Jewellery Care
Your jewellery requires little care and attention to continually keep its elegance. Dust, pollution and daily wear may cloud the brilliance of a gemstone and dull the surface of your precious metal. Due to this, you should take extra care to protect your jewellery and always store it in a fabric-lined jewellery pouch or box, taking care not to drop, bash or scratch it.
Care tips
- To preserve the beauty and lustre of your jewellery, wash it in lukewarm water with a mild detergent and then rinse. Then, dry with a clean, soft cloth. Do not use any type of brush, sharp instrument, or rough cloth for cleaning.
- Always remove your jewellery before applying fragrances, colognes, lotions, and potions. Alternately, jewellery might be the final accessory worn when getting dressed.
- To protect your jewellery from permanent damage, avoid all contact with mercury. The effect of mercury and harsh acids on silver and gold is severe and permanent. Be sure to remove your jewellery before coming into contact with such hazardous substances.
- When going swimming, take off your jewellery. Chlorine can damage your jewellery.
- Always remove your jewellery before engaging in physical activity or hard labour to avoid damage and personal injury. Quality stones and precious metal will not stand abuse.
- Ensure that you immediately rinse off any chemicals that come into contact with your jewellery to prevent buildup that might make cleaning difficult.
- Do not store your Madewear jewellery beside costume jewellery or timepieces with leather straps.
- Store jewellery separately in order to prevent tangling, rubbing, and scratching against each other.
- Your warranty is void if anyone other than Madewear performs any work on your jewellery.
Sterling silver jewellery care
Sterling Silver is an alloy of silver and other metals, usually copper. Pure silver is too soft for everyday wear; therefore, copper is generally used to give it strength while at the same time preserving the ductility of the metal and its beauty.
Sterling silver becomes black because of hydrogen sulfide (sulfur), a substance that occurs in the air. When silver comes into contact with it, a chemical reaction takes place and a black layer is formed. Silver oxidizes faster in places with a lot of light and high humidity. Contrary to popular belief, silver jewellery turning black does not indicate that the jewellery is made of less silver content or no silver. Contact with products like cosmetics, hair spray, perfume, deodorant, body lotion, bleach, etc., can speed up the oxidizing process. Besides that, the natural oils that your skin produces can also react to your silver jewelry. The extent to which the silver reacts with these substances from your skin is highly dependent on the type of food you eat, alcohol consumption and whether you are taking medication. These things influence the acidity of your skin, which can cause a reaction. Also sweat (which ammonia occurs in) raises the acidity of the skin and could tarnish the silver. The oxidation of silver jewellery is a sign that the piece of jewellery is silver. Other (noble) metals oxidize differently.
Clean your silver jewellery in warm soapy water, ensuring to rinse and dry thoroughly before storing. Alternatively, polish your silver jewellery with a soft cloth or a silver polishing cloth.
Gold jewellery care
Pure gold is the only precious metal that will not tarnish. However, it is still a relatively soft metal that can scratch easily. The higher the gold karat, the softer the metal; for example, 14 Karat gold is more resistant to scratching than 18 Karat gold. We recommend wearing rings of the same karat together, such as an 18-karat wedding ring and an 18-karat engagement ring.
Cleaning
Gold should be cleaned regularly to maintain its beauty. A soft, lint-free cloth or more preferably, a gold polishing cloth is an effective way to keep gold jewellery looking its best.
Platinum jewellery care
Derived from the Spanish term ‘platina del Pinto’ which translates to ‘little silver of the Pinto river’. Platinum has a naturally silvery-white appearance and does not require rhodium plating like white gold. A very dense, malleable and precious metal, platinum is resistant to corrosion and incredibly hard wearing. This makes it more suitable for everyday wear. However, you should still take relevant precautions to prevent avoidable scratches.
Cleaning
You should clean your platinum jewellery with a mild soapy water solution and a soft bristle brush. Over time platinum jewellery develops a natural patina but this can be easily polished.
Gemstone jewellery care
A gemstone is a mineral that is highly valued due to its beauty, durability, and rarity. A few non-crystalline organic materials, such as pearl, coral, and amber, are also classified as gemstones. The Mohs scale measures the hardness of gemstones; the higher the number on the scale, the harder the stone. It is important to consider this factor when cleaning, wearing, and storing your gemstone jewellery.
Cleaning
The buildup of hand cream, fingerprints, and general grime is typical of your most cherished jewellery, and can easily be cleaned. As a rule of thumb, gemstones at 7 and above on the Mohs scale can be cleaned with warm water, a touch of mild soap and a soft brush. For gemstones less than 7, swap the soft brush for a soft cloth.
- All gems are susceptible to damage from chemicals, water, and even sunlight, although extended contact to the latter may cause certain gemstones to become paler. Amethyst, ametrine, aquamarine, aventurine, beryl, citrine, kunzite, rose quartz, and smokey quartz are examples of such gemstones.
- Some gemstones, such as opal, pearl, and turquoise, are fairly porous and should not be immersed in water for an extended period of time.
- Particular care should be taken when cleaning your emerald jewellery. It is common practise to treat emeralds with a fine oil in order to conceal the the very frequent appearance of flaws. Because of this, emeralds should never be cleaned with an ultrasonic cleaning machine, as this will typically remove any oil content disguising the flaws and expose the stone's surface, which will have a with a disastrous effect on the stone's appearance.
MOHS Scale
Devised by the German mineralogist Friedrich Mohs, this scale is a means of grading the relative hardness of minerals. Using ten common minerals, Mohs put them in order of their ‘scratchability’; placing talc at 1 and diamond at 10. Quite simply, each mineral will scratch the ones below it, and be scratched by those above it.
| Mineral | Hardness |
|---|---|
| Talc | 1 |
| Gypsum | 2 |
| Calcite | 3 |
| Fluorite | 4 |
| Apatite | 5 |
| Orthoclase | 6 |
| Quartz | 7 |
| Topaz | 8 |
| Corundum | 9 |
| Diamond | 10 |
