It’s important to ensure that we keep our items of jewellery in good condition, mainly due to the fact that these items tend to be something that we treasure and that we want to maintain in a good condition. A common material used throughout the creation of jewellery is sterling silver, and this material has many desirable properties which make it a popular jewellery choice. The harsh extremities of the environment can have a negative impact on our accessories, but sterling silver is a fairly resilient compound which tends to fare well in these circumstances.
Maintaining your sterling silver jewellery starts from the minute that you take it off and ensuring that you provide it with the proper storage solution can really help to keep your jewellery items out of harm’s way. Sterling silver jewellery should never be stored with any other metals as they can rub on each other which can cause scratching to the surface in addition to tarnishing. It should also never be left in contact with any type of wood, paper or cardboard as these materials contain acids which can mar the surface of the silver.
Common jewellery boxes or just a small zip lock bag can do the job quite easily and help to keep the items away from other substances which could be potentially harmful. Oxygen sachets should also be placed in these bags to help draw the oxygen out of the atmosphere which can help to slow down the oxidation and therefore tarnishing process with the jewellery.
When it comes to cleaning your jewellery it’s very important to ensure that you use a non-abrasive cloth, so in general flannel or soft cloths are a great idea and they don’t leave scratchings on the surface of your items. Cleaning materials should be specific to your material – i.e. silver cleaning products for silver and these can additionally help to protect your jewellery from the oxidation process.
Harsh soaps and other chemicals should not be used on jewellery as they can cause more harm than good.
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