Can't join the fad?

Do you have trouble wearing most pieces of fashion jewelery because it turns your skin green, bothers your ears, or otherwise makes you look like an alien? Feel like you can never have fun with your jewelery because you can only buy the really expensive stuff?

There are options!

there are coatings available that brush on like nail polish and create an invisible barrier between your skin and your jewelery. Some are made from medical grade silicone and have an almost zero reaction rate amongst anyone. This is the same stuff that is used in breast implants, plastic surgery, skin grafts, etc. Although I am not 100% sure I would want to have it inserted permanently into my body, I would not hesitate to wear it against my skin (and even in piercings) for long periods of time.

Metal can react with skin to turn both the metal and your skin green, black, purple or a variety of other colours that are pretty on My Little Ponies (if not necessarily on you). This does not mean that there is something wrong with your jewelery. Some metals just react that way with some people, and the acidity, oils, bacteria, etc. on your skin can make that chemical reaction happen faster or slower than if someone else were to wear the exact same piece.

If your skin reacts to metal by changing colour, a coat of hardware store spray paint (I like high gloss Tremclad at $3.49 a bottle and I am still on my first bottle) that will just coat the metal and keep the air, which is what causes the reactions, out. (I do not think I would use the spray pain on earring posts. Something about spray paint just screams "For external use only").

So go! A whole new world is opened to you for only the cost of a can of spray paint!

Caring for sterling silver jewelery

One of the questions I get asked most often is "How do I keep my sterling silver jewelery as shiny as when I buy it? Believe it or not the answer is pretty simple. Wear it and enjoy it; the more you wear it the cleaner it will stay.

Pure silver is too soft a material to use in most applications, so copper is mixed with fine silver to create sterling silver (7.5% copper 92.5%silver, by weight). It is the copper in sterling silver that oxidizes when it comes into contact with air, and that is what causes shiny silver jewelery to begin to blacken almost immediatly. The oils on your skin create a natural barrier between the silver and the air around it, allowing it to tarnish and a much slower rate than it would otherwise. This principle of "keep the air out" applies to your sterling silver jewelery at all times. When you are not wearing you silver, keep it in an airless location if at all possible.

This is easier to do then you think. Wipe your jewelery with a soft, lint free cloth to remove any fingerprints. Wrap your sterling silver in any acid free piece of tissue, then slip it into a plastic bag. All of my sterling silver pieces come complete with anti-tarnish strips/pouches work by subtly altering the air within them and slowing the oxidation considerably, and thus are another great solution.

Other than that sterling silver needs very little care. Tarnish build up can be removed with a store brand silver polish or polishing cloth.