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bead + jewelry care
Below are some useful tips to care for your new glass beads and/or jewelry.
Glass beads
Even though each glass bead has been properly kiln annealed to ensure its strength and durability, the beads are still made of soft glass and can crack or break if mistreated. The beads are strong enough to be used in everyday jewelry, however I’ve listed some helpful tips and guidelines below to keep in mind when handling your new beads.
- Try not to drop your beads on hard surfaces such as concrete. The rough and hard texture of the concrete can chip your beads and even crack them.
- Protect your beads at the holes by using metal or plastic spacers when using them in jewelry projects. Try not to wire wrap against your glass beads, or you may accidentally scratch or chip the beads.
- To clean your beads, wipe each bead with a damp, soft cloth. Windex works great to remove fingerprints and oils from the glass.
- Be sure to keep glass etching solution away from your glass beads. If even a drop of the solution comes in contact with one of your beads, it may ruin that bead completely.
- If one of your beads should crack, chip or break, be sure to promptly throw it away to prevent cuts. I am happy to replace broken beads.
Note: It is not recommended to give glass beads or jewelry made with glass beads to children under 12.
Jewelry
If you purchased jewelry that was created using sterling silver, be sure to keep the following in mind:
- Do not store your jewelry in the open air and humidity for extended periods of time since it can cause the sterling silver to tarnish quickly. Sterling silver tarnishes naturally by oxidation and moisture from the air and even sunlight. As such, store your pieces in an air-tight bag made of a tarnish-proof material. A polyethylene ziploc bag works well.
- Even though your jewelry is designed to be scratch resistant (by using sterling silver versus fine silver), it still isn't 100% scratch-proof. As such, be sure to store your jewelry away from other pieces so the items aren't rubbing against each other. Storing your jewelry in a ziploc bag, as mentioned above, will also protect your jewelry from scratches.
- Be sure to clean your sterling silver jewelry with a soft, 100% cotton or flannel cloth and gently rub off any excess make-up or residue. Silver is a soft metal, which can be scratched if rubbed too briskly. Paper, polyester, and coarse fabrics often contain wood fibers or synthetics, that can cause tiny scratches in the surface of your sterling silver jewelry.
- Heavily tarnished pieces require a deeper cleaning using a silver cleaner or polish spray.
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