Jewellery Care

Caring for your jewellery

Caring for Silver

As with most precious metals, silver will naturally tarnish over time giving it a lovely patina look that can even enhance the look of your jewellery, especially more detailed pieces. If a tarnished look is not always desired, to keep your jewellery looking its best, there are a few prevention methods we recommend you follow...

Your skins natural oils and ph balance can contribute towards the tarnishing of silver. Always remove your jewellery when applying perfumes, lotions or any other skin treatments. Make sure your jewellery is the last thing you put on when dressing and never sleep, shower or bathe in your jewellery. Avoid wearing your jewellery during any activities that may knock scratch or damage them. Ensure that fastenings and clasps are secure on necklaces and bracelets and that butterflies/earring backs are fixed tightly on earrings, especially taking care when changing clothing.

Silver does not react well to moisture, water or chemicals therefore avoid leaving jewellery exposed in bathrooms or wet rooms. Do not wear when bathing, showering, swimming, in hot tubs, steam rooms or saunas, on the beach, while swimming in the sea, in gymnasiums or anywhere that has a high moisture level.

Ensure that you rinse any chemicals immediately that may come into contact with your jewellery.   

Storage

Keep your silver and gold vermeil jewellery separate from other jewellery, especially costume. This will help to avoid tarnishing, scratches, tangling and damage. You can do this by keeping it in its original box, soft pouch bag, or a plastic zip bag, wrapped in a soft cloth or air tight container and out of direct sunlight.

Cleaning 

To clean your jewellery, wash it with warm soapy water and dry thoroughly with a soft lint free cloth. A 100% cotton cloth or microfibre cloths work well.

Gold Vermeil/Gold Plated:

Gold Vermeil is a layer of gold over silver. Our external platers use an in-tank gold plating solution that produces a hard gold deposit of 99.8% purity. This equates to 24 carat. The appearance is that of pure gold – rich and lustrous.

Caring for Gold Vermeil

Gold Vermeil will not tarnish, but it will fade or may discolour and become dull over time. Extra care is needed to protect the layer of Gold Vermeil but with the right care and maintenance it should last. It is at greater risk from scuffs and scratches so be sure to remove your jewellery before any hard labour or physical activities.

Always store vermeil jewellery separate to other jewellery, especially costume. You can store it in its original box, soft pouch bag, a plastic zip bag, wrapped in a soft cloth or an air tight container and out of direct sunlight.

Never wear your gold vermeil jewellery while showering or swimming, unfortunately, chlorine at high at temperatures can permanently damage your gold vermeil jewellery. Avoid lotions, potions, perfumes and any form of chemical, as this can damage and discolour your gold vermeil jewellery, should it come in to contact with any chemical or products, it should be rinsed immediately. Always ensure you dry thoroughly as moisture can damage the vermeil.

Vermeil should not be polished. It should only be dusted with a soft 100% cotton cloth, cleaned gently with warm soapy water, (avoid antibacterial soaps and soaps containing oil), and you must ensure that it is dried thoroughly after cleaning. Do not use any cleaning chemicals, polishing agents or abrasive compounds as this will damage the layers of deposited gold and cause them to wear.

 - Please note hand sanitiser is very damaging to gold plating and could completely remove the gold plated surface. Rings should not be worn when using hand sanitiser. Your hands must be completely sanitiser free before wearing rings. 

Vermeil will fade or go dull looking in time and due to being a surface finish may eventually wear off all depending on the age and care of the jewellery. Therefore Rebecca Furze jewellery offer a re-plating service to bring your pieces back to there original look. Your Gold vermeil jewellery, providing it has been cared for correctly, has a 3 month warranty and this service is free for the first 3 months from purchase date. After this period, the re-plating service is chargeable, prices for very small pieces start from as little as £5.00 each, however please contact us for a quote. 

All jewellery can be made in solid gold, however the cost of gold is at an all time high so this will be reflected in the cost. On average, solid 9ct gold will be 5 -7 times the price of a gold plated/vermeil piece, and 18ct can be as much as 10 -15 times the price. If you would like to opt for a solid piece of jewellery over gold plated/vermeil please get in contact on the contacts page so we can give you a quote. 

Repairs and Re-Conditioning 

All jewellery made from precious metals will be subject to natural wear and tear over time and vulnerable to accidents and misuse. It may need to be repaired, re-polished or re-plated. We therefore offer a re-conditioning jewellery service please contact us for a quote.

We hope you enjoy looking after and wearing your pieces that were handcrafted by Rebecca Furze. If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you.