At Molly Wilcock Jewellery, practicality and longevity is at the heart of our design and making process, however over time jewellery is susceptible to tarnish and general wear and tear. Please see below for our jewellery care tips, and if you are in doubt, please feel free to get in touch via our “contact us” page or email molly@mollywilcockjewellery.co.uk.
Silver jewellery will overtime naturally tarnish. Sterling silver is 92.5% pure/fine silver, and the other 7.5% is made up of other metals, forming an alloy. These other metals can react with the air (particularly sulphur-containing gasses) and can cause a layer of tarnish on the surface. Pure/fine silver is less prone to tarnish, but will still react with the air and overtime will still tarnish. You may be wondering, “why don’t you use pure/fine silver, so it stops tarnishing as much” Unfortunately, pure/fine silver (99.9% silver) is extremely soft, making it highly susceptible to damage, and preventing it from being a treasured piece of jewellery. The alloys that is sterling silver provides greater strength and durability to the metal, making this an extremely popular choice for most jewellers who wish to offer more affordable designer jewellery. Luckily, with the following jewellery care tips and tricks below, you should be able to keep your beloved jewellery in great condition!
· To increase the longevity of your jewellery, we recommend taking it off when you’re sleeping. Sometimes jewellery can catch when you move, or if you are resting on the jewellery. Over time this can cause jewellery to misshapen, chains can snap, and other general damages.
· Perfumes and scented products can accelerate the tarnishing process. To reduce the risk of this happening, we recommend that you put your jewellery on after you use perfume and scented products.
· When washing hands or applying hand products, residual soap/product can get trapped under your rings. Overtime this can cause gemstones to look dull and murky, and worst case the residual soap can cause a skin reaction to those who are sensitive. To prevent/reduce this from happening, we recommend taking off your rings and putting them back on once your hands are dry.
· We recommend taking off all your jewellery when exercising. Sweat can accelerate the tarnishing process. As there is a lot of movement with exercise, jewellery can catch and break/misshapen, particularly with the use of weights and wearing rings, as the combined weight and grip can cause rings to misshapen or be damaged.
· We include with every piece of jewellery an anti-tarnish baggie in the bottom of the jewellery box (underneath the insert), so when you are not wearing your beloved piece of jewellery, you can safely store it in the baggie. The baggie is impregnated with anti-tarnish properties. Once the baggie turns grey/black, these properties have ran out and will not provide the same protection it once did. The anti-tarnish baggie can be used with silver, gold and costume jewellery, and is safe with all gemstones.
· There are a variety of products available for cleaning silver and gold jewellery. We recommend silver dip for our jewellery that does NOT contain pearls or opals, it is important to thoroughly wash off the solution with running water (make sure the jewellery isn’t at risk of washing down the plug hole). We also recommend a silver polishing cloth for our silver and gold plate jewellery, just gently rub the surface of the jewellery with the cloth, and it should remove the tarnish and bring back some of its shine.
· With our gold plated pieces, we recommend following all of the above steps, as over time the plating will naturally fade, and these jewellery care tips will help to keep your piece golden for longer.
Lastly, we appreciate that everyday life does get in the way and it isn’t always possible to follow these steps ( I am notorious for taking off and chucking my jewellery wherever, or not removing rings when washing my hands). At Molly Wilcock Jewellery we provide a 6 month warranty with all our jewellery, please see our “Warranty” page for more information. We offer repairs and replating to all our jewellery pieces, regardless if it’s past warranty or not. Please don’t hesitate to get in contact today and find out more information!
