jewelry care

1. Cleaning regularly:  The first step to maintaining your handcrafted jewelry's beautiful look and luster is to clean it properly. The more often you wear something, the more often it will need to be cleaned. When wearing handmade bracelets or rings, things you touch can introduce oils and chemicals from your skin.  Always use a cleaner that matches the primary material of your jewelry. Any department store or jewelry store service representative can instruct you on finding the products that you need if you are unsure. For example, cleaners for gold will not work on handmade silver jewelry because they are designed to clean and preserve a different metal. You can purchase these metal cleaners in liquid or paste form, or you can use a jewelry cleaning machine to care for your unique jewelry. You can also use mildly sudsy warm water and pat your jewelry dry. Also, when caring for handmade beaded jewelry and gemstone jewelry, they will need to be cleaned differently and carefully because of the beads and the gems present. Generally, a jewelry cleaner should not touch the gems, as it can wear off the shiny polish or be absorbed by a porous stone. 

 2. Preventing damage:  Your handmade necklaces and other handmade jewelry will be easier to clean if they're not very dirty or scratched. You should never wear your jewelry while swimming, sunbathing, or cleaning; extensive exposure to saltwater, sunlight, or harsh chemicals can permanently damage them. There are damage-prevention tips for specific metals, too; for example, silver is a soft metal, so always remove your handmade silver jewelry before lifting heavy items or doing strenuous work that could potentially damage it. It is also good practice to remove handmade beaded jewelry or gemstone jewelry in these situations to avoid damaging the beads or gems. 

3. Storing properly:  When you are not wearing or cleaning your handmade jewelry, please keep it safe from loss and tarnish and age in a jewelry box. Never store your handmade silver earrings or other silver jewelry pieces in the open air, as this will make them tarnish faster. Silver jewelry should always be stored separately from other jewelry in airtight plastic bags to prevent scratching from other jewelry and tarnishing from the air's moisture. Silver handmade earrings often come with unique plastic bags in the right size to protect them. Handmade necklaces and handmade bracelets made of silver can differ significantly, so be careful how you store them.  Jewelry pieces with lots of ornamentation shouldn't be stored with sleek and simple jewelry. Also, hang up necklaces made of other metals that don't tarnish like silver to keep them from tangling. Bracelets and rings can be set in drawers, while earrings should have special posts or holders for the pins and clasps. 

For handmade Wood earrings:

 It is best to store them by hanging them up on an earring rack or wrapping them in a nice cloth separating each earring for protection. Wood earrings are easy to maintain, as only a light cloth is needed if not worn after some time. Wood jewelry may contain gold-plated or gold-filled, silver-plated, or silver-filled findings as well as glass beads, gemstones, or crystals. Please follow the jewelry care tips above.