Caring for your jewellery will keep your pieces looking great for years. It’s a small investment of time, and the care you provide will ensure years of pleasurable wear. I’ve put together some tips to help you keep your treasures protected from getting tangled, tarnished, lost and damaged.
A jewellery drawer organizer keeps your precious items separate and well organized, get as many as you need (if you have the space) and stack them. They come in a variety of compartment sizes and shapes. (www.organize.com)
Caring for your jewellery
The perspiration and oils from our skin are damaging to jewellery, they’re slightly acidic and have corrosive effects on the metals and stones we wear. Preserve your pieces for as long as possible and give them a wipe (or cleaning) before putting them away.
- Allow cosmetics, creams and sunscreen to be absorbed before putting on jewellery.
- Allow sprays and mists like hairspray and perfume to settle before accessorizing.
- Never expose your jewellery to chemicals and solvents such as: paint thinner, nail polish removers, ammonia, bleach, chlorine, peroxide, harsh soaps, detergents, and powdered cleaners.
- Avoid wearing jewellery to the beach. Sunscreen, UV light and sun-heat is damaging to a lot of the stones and metals you’d want to wear to the beach. Seawater is quite harmful to silver and sterling silver, if left on the piece to dry it will discolour. Salt water is the most damaging to porous stones like: amber, opal, pearl, turquoise and lapis lazuli.
- Remove your jewellery for: sleep, showers and baths, cleaning and dish-washing, saunas, hot tubs, steam rooms, swimming, the tanning salon and playing sports.
Surprise! It’s not just a standing mirror, it’s a jewellery cabinet. A fantastic dual purpose piece of furniture with lots of space to grow into. (www.qvc.com)
Jewellery storage
Some jewellery items are more vulnerable than others, but all of it should be protected – even metals can be harmed. Metals will discolour and quickly tarnish from too much exposure to moisture. Heat and UV light from the sun can discolour gems giving them a yellowish to brownish undertone or even lighten the stones coloration, some stones may crack or become brittle and more susceptible to breaking.
- Don’t leave or store jewellery in a damp room such as a bathroom.
- Don’t keep them near a heat source or in the sun (by a radiator, under a window, or in your car).
- Metals can react with one another, to prevent discolouration separate your metals.** Silver and copper react badly when stored together, and create a tarnish that can be difficult to remove.
- If you keep jewellery in your purse or handbag, use a zip close or drawstring bag for protection, or you could purchase a small travel jewellery roll.
- To protect small children and pets have a safe place to store your jewels where they can’t be easily accessed.
- Store individual items or sets in small zip closure bag to keep tarnishable metals bright, tangle free, and prevent wear from rubbing against other pieces.
**Metals: Discolouration, blotching, and accelerated tarnishing will occur if metals are kept in a damp room or stored together at length. It’s best to keep your metals such as gold, gold-fill, vermeil, silver, sterling silver, brass, copper, nickel, and bronze separated from one another.
This hanging pocket organizer is double sided for lots of storage. Hang it from a closet rod or from a door that has a hook. The transparent pockets provide visibility and protection from items getting tangled. (www.organize.com)
Prevent tarnish build-up
To prevent tarnish store your clean pieces individually or by the set in a zip close bag. Since it’s oxygen in the air that causes tarnish here’s a great way to resist oxidation.
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- Find a zip close bag that’s a good size for what you want to store.
- Place the item/s in the bag being careful not tangle them up.
- Insert a straw in one end then close the zip as far as it can go.
- Then suck out the air, remove the straw and close the end of the bag.
This is a also a great way to store other stuff that you want to keep small and water resistant. Sucking out the air from the bag makes it smaller for packing, so this a great way to pack for traveling.
Gemstones to protect
Heat and sun sensitive stones:
Amber, Ammolite, Apatite, Axenite, Bloodstone, Garnet, Malachite, Opals, all Pearls, Rubelite, Tanzanite, Tourmaline, Turquoise. Opals are also highly sensitive to sudden changes in temperature and can dry out and crack.
Avoid rough handling of:
Amber, Ammolite, Apatite, Bloodstone, Emeralds, Geode slices, Labradorite, Malachite, Moonstone, Morganite, Opals, all Pearls, Rubelite, Sodalite, Sunstone, Tanzanite, Tourmaline, Turquoise, Zircon.
Avoid contact with chemicals and solvents:
All gems but especially: Amber, Lapis Lazuli, Malachite, Opals, all Pearls, Sodalite, Turquoise.
Organizing Tips
Check out the photos for tips on jewellery storage options. These images might give you some ideas for a DIY project, use your creativity to come up with solutions that are perfect for your space and decor style.
1. Armoire: Tabletop jewellery armoires provide a lot of storage for a relatively small amount of surface space. Tall freestanding units offer space for jewellery, scarves and sometimes even belts and clutches. (linens n things – www.Int.com) 2. Wall mounted: If you’re tight for space a wall mounted jewellery cabinet is a space-freeing solution. Having a mirror right there when you need is a handy feature. (www.bedbathandbeyond.com) 3. Jewellery stand: Jewellery stands or trees are ideal for a few pieces of your favourite items that you wear frequently. It makes for a lovely display area on a dresser. This style is best suited for non-tarnishable jewellery. (www.organize.com)
Did you ever play the shadow game when you were a kid? I played it at night with only one or two lights on – enough to cast large shadows. The only rule was that you absolutely had to stay in the light. This is how it worked, the first person to reach a designated point or area without any part of their body touching or being in a shadow would win. The dark was a dangerous place where scary things would hide, so it wasn’t a place to be. Staying in the light was safe, as long as you were there nothing could harm you.
