Goin' Western Spring 2017 | Page 9

A good rule of thumb is to keep

your silver jewelry as protected

from moisture as possible if you

don't want to deal with large amounts of tarnish. However, if you live in a humid climate, this might be pretty hard to achieve. You can opt to use tarni-shield (available at hardware stores), but you must keep in mind that it is a poisonous chemical which should not be used on items you would be serving food from. (No, don't put it on your grandma's silverware!) A better option, especially when we are talking about jewelry, is to use anti-tarnish strips. You can buy these at jewelry supply retailers, and place them in the bag or jewelry box where you keep your sterling silver. It is also good to keep your silver pieces separate from each other by putting each piece in an appropriately sized ziplock bag with an anti-tarnish strip in it. Make sure to change antitarnish strips every 2-3 months to ensure the best protection. Yet another option is to wrap your pieces in jeweler's non-tarnish tissue paper, which too can be obtained from major jewelry supply retailers. Fairly new on the market are carbon-impregnated plastic bags, specially designed to store your silver or gold jewelry in. By using such a bag, you will not have to bother with anti-tarnish strips, as carbon-impregnated plastic neutralizes the gasses and moisture that corrode and oxidize silver. Such carbon-impregnated plastic bags should be replaced every 2 years.

If you notice that tarnish has

started developing on your

jewelry pieces, your best bet for

removing it is rubbing the piece

gently with a silver polishing cloth. There are different brands of polishing cloth available on the market. Sunshine Cloth, Selvyt polishing cloth, and 3-M HighPerformance polishing cloth are some of them. The way to use a polishing cloth is to gently rub your silver jewelry between two folds of dry polishing cloth. Patience is the key here, as you have to make sure you are not rubbing and pulling on your jewelry piece too hard, but you also want to see the unsightly tarnish gone. One other tip worth mentioning is never to use rubber gloves when cleaning your silver. There is some sulfur in rubber that is bad for silver, especially fine silver.

An often used method for

removing tarnish from sterling

silver jewelry is the use of

ultrasonic jewelry cleaners.

Word of caution! If you are attempting to remove tarnish from your SouthWestern style jewelry that includes any type of gemstone, make sure you take it to a professional jeweler for cleaning. The reason for this is that most SouthWestern jewelry incorporates turquoise, coral, and/or pearls. None of these three materials, and many more soft and porous gemstones, should ever be placed into an ultrasonic cleaner because they would get damaged both by ultrasonic waves and by the cleaning solution used in such cleaners. So, if you are not sure about gemstones in your particular piece of jewelry, the best option is to consult a professional jeweler before attempting to clean the piece yourself.

Now that you know how to properly care for your sterling silver jewelry, I trust your jewelry collections will become polished and shiny in no time.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about caring for any of the jewelry purchased from hART Sense Design. I am always happy to help and only an email away.

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