How to treat your jewellery from Stjern Design?

GENERAL INFORMATION
Apart from Stjern Design's hand wrapped jewellery pieces using 14K gold fill, 925 sterling silver, brass & copper wire, one of our necklace ranges use nylon coated steel wire. This type of wire is impossible to break, however, it could kink if pulled by a child or you got stuck on something, so a word of warning, please be careful when handling the jewellery pieces, they can last a lifetime, but you need to treat them like delicate pieces to avoid breakage & kinks
 

A Special note about metals/alloys

14KGF (gold filled) metal, 925 Sterling silver, brass & copper
 
14K Gold filled Wire 925 Sterling Silver: Brass & Copper

Gold filled wire, sometimes called rolled gold, is a wonderful choice if you like gold

Gold filled wire is made by forming a tube of gold and filling the tube with a base metal usually jeweller's brass. The gold filling is 5% of the wire using 14K gold. Gold filled wire does not tarnish

Some facts: There is 100 times more gold in 14K gold filled wire than in gold plate

A 14K gold filled piece of jewellery is usually considered a lifetime piece of jewellery. Just store it separately in a box or silk purse away from other jewellery pieces

 Silver silver has a tendency to tarnish/oxidize just by being worn and exposed to the air around you

Remove tarnish from sterling silver this way:

Use a professional polishing cloth, e.g. Goddards (blue cloth) which you can obtain from supermarkets. It has been especially impregnated with polishing agents and by carefully buffing your jewellery piece, you can remove tarnish. A word of warning, some sterling beads are hollow, so don't press hard when buffing or you could damage them!

 Brass & copper have a tendency to tarnish/oxidize just by being worn and exposed to the air around you

Brass & copper will over time get it's special patina & still look splendid, perhaps a bit antiqued . The same it the case for brass beads incorporated in some jewellery pieces

My advice is to NOT remove tarnish from brass and copper:

BUT you are able to buy a polishing cloth for brass from the Goddard company. It is yellow.

Be careful when buffing if you have too!

     
Helpful advice on how to treat your pearls
When travelling When cleaning When using perfume

If you have to travel and would like to bring your pearl bracelet, always store it in a cloth bag to avoid it being scratched. It is easy to scratch cultured pearls, so put the bracelet in a cloth bag inside a metal box.  A children’s pencil case is just perfect and a cheap way to store your jewellery piece and does not take up much room

 Before you start cleaning, please take off your pearl bracelet. Cultured pearls do not like to be exposed to strong detergents with chlorine etc. and especially not acids of any forms. Neither do they like heat. Don’t store your pearl jewellery in a hot window sill or near a radiator. This could dry out the pearls as they are made of a live material that thrives best with a little oil from your skin. The best thing for your pearls would be to use a clean soft cloth to dry them off after use. That will keep them clean When wearing perfume, put on the perfume before you put on your cultured pearls and remember to let the perfume dry completely. One good rule to remember is that your jewellery should be the last thing to put on. Cultured pearls and perfume are not a good mix
     
When taking a bath or going to bed When cleaning your jewellery/pearls & sterling silver clasp

How to store your jewellery
Before you take a bath or go to bed, please take off your jewellery. In theory, glass beads are not harmed by luke warm water but soap deposits in jewellery is not a delicious cocktail. If you wear any type of strung jewellery when sleeping, you risk  pulling open a silver jump ring, which the clasp is attached to, without you discovering in time. You could easily drop and loose your jewellery piece. Most jump rings are not soldered and can be pulled open if you are not careful. Always keep in mind to check on your jewellery findings on a regular basis

If you wish to clean your sterling silver clasp, you can use either a professional cloth made for cleaning sterling silver jewellery. If you buy a special liquid cleaner you can carefully dip JUST THE CLASP in the liquid and rinse under water, still only the clasp. No need to get the jewellery piece wet. Just pad dry in a towel.

Never put any piece of pearl/glass jewellery in liquid cleaners. The glass certainly does not benefit from these cleaners, however, it is more likely to ruin them totally. Remember only to use a soft dry cloth to wipe your cultured pearls clean.

Glass beads only need a wet cloth with a bit of detergent, pat don’t pull on the beads. You risk kinking the piece of jewellery, just wipe softly and pat dry

The best way to store your jewellery is to place it in a small individual cloth bag. That way you avoid your piece being scratched by other jewellery pieces. Jewellery display boxes are beautiful but they are the first place that burglars look and jewellery in general will get scratched if you place various pieces on top of each other in a box. Cultured pearls are at the highest risk. They are easily scratched by metal parts and stones in other jewellery pieces