Looking after jewellery is one of the things I am asked most often: how do I look after it and how do I clean it? Here are a few tips. If in doubt about cleaning a specific necklace, get in touch via the contact page.

• Put jewellery on last, after makeup, perfume, sunscreen, hair products and the like.
• Always wipe down jewellery after wearing with a damp cloth. This will help remove perspiration, body oils, creams and makeup that will accumulate on jewellery.
• Store your jewellery flat, preferably in the box it came in. Hanging jewellery or jewellery rolls etc are not kind to jewellery with stones and can scratch silver or damage the neckrings. If you are travelling, you can put three or four pieces, separated by tissues, in the same box. Pad the box out with more tissues to make sure they can’t move around too much.
• If the piece is all silver and has no patination, it can be dipped in a commercial silver cleaner such as Tarn-Off or Silver Dip. Always wash the piece first with warm water and hand soap to remove oils etc. This will allow the silver cleaner to work more effectively. Dip for about ten seconds and wash well in cold running water.
• A quick pick-me-up for a mixed silver and stones piece (including pearls, but NOT coral or turquoise) get an old soft toothbrush and some white toothpaste. Dip the piece in water and gently brush JUST the silver bits with toothpaste. Try not to get the toothpaste on the stones and wash well after cleaning. Almost no-one I know wants their necklace to smell of toothpaste.
• Silver neckrings are particularly susceptible to accumulations of makeup and grease. Undo the clasp and lay out flat on the draining board. Make a solution of hand soap and cloudy ammonia (don’t breather the fumes too much) and holding the chain firm, wipe it in one direction only, away from the end you are holding. The ammonia cuts through makeup and sunscreen etc really well. Swap ends and repeat.
• Rubber cord and some gemstones can be dipped in silver cleaner. The harder the gemstones, the less likelihood of damage. Contact us if you are not sure.
• Stones to never dip in silver cleaner include pearls, coral, amber, turquoise, lapis lazuli, jade (nephrite and jadeite).
• Pearls can be gently washed in warm (not hot) water and gently soap if they are really grubby, or better still take them to a jeweller to be professionally cleaned and re-strung
• Over the life of a piece of jewellery, sometimes strings break, threads give way and the piece comes apart. This can be caused by a rough spot on one of the stones, often inside the hole. Pick up all the pieces and take them to a reputable jeweller to be re-threaded or re-strung.

Repairs

If there has been a fault in manufacture, we will re-string at no charge. If a piece has been worn often and the string has broken (which can happen from time to time) we will have to charge a fee for re-stringing. Please contact us to discuss.

Please note that while we do offer repairs for our own pieces, we are unable to provide general repair services for any jewellery other than our own.