicately drying with a soft cloth. This instantly dissolves tarnish and dirt, leaving the jewellery brilliantly clean. This is demonstrated in the video at the top of this page.

CLEANING JEWELLERY SET WITH GEMSTONES

Be careful when cleaning your jewellery featuring gemstones as these can be adversely affected by chemicals in polishing cloths. Try to clean your pieces using a cloth without any chemicals added such as the Town Talk Microfibre cloth, or their Diamond Polishing cloth as this is also suitable for gemstones as well as diamonds. Do not dip any jewllery with gemstones or pearls. For items where the metal part needs a deeper clean than the gemstone use a Silver Polishing cloth but be sure for this to only come into contact with the metal parts and to not have any prologned contact with the gemstones.

CLEANING JEWELLERY SET WITH ZIRCONIA CRYSTALS

To make your jewellery featuring Zirconia Crystal look like new either follow the above steps as with Gemstone jewellery, or rinse briefly in a solution of water and a small amount of detergent (such as a mild dishwashing liquid) – be careful to dry gently with a soft cloth for a renewed brilliance to the sparkle of the crystals.

We don’t recommend using a sonic cleaner for any plated jewllery as this can shorten the longevity of the plating.