Jewelry hold a special place in the lives of many people. For some, it acts as a symbol for the undying love that they may have for a loved one, or that a loved one may have for them. For others, it acts a form of fashion and expression. Regardless of the place it holds in your life, the tips in this article can help you choose jewelry.
Birthstone jewelry makes a great gift for anyone at any time of the year. They are incredibly popular and perfectly suited to birthdays though. There are so many kinds of styles and pieces that you can find or have easily made for yourself or someone you care about using a birthstone.
When buying jewelry, make sure that you don’t just rely on really prestigious name brands. This can generally lead to you paying 80% more than that of another popular jewelry retailer. Most of the non-prestigious jewelry retailers, also offer very nice holiday and yearly discounts, so it’s an overall better deal to shop with them.
When buying a diamond from a jeweler, make sure that you understand what kind of stone you are purchasing. Do not buy a stone based on seeing it against a black or dark background. This is a seller’s ploy to making it appear more attractive to your eye. You will get a truer view if you ook at it under magnification.
If you don’t have any jewelry cleaner handy, try using toothpaste with baking soda to help clean tarnish off of your sterling or pure silver jewelry. Just rub the toothpaste on the tarnished area with a soft cloth and clean off. Make sure to dry the jewelry to prevent future tarnishing.
Make sure you don’t wear your fine jewelry all of the time. When you are performing housekeeping tasks or washing your hands with soapy water, remove your jewelry. Swimming in a pool is another great reason for you to remove your fine jewelry to keep it safe. Everyday harsh chemicals can severely damage fine jewelry, sometimes ruining it beyond repair.
Combine your gold and silver jewelry. What used to be “so not in fashion” is now considered modern and sleek. Gold earrings can be worn with a silver necklace, or you can even pair gold and silver rings on one hand. The color combination goes great with any outfit as well.
Shopping for birthstone jewelry may seem simple, but some months have more than one stone. June, October, November, and December all have multiple birthstones. If you’re shopping for yourself and you’re from a multiple stone month, decide which one you like best. If shopping for a gift, don’t be afraid to ask the recipient!
Make sure that you have a silver polishing cloth on hand for your silver jewelry. All silver tarnishes, so a polishing cloth will help you quickly and easily, have your silver jewelry looking like new without having to deal with smelly, messy silver polish. You can buy a polishing cloth for about $5.
When making jewelry and you want to turn a bead into a linked piece, take an eye pin and thread it through the bead’s hole. Let the bead slide to the bottom of the eye pin. Directly above the bead, use your pliers to bend the eye pin approximately 45 degrees. Using wire cutters, trim this to about half an inch in length. Using small round pliers, grasp the tip of the wire and start looping it around the pliers tip. Don’t give up if your eye pin loop is not directly round – practice makes perfect!
Costume jewelry should be taken care of. Many of the costume type settings are glued-in, rather than set-in. For this reason, costume jewelry should never touch water, and you should avoid using detergents on it. Simply wipe it with a damp warm cloth, followed by a soft, dry cloth. This will make your costume jewelry sparkle for weeks, months, or even years.
When buying jewelry, pick jewelry that will go good with the majority of your wardrobe. If you spend hundreds of dollars on an amazing piece of jewelry, you will want to be wearing it any chance you get. Consider foregoing a more expensive piece in favor of one that you could wear more often.
Gems are given chemical treatments in the process of cutting, polishing and setting. When you are thinking of buying, ask what treatment a stone was given. It is important to understand the varying treatment processes because each one requires a specific care regimen. For example, improper cleaning with the wrong method may damage the stone by stripping the treatment.
To help jewelry maintain its maximum possible value you should aim to keep it in a pristine condition. Not only will it look better on you but it will also fetch a higher asking price should you ever decide to sell it. Semi annual trips to jewelry store for regular cleanings will help accomplish this.
Always take off all types of jewelry before you go to sleep. This will help you to avoid two major problems at the same time. The first is that it is easy to lose pieces in your sleep. The second problem is that sleeping on jewelry can add stress to it and greatly shorten the lifespan.
As stated before in the introduction above, jewelry holds a special place in peoples lives. For some, jewelry is a symbol of love. For others, jewelry represents an expression through fashion. If you remember the tips in this article, you can choose jewelry no matter what place it holds for you.
