Care of Your Handcrafted Jewelry

Jewelry designed using most metals, including metal clay, requires very little maintenance. Most of my designs have been coated for extra protection. You can prolong the life of the coating by not spraying with perfume or using caustic cleaning materials such as most jewelry cleaners. However, the coating will wear off with time and you may begin to see tarnish. 

Your jewelry can pick up dirt, oil, and even odors. To clean most metals (sterling silver, stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, niobium, and gold-fill), soak jewelry in soapy water (use non-lotion dishwashing soap) for several minutes. Then lather with soap and gently but briskly rub the jewelry between your palms. Rinse with warm water and let air dry, or use a blow dryer on lowest and coolest setting. 

For severely tarnished copper or bronze place in a shallow bowel and cover with Coke for 10-15 minutes. Then rinse and air dry.

For Silver, Copper or Bronze, you may polish it using a jeweler’s cloth such as a "Sunshine cloth". Storing in an anti-tarnish bag when not in use will also help protect it.

For anodized aluminum or niobium avoid using polishing clothes, scratchy clothes or caustic substances to preserve the original color of the metal. 

** Please avoid soaking pearls or other soft stones in any solution!