Caring for your Lyre Studio Jewellery
Jewellery is intended to be used as a decorative item and without care, unintentional damage can occur to your jewellery.
GOLDEN DON’TS
- Please always take jewellery off before you go to bed, earrings, bracelets and chains should never be worn in bed. This is the most common cause of all jewellery breakages
- Always remove your jewellery before engaging in exercise or strenuous activities
- Don’t pull at jewellery if it is snagged. A common cause of damage is a snag on clothing, hair, or furnishings. Should an item become snagged or hooked on hair or clothing, try gently releasing the snag or snip the fabric or hair with scissors. Some jewellery is delicate and may sometimes have some fine and small pieces jutting out, it is important that clothes don’t catch the jewellery. It is always best to leave jewellery until last when dressing up.
- Never wear your jewellery in the shower, bath, swimming pool, jacuzzi or sea
· Do not wear your jewellery when cooking or gardening
Exposure to food can damage your jewellery, both fish and onions can tarnish gold and silver.
· Do not expose jewellery to chemicals contained in the following:-
- Household-cleaning products such as bleach, kitchen and bathroom cleaning creams and foams etc.
- Personal care products such as hairspray, hairdye, deodorant, perfume, hand creams and especially sun tan lotion.
Exposure to chemicals can affect gems and even precious metals and can stain silver and discolour some gems, chemicals are contained in many everyday items that we all use. Especially pearls and shells, turquoise, lapis lazuli.
· Do not expose to direct sunlight and heat
Direct exposure to sun light and heat can change the properties of gems. Gemstones are made up of chemical elements themselves, these components react to heat and sunlight. Some of the gems that become paler when exposed to sunlight include amethyst, aquamarine, aventurine, and smokey quartz. Some gems like citrine or ametrine may even change colour.
Storing your jewellery
- Store your jewellery in a felt or cloth lined container away from direct heat and light
- Store each piece separately to avoid scratching, tangling and kinking.
- Silver will tarnish more slowly if stored in a plastic self seal bag.
- Silk necklaces should be stored flat, not hanging to avoid stretching and weakening the silk cord.
Keeping your jewellery clean
- Wipe pearls with a soft dry cloth. Avoid contact with any oily substance
- Over a period of time silver reacts with the air and tarnishes. You can remove this tarnish with professional silver cleaner, following the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Gently wipe surfaces with a small chamois or lint-free cotton cloth. Optical and glass polishing cloths available from opticians and some “housewares” stores. Lint and abrasive free cloths work well to clean all jewellery components.
- Jewellery “tarnish” cloths should be used only to polish Sterling Silver and Gold chain and findings (i.e. clasps, hooks and links).
- Very important:- do not use a tarnish cloth or chemical jewellery cleaner on oxidized or “antiqued” Sterling silver jewellery as they will remove the oxidized patina. An optical or other soft, lint-free cloth will clean antiqued silver without damaging the finish.
· Never use toothpaste, household cleansers, alcohol or abrasives to clean your jewellery.
- We do not recommend the use of ultrasonic cleaners as they can cause fractures in all but the hardest of stones.
