A new piece of jewelry is a special way to commemorate an important time in your life. Even the most delicate pieces of jewelry are special gifts that will be appreciated by their recipient. This selection of tips will be useful for anyone who wishes to learn more about different ways to buy, wear or store jewelry.
Pewter jewelry has been widely popular for decades. If you’re looking to invest in jewelry pieces made from pewter, make sure that they are lead free. For a long time, pewter jewelry has contained lead causing many unhealthy side effects to the wearer. Usually modern jewelry made from this metal is advertised as lead-free if it doesn’t contain any.
When shopping for stone jewelry, you need to be educated on everything to look for. Your jeweler can help guide you on what and how to look at stones to make sure that you can distinguish bad from good quality. This type of education can help you make better decisions without so much help when you are jewelry shopping.
When you are deciding what type of jewelry to buy for a loved one, it is important that it is something that they will love passionately and adore for the rest of their lives. This is not something you want to decide hastily. If you do, they may very likely not like your gift.
To keep your jewelry looking great, take steps to prevent it from tarnish. For example, avoid taking your jewelry somewhere it can get wet. Water exposure can cause different metals to become tarnished, dull or rusted. For added protection for your jewelry, try adding a thin coating of clear nail polish.
Make sure that you have a silver polishing cloth on hand for your silver jewelry. All silver tarnishes, so a polishing cloth will help you quickly and easily, have your silver jewelry looking like new without having to deal with smelly, messy silver polish. You can buy a polishing cloth for about $5.
When it comes to wearing jewelry, your best bet is to always keep it simplistic. A simple necklace and a couple of rings provide a sleek look. One bracelet with a simple pair of earrings is fashion forward all the time. Don’t over do your jewelry and the focus will remain on you and your most special pieces.
To get use out of an earring after one half of a pair is lost, use it as a brooch. Many earrings can be worn just as a brooch can, and can make a great accent piece. Try pinning the earring to a scarf or attaching it to your top just below the collar bone. A more delicate earring is a great way to accent a purse or a belt.
Use a cloth dampened with a solution of water and a few drops of dish-washing liquid to clean your pearls. Lightly rub each pearl with the cloth, and allow them to air-dry. Never soak pearls, as doing so can cause massive damage to the integrity of the gem. Keeping your pearls clean ensures a long life for them.
Know the jewelry terms. Understanding what cut, carat, color, and clarity mean can help you to make a quality purchase for the best price. A salesperson will be much more able to explain the differences in the stones you are interested in if you have a clear understanding of the terms.
When selling jewelry online, you need to be able to stand behind your pieces. Because your customer does not get to handle the jewelry, it should be made to be able to hold up to regular use. Otherwise, you will lose customers. You should aim to offer a warranty program, and be willing to fix other pieces not covered by it.
Any time that you are working on cleaning your house or any other place, you should first remove any pieces of jewelry that you are wearing. Not only is there a strong possibility of loss, but the cleaning chemicals can be very strong on your fine jewelry. Avoid these problems by first removing any jewelry.
When you want to store your fine jewelry, you should follow the instructions that were provided with your specific piece, and follow them exactly. Generally, you do not want pieces touching each other to keep them from scratching. It is best to store your jewelry in the box or pouch it came in.
If you love wearing jewelry, but hate the irritation it causes, then you may want to examine the metals in the jewelry. Higher karats of gold are less likely to cause irritation so opt for 14 or 18 karat. You could also try platinum or even palladium as both of these metals are harder and stronger than gold.
Jewelry should never be cleaned with bleach. Bleach damages soldered joints and can eat away at finishes. Jewelry should not be worn in swimming pools for two reasons. Jewelry is easily lost in swimming pools and chlorine bleach is used in the water of pools. If cleaning with bleach, remove your jewelry or wear protective gloves.
Even though some people use toothpaste to clean their gold, silver or gemstones, jewelers do not recommend this practice. The abrasives in toothpaste can scratch the surface of precious metals and gemstones. To restore the jewelry back to its original, unscratched condition will require buffing and refinishing by a professional fine jeweler.
As previously discussed, jewelry can be an ideal gift for more than one occasion. Even smaller, delicate pieces make special gifts that touch the recipient. Even the jewelry you buy and own for yourself will benefit when you learn more about selecting and caring for it. The tips from this article should help you give and take care of jewelry successfully.