CARING FOR YOUR JEWELLERY

Home / CARING FOR YOUR JEWELLERY

CARING FOR YOUR JEWELLERY
Proper care and handling of your Jewellery can help it maintain its beauty and sparkle for years to come.

CLEANING

FROSTED JEWELLERY AND OXIDISED RINGS/JEWELLERY WITH GOLD SURFACE FROSTING

Use hot water, dish detergent and a soft toothbrush.
You can place the dish detergent straight onto your piece of jewellery.
Scrub the surface of your jewellery on a circular motion with the hot soapy water until clean and rinse off in hot water. 
Pat dry with a soft cloth or tea towel, do not buff as your cloth might catch in the frosting leaving little tufts of cotton on your jewellery.

POLISHED SURFACES
Gold and silver can be easily polished as follows:

Polished surfaces in silver and gold are best cleaned with Silver Polish and a Silver Cloth, available in many leading supermarkets (look out for the blue bottles).  Follow the instructions on the bottle. 

After polishing, any remaining pink residue can be rinsed off in warm water and dried with a clean dry part of the cloth.

MATT AND POLISHED COMBINATION SURFACES

If possible, remove the cable from the pendant.  

For silver and gold surfaces, apply the silver cleaner and use a soft toothbrush to work the silver cleaning solution.  Work it in small circular motions over the silver/gold surfaces and leave for a couple of minutes before rinsing in warm water.

If your jewellery is badly tarnished you may need to repeat this process several times.

Avoid buffing any matt surfaces with a polishing cloth, simply pat your jewellery dry with a soft cloth.

You can re matt any marked matt surfaces by using Scotchbrite, washing up liquid and water.  Best to come to me for instructions on how to do this, I’ll be happy to show you.

CABLES

Cables in silver and gold can be cleaned with silver polish and a a silver cleaning cloth

If possible, remove the cable from the pendant.  Do the cable up.  Pour some silver polish onto the cloth and place any part of the cable onto the polish.  Grip the cable between the polish and cloth and gently pull the cable through the polish completing a couple of revolutions of the cable.

The cable and polish will blacken, when this happens, use a clean part of the cloth and more polish and repeat process.  Wipe off by pulling the cable through a clean dry part of the cloth. Any cleaning fluid residue can be rinsed under warm water then dry the metal on a clean dry part of the cloth

*It is important to pull the cable through the cloth as pushing the cable can kink the cable.  It is important never to fold or severely bend a cable as this could also form a kink. If this kink is severe it can be difficult to remove or permanent.  

MATT SURFACES

If possible, remove the cable from the pendant.  Matt surfaces in silver or gold can be cleaned with a wet “Scotchbrite” (available in the cleaning section of most supermarkets).  Pour some washing up liquid onto the wet Scotchbrite, this works as a lubricant, so don’t skip this stage.  Rub the Scotchbrite over the metal making sure you follow the direction of the grain; The original matt surface will either have lines that flow in one direction “the grain” or have an all over random matt finish.  The all over matt finish is cleaned using small circular motions with the wet Scotchbrite applied to the metal surface.  

*Please note it is important to make sure you avoid any polished surfaces, including your cables, or they will also become matt.  If this does happen you can return your jewellery to Jeanette Dyke and for a small fee, I will re-polish your jewellery.

BLACK “OXIDISED” SILVER

Oxidised silver is a thin film of oxidation that is covering the surface of the silver.  It is best to avoid polishing altogether as you might wear away the surface coating. If you really must clean your oxidized jewellery, simply immerse in warm soapy water, gently rub with your fingers to remove any dirt, rinse and pat dry with a soft clean cloth.

*When you aren’t wearing your oxidized jewellery place it “face up” into the box it came in.  

Please avoid wearing oxidized jewellery near other metal objects i.e. 2 pendants together or next to zips, as this will scratch the surface.  Scratched surfaces will show as silver. 

All silver oxidises naturally, first turning brown then black and that’s why we polish our white silver.

If scratches do happen to occur in your oxidised jewellery, that you can’t live with, please return your jewellery directly to Jeanette Dyke and for a small fee I will happily re surface the piece so it looks like new.

GENERAL INFORMATION

For convenience silver cleaning cloths can be washed in the washing machine and re used.  They often come impregnated with a solution, but if you are using the cloth with silver polish, you don’t need the impregnated solution.

I recommend that if you want to keep your jewellery in mint condition when not wearing your jewellery always place it “face up” in the box it came in.

Avoid wearing your jewellery in the following places/situations:

Over time silver will naturally turn a dull brown colour if it’s not cleaned. This happens because of the pollutants in the air and chemicals it comes in contact with.  Cleaning these days is easy and only takes a few minutes. Simply follow the instructions provided to keep your jewellery looking like new.  If you take care of your jewellery it will remain in good condition for many years.

As with all rings, they will scratch and dent over time. I find that these naturally occurring marks make subtle changes overtime that the wearer enjoys. However do avoid heavy dents and scratches by not wearing them during harsh manual work such as gardening, DIY and sporting activities.

I hope you enjoy owning and wearing your piece of Jeanette Dyke Jewellery for many years to come.  If you have any questions or concerns about cleaning your piece of Jeanette Dyke Jewellery, please send me an email at info@jeanettedyke.com