How to Clean and Care for your Jewelry.

You just inherited your grandmother’s sterling silver cuff and, man, it looks dirty! How do you clean Native American jewelry or sterling silver? Do you throw it away, soak in chemicals or bust out a pair of old denim?  Patina and Native American jewelry go together like cheese on pizza. A lot of times artist will put an instant patina on new pieces to give an antique finish. If you are one of the people who enjoy the patina of your jewelry, then often no cleaning or polishing is necessary outside of a slight rub down on an old pair of denim jeans. You can consider using a polishing cloth to give your jewelry a bit of shine without removing the patina. 

Native American jewelry is made using a strategic technique to intentionally blacken areas know as oxidation. Applying solutions would remove the oxidization of the piece ruining the artist intention. We recommend you only use denim or a silver polish cloth on all your southwestern jewelry pieces. Turquoise, white buffalo, coral and shells and very fragile pieces and should be used with gently care. A silver polish cloth is felt like material with a special non scratch micro abrasive. You just rub the spot with medium force serval times to remove tarnish or even light scratches.

REMEMBER Vintage pieces are highly sought after, so please do not polish off the patina!

Many cabochons (stones) are set on sawdust to create a softer surface for the stone to lay on. If you see sawdust on a broken piece of jewelry don’t freak out. This is verification you have a great piece of jewelry. You will find stones set like this on rings, necklaces, squash blossoms, earrings etc.  If submerged in liquid, the packing behind the stones can swell, causing the stones to pop out of place. Gentle dry-cleaning methods are much safe. 

DO NOT submerge stone jewelry in any liquid.

DO NOT use hairspray or harsh chemicals/cleaning products on or around your jewelry

DO NOT wash with soap and water.

DO NOT remove all the patina on your items. Patina shows authenticity and character.

DO NOT store in airtight plastic bags.

DO NOT attempt to reshape or bend jewelry.

DO NOT use Chemicals! Chemicals will discolor and damage your stone, only use gently soap if you must you a soap.

Here are a few things you can do to preserve the quality of your jewelry:

• Remove your jewelry when cleaning or using harsh household chemicals. Many chemicals in household cleaners can cause the jewelry to tarnish and corrode or even change the color of the stone.

• Keep out of sunlight and open air as this can cause excessive tarnishing.

• Makeup, hairspray, perfumes, and lotions can speed up tarnishing, so be sure to put your jewelry on at the very last step of getting ready.

• Remember to line the drawer, or whatever you store jewelry in, in an anti-tarnish cloth. Another great option are anti-tarnish jewelry bags.

If you follow the steps above, store your items appropriately your genuine authentic sterling silver native American jewelry will last a lifetime. If you have further questions on how to store or clean your turquoise and sterling silver jewelry, please reach out to us for directions. 

You can see in the image below the ring on the left was left out in excessive heat and not stored properly. The ring on the right has been stored in our exclusive anti tarnish bag. With the help of a silver polish cloth, we were able to restore the ring in less than a minute with no chemicals.