Jewelry can be beautiful to look at, fun to buy, and can make bold and revealing statements about you. Hear are some tips for greater enjoyment of your favorite gold and silver jewelry.
1. Never swim in a chlorinated pool while wearing gold and silver jewelry.
2. Always apply make-up, perfumes, oils or colognes before you put on your gold and silver jewelry
3. Keep both your skin and your gold and silver jewelry clean and free of oil.
4. Using an absorbent, abrasive-free body powder on areas that your gold and silver jewelry touches your skin can help with skin discoloration.
5. If you do have any skin discoloration you may need to move to a higher gold content. Say, from 14K gold jewelry to 18K jewelry.
6. Are your gold and silver chains all tied-up in knots? If so, here’s a nifty little trick for straightening them out. Dust your chain with a little talcum powder and then try to unknot it. If the knot is stubborn, place a small drop of baby oil on a sheet of wax paper. Lay the knot in the oil and work it out with two pins; then clean the chain as instructed below.
7. Don’t be afraid to wear gold and silver jewelry together. Artful use of accessories that use both metals provide an effective visual segue’ or bridge.
8. For daily cleaning it is recommended to use a simple jewelry polishing cloth that is impregnated with special jewelry cleaner. These are widely available and are very easy to use. Store your cloth in a plastic zip-lock bag, and keep in your jewelry drawer or armoire. It is a good idea to have one cleaning cloth for gold and one for silver.
9. For a Super Spring Cleaning of your gold and silver jewelry, mix 1cup of clean warm water with ½ cup of ammonia. Soak your jewelry in this solution for about 15 minutes; gently scrub with a soft, clean toothbrush, then rinse in warm water. Air dry on an absorbent paper towel. When thoroughly dry, you may lightly buff with a soft flannel cloth.
10. If a ring gets stuck on your finger; spray the area surrounding the ring with Windex. Wiggle and twist the ring right off.
11. For a slightly more “in depth” cleaning you may want to use a liquid jewelry cleaner.
12. For cleaning badly tarnished silver, here’s a neat little trick.
A. Cover the inside bottom of a heat-proof glass dish on bowl with a piece of aluminum foil, shiny side up.
B. Place the tarnished silver in the bottom of the dish, contacting the aluminum foil.
C. Add 1 heaping tablespoon of baking soda, and then slowly pour boiling water to cover the piece. The tarnish will gradually collect on the aluminum foil.
D. Remove your silver, rinse thoroughly, and polish.
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Feb
Caring For Your Gold Jewellery
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Gold Jewellery – Care Advice
So you’ve been given a beautiful piece of gold jewellery? Here’s how to look after it properly.
Gold is the softest of the precious metals. In fact the greater the purity, the softer it is. Hence the ‘old’ prospector’s biting test – pure gold is marked by a hard nibble! (Not to be advised without a dentist on standby!)
This ’softness’ property is one of the reasons why it became so precious and desirable, to every civilisation. Gold, although rare and difficult to obtain could be easily ‘worked’ – Just one ounce can be beaten out to cover a surface area of over 27 square metres!
In it’s purest form it is too soft to be of any use in the making of Jewellery. The pure gold is alloyed with silver, copper and various other metals in order to render a material hard enough for jewellery. The percentage of pure gold, in a Jewellery alloy is denoted by its carat (k) weight. Pure gold is 24k (ie.100%), the other common alloy carat weights are 22k, 18k, 14k, 10k and 9k. 9k is the hardest alloy. Obviously, this means that 9k will scratch all the softer k weights. This is the reason it’s advisable to always wear items of the same carat weight, if your jewellery is likely to come into contact (rings etc). Gold is resistant to oxidative corrosion – it won’t tarnish, rust or corrode.
A few ‘golden rules’:
* Remove your gold jewellery when using chemicals and engaging in manual work. Gold will scratch abrade reducing its lustrous appearance.
* Remove your jewellery when swimming – Chlorine will affect its lustre.
* To clean jewellery use warm water and cotton wool. For heavy soiling use a weak solution of warm water and detergent-free soap.
* Gold is softer than sand. Sand will scratch your jewellery. Don’t wear it on the beach!
* Always store your jewellery separately in a soft stable-temperature environment. Ideally, keep your jewellery in the box with which it was supplied.
* To give your jewellery a deep clean it can be immersed in a very weak (just a pinch), sodium bicarbonate/boiling water solution for a few seconds. Carefully dry the jewellery immediately with a soft cotton cloth. (*Do not do this if your jewellery contains gemstones).
White Gold:
White Gold was originally developed in the 1920’s as an alternative to Platinum. It’s not actually another type of gold; there’s no such thing as ‘pure’ white gold, or 24k white. It’s simply an alloy in which the choice of alloyed metals has been made to achieve a ‘white’ or platinum like colour.
Rhodium Coating:
Most white gold jewellery has a thin coating of Rhodium to enhance its ‘whiteness’ and reflective properties. Rhodium is a member of the platinum family of metals and serves as a good protective coating to the jewellery, as well as enhancing the colour. Rhodium is harder than gold and will wear much better as a consequence. However, this rhodium coating will wear through with time, which will expose the alloy underneath. As the white gold alloy will be a darker, less white colour, this wear will be noticeable. It is a simple matter to reapply the rhodium coating; most jewellers make a small charge for this.
Article written by Tim Vogel. To view a fine selection of Jewellery pieces featuring authentic Swarovski crystal components and precious metal fittings, visit us here: http://www.whitewolfjewellery.co.uk
Cash for Gold Tags: Carat Weight, Carat Weights, Care Advice, Cotton Wool, Free Soap, Jewellery Gold, Lustre, Lustrous Appearance, Nibble, Piece Of Gold, Precious Metals, Prospector, Pure Gold, Purest Form, Silver Copper, Softness, Square Metres, Stable Temperature, Temperature Environment, Warm WaterRelated posts
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