How to care for your artwork.

Lotions, natural skin oils, and even pollution can cause metal to tarnish.  I highly recommend taking your jewelry off when swimming in salt water or chlorine, doing dishes or cleaning with chemicals.  All of these things will unfortunately damage your jewelry.  For the outside framework of your artwork or ring I use sterling silver and the delicate filigree wires are made with fine silver and may even include gemstones.  When not wearing your jewelry, I recommend keeping it in a plastic bag or your gift box, this will help reduce tarnishing.  

To help remove tarnish from your piece, I recommend soaking it in warm water with a few drops of mild dish soap (I have used blue Dawn soap) for about 10 minutes.  After soaking, you can use a soft toothbrush to gently clean the piece.  Be sure to use a delicate hand when cleaning the fine filigree wires.  After the piece is clean, gently pat it dry with a soft cloth.  Included with your purchase is a piece of Sunshine Polishing cloth as an additional way to help shine up your art.  You can continue to reuse the Sunshine Cloth even after it becomes darkened from the tarnish (do not wash the Sunshine Cloth).  I would avoid polishing the filigree wire, unless you would like the fine wires to be shiny, over time this could happen naturally with wear and your piece will still look great.