Do you avoid wearing silver because you worry about it tarnishing or turning your skin green?
Let me tell you why that happens and why that won’t happen with my jewellery.
Did you know that sterling silver is actually only 92.5% silver? The other 7.5% is another alloy, usually copper. It is in fact this copper that reacts with the acid in your skin and turns it green. Since we all have differing pH levels in our skin, some people find this happens more than others.
So the easy way to avoid green skin is to avoid copper.
My jewellery is made from Fine Silver, this is the purest form of silver you can get at 99.9% silver (don’t ask me what the other 0.1% is, I’m afraid I don’t know).
Since it’s pure silver it also contains no Nickel, which is another metal found in sterling silver that commonly causes skin reactions and which is why people often think that they are allergic to silver. They are more likely to be to the nickel.
What about tarnish?
Tarnish is slightly different, all silver will tarnish over time. Tarnish is caused by a reaction in the air, but it is increased by contact with products like soap and perfume. Sterling silver tarnishes far more quickly than fine silver.
How to get rid of tarnish?
The simplest way it to avoid it in the first place, a low cost silver polishing cloth used regularly will keep your jewellery looking shiny and bright. As fine silver is a soft metal, just be careful not to rub too hard at your detailed prints.
A little tarnish called a patina, is purposefully added to some of my pieces to bring out the detail in the prints. I do not recommend using salt baths or any method of cleaning that involve submerging your jewellery as you could end up removing this indented blackening of the silver.
If your charm has become heavily tarnished, this can usually be removed with some good quality silver polish. I use Glanol, but there are other brands available that are just as good.
If you’d like your keepsake jewellery freshened up free of charge, just drop me a message and arrange to post it to me. I will happily give it a clean and polish for you and if necessary reapply the patina to the prints.
