JEWELRY CARE

Jewelry is meant to be worn. Don’t keep it in your jewelry box, shy and hidding, as that is just not what it was made for.

However, skin oils, chemicals, cosmetics or moisture in the air can all build up on the surface of your jewelry over time, dull the appearance or increase tarnish.

Specially nowdays, when our hygene is at it’s highest level, pay more attention to when it is ok to leave them on or when better to remove. For instance:

You might want to remove your rings as a safety measure while washing your hands. Water, soaps, sanitizers and hand creams all contain substances that might hurt the jewelry eventually. If you can, do remember to take off your jewelry first and put them back on when your hands are completely dry.

Perfumes contain a mixture of ingrediencies that are a no-no for jewelry. Just as you would not put your lipstick on first and then wash your teeth second, try to learn to first spray on a perfume and then accessorize.

Both alchohol based and non-alchohol based, include other ingridiences that aren’t best friends with silver. Your rings will not disolve into nothing but they might tarnish sooner. However, I agree, it is almost impossible to remove your rings everytime you enter a store or a closed up space so make sure you follow the simple home cleaning proceedure of your pieces often. It’s a good idea to sanitize the ring on your hand as well, since they also get dirty. Health first, remember?

Just don’t shower with your jewelry. If you bothered taking off your clothes, take off your jewelry pieces as well. Try storing them in a dry place or protect them by wrapping them in a cloth, so they are not affected by moisture and steam in your bathroom.

Take your jewelry off before you are in contact with hair color. Components might damage your jewelry surface.

They all stain and damage the surface of your jewelry. Not to mention, it is easy to loose your jewelry pieces while swimming. Sunscreens will make a mess of your shiny pieces too, so put your sunscreen on first, let dry and after that, put on your jewelry.

Here are a few cleaning tips you can follow at home.

You can do this part easily and often, without any special tools. You will need 4 things:

1. a soft brush (perhaps an old toothbrush),
2. warm water, running or still
3. soup or detergent (but avoid belach by any means) and a
4. soft cloth, perhaps an old cotton T-shirt.

Grab your piece in one hand and scrub it after dipping it in warm water and adding soup. Scrub as long as you feel comfortable, be nice and gentle since you are removing dirt from the surface and what ever is stuck in those little cracks and do not need too much force. Also, too much harsh scrubbing can leave marks on flat or polished surfaces.

When you are done just splash under warm water and rinse off thoroughly until dry. That’s it, you’re jewelry is now dirt and germ free.

If your jewlery piece is a polished silver finish (not matt), and has many flat polished surfaces, then consider leaving it in a jewelry bath first, so scrubbing is to a minimum. If you do not have a brush soft enough, invest in jewelry cleaning cloth.

To add additional shine to silver pieces, specially the ones with a lot of organic details, the best thing is to scrub it under warm water by using a bras brush. Add some soap to decrease fraction and desolve grease. Make sure bristles are really bras, since it is soft enough not to damage your shape, but hard enough to give your piece that additional shine.

NOTE: flat surfaces (Birds collection for example) might leave matt scratched surface.

WARNING: if your piece has been oxydized in order to achieve a black finish, scrubbing with bras brush will slightly clean off the black finish as well. If you don’t want that, give your piece a quick scrub with soft toothbrush instead.

Bras brushes are usually sold in almost every tool store and are fairly inexpensive. The one in the video costs 3 EUR in retail.

When you have more time or try to clean jewelry that has been left neglected for a longer period, dip your pieces into a lovely bath. You shall need:

1. A small bowl
2. Aluminum foil
3. Warm water
4. Soda bicarbona and detergent
5. A soft brush (perhaps an old toothbrush)
6. Soft cloth or an old cotton T-shit to rins off moisture

Place aluminimum foil on the bottom of the bowl, add warm water and normal soap detergent. Rubbin alcohol (or isopropyl alcohol) will also work well, or soda bicarbona. Place your pieces in a bath, make sure they are fully submerged in water and the bottom is touching aluminium foil.

Leave in place for an hour or two. After, scrub with a soft brush or a soft cloth, rinse clean and dry completely.

(avoid any kind of bleach)

Cleaning a chain is similar to ”quick scrub” and ”adding shine”. Pay attention to the fact that chains can get stuck easily and therefore break. Wrap the chain around your fingers, as shown in the video, so that it stays still while scrubbing. Usually scrubbing it with a bras brush works best and gives the fastest result. But be extremely carefull and gentle, specially when dealing with thinner chain.

You are welcome to store your jewelry pieces in handmade soft pouches Sanda Vidmar Jewelry is delivered in. They are optimized for keeping your jewelry safe and clean. Still, keep your jewelry in a dry and closed up space, to avoid tarnishing faster. There are many cute and lovely hanging accessories available out there, but I wouldn’t recommend anything that leaves your pieces exposed to air, humidity, chemicals or polution.