Silver Jewelry Care Tips

   Let’s face it, many of us do not pay enough attention to the look of our jewelry.  It is not uncommon for some of us to wear our prized jewelry items for months without properly cleaning them. It does not take long for the jewelry to become dull and lifeless. Just imagine how much impact hand lotions, makeup and perfumes can have on our rings, pendants and watches. It's amazing what our jewelry can harbor in various hidden nooks and crannies. Our purpose here is to make you see that basic jewelry care will go a long way in keeping your jewelry items look as clean as new. Starting today, we will be producing periodic blog entries highlighting various ways you can take care of your jewelry. Adopting the new habits, we are sure, will save you time and money on costly cleaning and repairs.

    We would now like to take a minute and talk about cleaning silver jewelry pieces. As many of you know, silver has a tendency to oxidize after prolonged contact with air, this effect gives silver that unpleasant dark look as if the item was unburied from the hiding spot in your grandmother’s back yard. It is quite easy to combat signs of oxidation on silver jewelry. First of all, avoid any rubber contacting your silver as rubber promotes tarnish. Most chemical cleaning solutions have the potential to permanently damage your jewelry, so exercise caution when trying to clean silver jewelry by yourself. What are some of the safe and proven ways to combat tarnish? First of all, try and eliminate contact with air. Store your silver jewelry pieces in  airtight ziplock bags. Once tarnish occurs, use a polishing cloth to remove oxidation. Develop a habit of regularly rubbing your silver jewelry with a polishing cloth. Not only it will slow down the onset of the dark spots, it will also preserve that nice metallic shine that clean silver jewelry possesses.  In extreme cases of oxidation, you can use a damp soft washcloth to rub your silver pieces and then finish it off with a dry polishing cloth. Finally, Georgetown Jewelers carries an inexpensive, special silver cleaning solution for purchase. So if you have already gotten your exercise for the day and feel like sparing the physical effort, you can submerge your silver jewelry in our cleaning solution, and then rinse it with water and air dry it. These easy-to-follow steps will ensure your silver jewelry continues to look its best.

In our next entry we will talk about pearls and how to maintain this type of jewelry in the home environment …