When you purchase vintage jewelry and antique jewelry pieces, you’ll want to preserve their beauty and value. A few quick tips will get you on the right track:

• Wear vintage jewelry with care: Vintage jewelry is difficult to repair, so wear it with care. Remove your jewelry when using household cleaners and when doing physical activities.   
• Store vintage jewelry separately: Store jewelry separately in soft, zipped-up pouches to protect your pieces from the elements and from dust, which is abrasive.
• Use a jewelry polishing cloth: Keep it simple: Use a special jewelry polishing cloth to keep jewelry dust-free.    
• Remove grime from vintage jewelry: Use a baby wipe or glass cleaner and a soft cloth to remove grime from stones.     
• Keep vintage jewelry dry: Never place vintage jewelry and antique jewelry directly under running water.

Although nothing beats careful use, you can follow a few steps to make sure your watches live long and healthy lives:

• Watch the temperature: Never leave your watch in extreme hot or cold temperatures.    
• Stay away from magnets: Do not expose quartz watches to magnets.    
• Keep your watch clean: Clean your watch regularly to remove sweat, dirt, and oil. Wipe the crystal, case, and band with a soft cloth. Leather bands benefit from skin oil, but you still want to remove excess dirt. Clean metal bands with soap, water, and a soft brush if needed.    
• Take your mechanical watch to the pros: Take your mechanical watch to a professional when gears need cleaning and for regular gear maintenance every three to five years.

Pearls have a classic look and you can help them keep their polish.

• Store pearls properly:Pearls are not as hard as mineral gemstones. To prevent chipping, pearl jewelry should be stored in soft cloth, away from other jewels.    
• Put on your pearls last: When dressing, put on pearls only after applying hairspray, cosmetics, perfume or other potentially harmful substances that might stain them.    
• Clean your pearls: Do not clean pearls with any type of solvent or abrasive. To best maintain your pearls, wipe them after use with a soft cloth, like those used for eyeglasses. Unlike chemicals, the oils from your skin actually help keep pearls moist, so even soapy water is unnecessary for cleaning pearls.   
• Restring your pearls: Professionals recommend that you restring pearls every few years as strings can wear down and break if not maintained.

A lot can happen when you wear platinum jewelry, gold jewelry, and silver jewelry every day. However, you can do your part to keep your precious metals looking their best.

• Be mindful of where you wear precious metal jewelry: Avoid wearing scratch-prone precious metal jewelry during rough manual work or activities. Do not let metals come in contact with harsh chemicals or abrasive surfaces.
• Properly store your silver jewelry: Store silver in a cool, dry dark place. To slow tarnishing, do not store silver jewelry directly on wood or plastic.
• Regularly clean precious metal jewelry: Clean gold jewelry and platinum jewelry with soap, water, and a cloth or soft brush if needed. Wash silver with soap and water and dry it thoroughly with a soft cloth. Clean tarnished silver with a commercial polish, paste, or tarnish-removing wipe. Silver polish may remove intentional oxidation (shading of the metal), requiring professional re-oxidation.
• Look out for damage: Inspect jewelry regularly for damage or loosening, and have it professionally repaired if the need arises.
• Take precious metal jewelry to regular checkups: Have a professional jeweler regularly inspect metal jewelry to make sure prongs and bezels remain intact

Take a few steps to help your gemstones maintain their color and clarity.

• Store your gemstones: Jewels need space to remain free of chips. Store gemstones individually in soft cloth pouches and prevent jewels from bumping against one another.
• Clean your gemstones regularly: Dust, skin oil and other unclean substances can cause your gemstones to lose their sparkle. Clean them from time to time in soap and water. Then let them air dry and polish them with a soft cloth.
• Remove dirt from gemstones: Occasional brushing with a worn, soft-bristled toothbrush can help remove dirt from between crevices. For more resistant blemishes, use a weak solution of ammonia and water (about one part to four parts) and a soft brush.
• Respect metal jewelry settings: Treat metal settings gently. Gold can scratch. Although four-prong, six-prong, and low-profile channel or bezel settings offer your gemstone more protection than other settings, you should ask your jeweler to make sure your gemstones sit tight in their settings to help prevent stones from falling out.
• Know when to have a pro clean your gemstones: Annual checkups with a jeweler help keep your gemstones clean and properly situated in their settings. A jeweler can clean gems with steam or ultrasound, though ultrasound can make internal fissures or flaws worse.

Help your diamonds maintain their natural sparkle.

• Store diamonds individually: Although diamonds are the hardest naturally occurring substance on Earth, they can still chip. Store diamonds individually in soft cloth pouches that prevent jewels from bumping against one another.
• Clean diamonds regularly: Dust, skin oil, and other substances can cause your diamonds to lose their sparkle. Clean your diamonds regularly in soap and water. Air dry and polish with a soft cloth.
• Remove dirt from diamonds: Occasional brushing with a worn, soft-bristled toothbrush can help remove dirt from between crevices. For more resistant blemishes, use a weak solution of ammonia and water (about one part to four parts) and a soft brush.
• Protect metal jewelry settings: Treat metal settings gently as gold can scratch. Also, regularly ask your jeweler to make sure your diamonds sit tight in their settings to help prevent stones from falling out.
• Know the ins and outs of professional cleaning: A jeweler can clean diamonds with steam or ultrasound, though ultrasound can worsen internal fissures or flaws.

Swarovski crystals are meticulously crafted in Austria to the highest standards of quality, and are machine cut to provide flawless consistency. Their rich color and captivating sparkle will make your jewelry or craft designs unforgettable! Because of the special characteristics of these crystals, there are imitators all over the internet. So the Swarovski company creates its glass with a special compound that cannot be duplicated and the delicate color palette also sets the Swarovski apart from all the imitators.

The following are some basic guides to remember when you bid on what you think might be genuine Swarovski crystal components:

• The Swarovski Swan Logo will NOT be used by reputable dealers selling beads and components!

The Swan logo is only used for their Jewelry and Gift line. It is illegal to be used in conjunction with the beads or other components.

• Swarovski crystals are sold in bulk packages, not by the string!

Depending on the size, the bulk packages will range from 10 gross to 1/2 gross and will be in well branded, sealed envelopes. The very newest Swarovski bulk pack will be sealed with the authentic Silver-tone Hologram which says, Crystalized.

• Since Swarovski crystals are machine cut, each crystal will be the same as the next!

That means that all Swarovski crystals will have the very same height, the same width and the same slope. An imposter bead will not be uniform and you may even notice different dimensions in their beads.

• Because Swarovski uses a computer to calculate the precision cutting of the facets, all facet junctures will meet at precisely the same point!

According to Swarovski, “cutting hard materials such as crystal and gems, in such a way that they have a hundred identical facets in several directions, is a very complicated task; each direction of the reflected light must first be calculated by computer, then this has to be simulated in 3D, optimized and finally converted into control programs for complex machinery.” This is part of the technology that give Swarovski crystals their flash.

The precision cutting of Swarovski machinery allows each crystal to have its facet juncture “pointing up”.

This means the facet junctures all meet at precisely the same point. This is a similar aspect of diamond faceting. See the illustration above. This is an example of the round Swarovski crystals, but the same effort goes into the bi-cone and other crystals.

The AB finish Swarovski crystals all have a uniform surface luster!
You will not see any swirling marks from the vacuum process that produces the AB finish. The imposters often have scratches or swirl marks (looks like an oily surface), and is caused by the lower quality of the finish.

When you look inside the Swarovski crystals, you will not see any bubbles!
If you do, kindly ask for your money back because you have bought fake crystals!

Swarovski crystals will out-shine and out-sparkle lesser beads because of the special glass compounds!

One of the more common metal allergies that people may have is to Nickel. Some people develop Nickel allergy, from wearing jewellery, particularly earrings, made of unsuitable metals.
nickel free means that if you are allergic to nickel you don’t have to worry because it does not contain any nickel
 

I Believe that some of you  have beautiful sterling silver jewelry and for some reason its loosing the color. You must heard there are ways to keep it in a good color, and good and easy ways to do that ? Here is the answer for you.

1. To clean the jewelry all you really need is a plain toothbrush and a white paste type toothpaste, gently scrub the necklace then rinse really well. This does not hurt your jewelry and is very inexpensive.
2. To keep it clean, go to your local fabric shop and ask them for anti-tarnish fabric, they make this for lining jewelry boxes and silver flatware boxes, you should only need a little of this say a 1/4 yard. Keep all you silver jewelry wrapped in this when not wearing it and clean it every so often.
3. Try not to spray any of your jewelry with purfume or hairspray it just gunks it up.