Care of your silver jewellery

Silver jewellery, and particularly silver rings which are worn often are unfortunately are prone to tarnish.

Sterling silver is a mixed metal, combining pure silver (92.5%)  and copper (7.5%) and it is the copper in the silver that reacts with moisture, and sulphur in the air to create the tarnish. As such the tarnish is produced more quickly in areas with high humidity - like swimming pools.

The tarnish will also happen with different speeds on different people, due to the differing body chemistry and the environments they live in.

I did a blog post a while ago on the basics of how to keep your silver shiny.. and have since found lots of other useful info on the internet about it.

I thought this post was particularly informative on how to clean and care for sterling silver jewellery and covers everything you could possibly wish to know.

There are a lot of other websites which suggest using aluminium foil, and bicarbinate of soda - but I must admit I've not tried it yet. I'm also lucky as I got myself a super dooper ultrasonic cleaner for my workshop, which keeps all my silver nice and shiny, (and you're always welcome to get in touch about sending your jewellery for a go in it!) but I'd love to hear any of your other tips and tricks if you've got any.

To stop the tarnish building up in the first place there are lots of suggestions like not wearing your rings in the shower, or pool, or when you're cleaning etc..

Pah - I don't know about you, but I can't be doing with taking my jewellery on and off all the time.

Apart from anything else I'd forget to put it back on again.

I personally reckon the easiest solution is to keep the tarnish at bay by getting a silver polishing cloth, and giving them a quick rub every day just before you put them on. By keeping the tarnish down in that way, it should never build up to a problem level.

Gold, gold filled, rolled gold.... what!?!

This year I've been working a lot more with gold, and trying to expand the range I can offer in my shop.

I'm working with 9k gold as standard but, I'll be honest with you - it's pricey. And so I do like to offer a more economical option, with that same golden loveliness.

So here they are... gold filled stacking rings are now available in a Becky Pearce Designs shop near you.

Labradorite gold filled ring

BUT what the heck is gold fill? Is it the same as rolled gold and gold plate? Is it going to wear off?

Gold filled metal is made by heat and pressure bonding gold onto a base metal (usually brass) core. Basically sandwiching the base metal. The important thing is that the proportion of the gold on the metal has to be at least 20% of the total weight, so it's quite a substantial amount compared to gold plating where the gold is a microscopic film rather than an actual layer.

The gold filled material I'm using at the moment is 20% gold, but I believe you can also get 40% gold material.

Rolled gold is not quite as good quality - the proportion of gold is less than 20%. So whilst it is still in a layer form rather than a film, and is therefore better than gold plated goods - it will wear more readily than gold filled.

Textured gold filled rings
(available in yellow and rose gold)

I have been trying to get an idea of the kind of wear you can expect with gold filled material, especially in comparison with gold plating which we all know about - and found this info on Wiki.

"Gold-filled items, even with daily wear, can last five to 30 years but will eventually wear through. The gold layer on gold-plated jewelry varies greatly depending on manufacturer, so there is no single, simple comparison. Gold-filled items are 50 to 100,000 times thicker than regular gold plating, and 17 to 25,000 times thicker than heavy gold electroplate (sometimes stamped HGE or HGP—usually found oncubic zirconia "cocktail rings")."

The recommendation is to treat your gold filled jewellery just as you would gold. Gently clean with a soft cloth every now and again, and make sure you take it off before swimming and it should last for years and years.

I'm fairly new to this material, so will be experimenting and playing with the designs I can do. It can apparently be slightly tricky to solder, so designs which require more than one or two solder joints are probably out for now, but I'll keep you posted about how I'm find it to work with.

Gift guide - Teens and tweens

Gifts for teenagers

Tweens and teens are so tricky to buy for at Christmas. They're often too old for toys, and everyone else will be stuck for inspiration too, so will get vouchers - so what else is there?

In my mission to spread the word about handmade goodness here's some of my top handmade picks that would make perfect gifts for teenagers (and tweens) this Christmas.  

1 - Upcycled postage stamp notebook2 -  Girls chalkboard3 - Smiley emoticon cushion
4 - Fairytale Zines5 - iphone cover6 - Football girl box
Of course, I've got some rather lovely pieces of jewellery that would be perfect for teenagers too. Often schools allow girls to wear earrings as long as they're discreet and small. These fine silver stars are a great option. 

Fine silver stars

 My birthstone rings range are also a lovely option. Choose their birthstone for a gift with extra meaning, or their favourite colour. My soon to be 10 year old has requested one for her birthday in a couple of weeks.

Turquoise birthstone ring

These delicate vintage glass necklaces are something a little bit special, and something no-one else will have. The monochrome colouring is a teen favourite.

Vintage glass pendant

I'd love to know what you think of these; and if you have any other great ideas to share please put them in a comment below. 

Bye bye 2012.....

....and hello 2013.

I admit I'm usually itching to get the house cleaned up and "de-Christmassed" from Boxing Day onwards, but now it's all over and the dust has settled, the house seems so empty without the Christmas decs... And it'll be even emptier tomorrow when the kids go back. (sniffle)

I just couldn't say goodbye to some bits of Christmas, so this will be hanging on our back gate for a little while.

But truly, if I never see another piece of cheese again it'll be too soon.

I can't wait to get back to work properly tomorrow. I have a feeling 2013 is going to be a very good year. I've got lots of ideas - I just need to make them real.

Happy (slightly belated) New Year to you all.

New Studio - Update

Our builders have been really cracking on with the build. It'll be 3 weeks tomorrow. (Is that all??)
And my new studio has changed from this....

To this...

and yesterday the front wall started going up...!

I must point out that I'm only having a teeny corner of what was the garage, not the whole thing (now wouldn't that be nice?) but I do know I'm a very lucky girl to be getting a little room I can leave all my stuff out in. Not ideal to have oxygen and propane tanks in reach of the kids!

Jewellery Inspiration - Our pond!

We've got a lovely little patio pond in the new (or now, not so new) house. It's really not big at all, (think very, very small) but it's so nice to have a pond, however teeny. Obviously, whilst the kids are small, and with me looking after other peoples kids quite often; it's not so safe to have a pond. But I couldn't bear to fill it in (where would all the frogs go...?)

So instead we've fitted a grid system over it, that's strong enough for Richard to stand on, but which has holes in big enough for frogs to use it as a climbing frame, and birds to still be able to have a splash and a drink, but small enough for the kids to be safe. Perfect!

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how well it's working for the lily pads - they seem to be pointing upwards a bit too much, as they can't just float on the top of the water, but we're getting some lovely flowers poking through too..



Aren't they beautiful? What a fantastic shape, they remind me of a spirograph - all long curves, and many, many petals. And those colours, especially against the green of the pads.

As you've probably guessed, they've given me a bit of inspiration for some jewellery too.... watch this space.....

Sneaky peak.....(new handmade jewellery)

Here's a quick sneaky peak of some new brass and turquoise jewellery

I just love this colour combination.

I'll be listing it in the folksy shop very soon!

A new blog?

(Picture by D Sharon Pruitt)

The other day I was thinking about starting another blog. A shiney new blog all about my the non jewellery part of my life.

 I've started making a quilt, and I also want to get a letterpress kit to play with. To be honest I always have some crafty experiement or other on the go, and as we're planning on moving house soon I can imagine these craft exploits becoming more and more frequent as I try to get the new place (when/ if we find it!) cosy and organised.

I also wanted to have a nice new blog about what I get up to with the kids. Trips out, projects we actually get around to completing. Life in general. All the stuff it's so easy to forget as they get older.

But THIS blog, now this blog is just to document my jewellery making adventures; new designs, inspiration, other lovely stuff I've seen along the way.

Hmm..

I have to admit, I get a lot of my inspiration from nature, and the world around me, but it doesn't change each week.

And as I venture more into silversmithing, given my increasingly hectic "real life" things are going to take a bit longer to make. But I definitely want to blog relatively frequently - because whose going to read a blog that gets updated once a month? - I know I don't.

So to cut a long story short,  to stop beating around the bush, to stop prevaricating..... I thought I'd combine it all into one blog. THIS blog can include all of the different bits of my life that I want to blog about. It will still have the same amount of jewellery, but a little more of the other stuff as well.

If you blog, how do you do it? Do you have separate blogs for different things. Am I making a big bloggy mistake?

Folksy Friday - Listings found with the term "Sky"

Here are some gorgeous items I found using the search term "Sky" - aren't they fab? Random search terms on Folksy can really make you appreciate the amazing artists and makers who are involved on the site. Click on the pictures to go through to the individual shops.

And as I've gone with a sky theme I couldn't resist adding in an item of my own...

a fine silver cloud with turquoise raindrops!

Photo background

On a trip this weekend to the local pet shop to buy a goldfish for the girls I finally spotted some grey slate stone in a dark corner to use as a background in my pictures. I've been looking in garden centres and the like for ages!

These are some rather hurried photos I took in the garden this afternoon, without a light box - so please excuse the poor lighting, overshine, and reflection of me and the camera in the shot!

I will re-do the pictures when I have longer than five minutes to spend, but I really needed to get them listed.

I really like the dark grey against the silver - it really makes it stand out, so you can see the all the detail, which I usually find really tricky with my the more subtle silver and crystal jewellery.

I love my tumbler...

One piece of equipment which makes my life so much easier is my tumbler. I admit it's a luxury rather than a necessity but do I love the shine on my jewellery after it's been in there for an hour or two.

I'm not sure how much you'll be able to see in a very hurridly taken pics, but here is the "before" shot of that reef knot bangle I started many moons ago, and which has been sitting in my W.I.P mountain ever since....

and here is the "after"...

I know it's tricky because the photos are taken in different light, but I assure you the difference in real life is HUGE.

My tumbler, my beautiful, lovely tumbler, which saves me HOURS of cleaning was a very cheapo one from Manchester Minerals.

(which is incidentally a fab site for lots of other bits and bobs.)

You basically get some stainless steel shot which is a variety of different shapes of stainless steel, put it in a plastic barrel and fill to two thirds full with water - add a squirt of washing up liquid and away you go. Yes I know you can use other shot, and I know you are recommended to buy fancy barreling soap and allsorts, but this does me just fine for now. The tumbler basically just rolls the mix round and round until the little bits of shot have cleaned up all the little corners of the jewellery.

Just be warned, the time saved in polishing and cleaning by hand can be spent trying to find your little  shiney silver items amongst all the little shiney silvery coloured shot.  I must admit I've had some recycled silver studs in there for over a week now, which I can't find - I need to seive it out and replace the water, but that can wait.