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One-of-a-kind creations for a richer life
Taking Care of Your Silver Jewelry
Silver Jewelry
All the Jewelry in our store is designed and made by Jacqueline. She makes both hand-made porcelain pieces and she works in sterling silver, fine silver and enamel (glass fused to silver). We begin with a little discussion of Silver Jewelry.
The sterling silver pieces come in various finishes.
High-polish: This gives the silver a very reflective mirror-like finish.
Hammered: This is achieved with a rounded (Chasing) hammer and gives the surface a faceted texture which reflects light especially nicely.
Satin or matte: This is for when you want your jewelry to have a less reflective finish, giving the jewelry a softer look which many people enjoy, particularly for romantic jewelry pieces.
Oxidized: This is a method of giving silver jewelry a dark patina using liver of sulfur. This is sometimes called a French gray finish. Shades can vary from gray to black, black being often used as a design motif in recessed areas for more intricate jewelry.
To view Jacqueline's jewelry click here.
Silver jewelery is generally made from sterling silver, which is a mixture of 92.5% silver with 7.5% copper. The copper adds strength to the silver which otherwise cannot be formed into durable creations. Pure silver is far to soft to be used for jewelry.
Jewelers do also use fine silver, to make bezels,which are then silver-soldered to the piece, and as a coating of almost pure silver over sterling. This can be done to give the silver jewelry a particularly shiny finish and is essential for silver jewelry which is to be enameled. Enamel, which is glass, usually in the form of a powder, will not bind with sterling silver but will to fine silver. Enamel is fused to the silver at about 1500 degrees Fahrenheit and though a difficult technique, can result in beautiful earrings, necklaces and pendants.
People who work in silver are generally referred to as 'silversmiths' and the work they do is 'silversmithing'. The essence of silversmithing is to take a flat piece or bar of metal and with the aid of different hammers, stakes, heat (a variety of different kinds of torches can be used), grinders, polishers, hand-saws and other tools, to transform it into something beautiful. The manual skill and dexterity required to produce a piece of silver jewelry by hand is considerable and often overlooked by the purchaser, so accustomed have we become to looking perfect, mass produced piece.
The tempered steel blades used in the jeweler' saw come in a variety of sizes, or number of teeth per inch. The size used depends on the thickness of the silver to be cut. Generally, one wants two teeth in contact with the metal while cutting so a thicker piece of silver will require a blade with fewer teeth per inch, a fine piece of silver will require a finer blade.
The bonsai pendant piece to the right began as a flat sheet of silver and was cut by hand with the jeweler' saw into the form you see. After cutting, the handmade bale (where the chain goes through) is silver-soldered, the piece is filed, sanded and polished.
Silver is one of the several precious metals. (Most of the others except for gold most people have never heard of, but they exist.). From its discovery to today silver has been a popular material for ornamental work because of its beauty and workability. Many people prefer silver to gold and many people look better wearing silver than gold.
Silver has been mined since sometime between 4000 and 5000BC. The oldest mines have been found in Turkey and much of that silver found its way in antiquity to the various realms and empires of the near, middle and far east, such as Syria and Egypt. Most silver though is now mined in Mexico and Peru and exported around the world. Other areas where silver is found and mined are Australia, Argentina, Canada and the USA.Don't confuse nickel silver, sometimes called German silver, with sterling. Nickel silver contains no silver. It is mostly copper (60%) with nickel and zinc (each 20%). It gets away with this name because of its silvery color.
Taking care of your sterling silver jewelry:
Humidity causes silver to tarnish. Never wear your silver jewelry in a pool or bath. When not wearing it it is best to keep it in a jewelry box. A zip lock bag can further keep it dry and unexposed to oxidation. Silver can also get scratched so it is best to not store it where it will rub against other pieces, and it should not be tossed about. It is silver, after all.
If it does tarnish you can rub it gently with a 100% cotton cloth. You can also clean it with mild detergent and warm water or use a cleaner made specifically for silver. Do not use a cleaner if your jewelry includes pearls or soft gemstones such as coral or if it has been given an intentional dark patina. If you are uncertain or if your jewelry has become very tarnished or scratched you can bring it to a local jewelry store for professional cleaning and polishing.
Click here to other silver jewelry we offer in our store.
PORCELAIN JEWELRY
Porcelain
is a type of ceramics highly valued for its beauty and strength. All
the porcelain jewelry available on our store are handmade and kiln
fired at 2300 degrees F. To create the beads she mixes raw porcelain
with various minerals to produce the different colors. The beads are
then hand formed and many are carved and inlaid with colors. The beads
are fired before being glazed, then fired again at 2310 degrees
Fahrenheit. In this day of glitz and sheen, such beauties are often
overlooked, so look closely. Hand-made porcelain beads of this quality
are rare.
In this day of mass production it is often easy to forget how much work goes into a handmade creation such as this. The time that goes into making the porcelain beads, the cost of the turquoise, making the clasp of fine silver and the combining all this on the highest quality 49 strand jewelers wire which is both strong and flexible is really considerable. To learn more about this piece, to see larger images or to purchase it, click here.
