Jewelry Care & Restoration: Preserving Timeless Pieces for Generations
Imagine noticing a gemstone is suddenly missing from one of your favorite pieces of jewelry. Talk about your day being automatically ruined! To prevent this kind of catastrophe, it’s always a good idea to have your settings periodically checked. The last thing we (or you!) want is to have a crisis happen because some component is nearing, or on, its deathbed. When it comes to jewelry upkeep, proactive measures are always more beneficial than reactive ones.
If you know our store, you know we offer complimentary cleaning for your jewelry anytime you want your items spruced up. Before we begin our renowned spa regimen, we always check over your prized possessions to ensure that everything is in good condition. Below is a sampling of what we inspect when giving your jewelry a good scrub and why it’s important!
The first thing to inspect is the settings themselves. Common types of settings include prongs, channels, and bezels. Each of these are prone to being worn down or broken over time as they are knocked into or rubbed against other things. Needing to have any of them repaired isn’t the most exciting news to receive, however it is one of the most common issues we run across. I’m sure most of us would rather put that money towards coffee runs, dinners out, or new shoes, but it’s more cost effective to re-tip or replace a prong rather than the entire mounting or heirloom gemstone.
Life expectancy of a setting is completely dependent on how hard the items are being worn. For instance, rings that are used while gardening, going to the gym, or just being plain clumsy can drastically reduce the time before maintenance is required. Pendants or earrings on the other hand shouldn’t see too much wear and tear, but are prone to snags from clothing, pets, and yanking from young ones. Depending on how quickly the wear is spotted will affect what work needs to be done. If material is wearing, but there is still over 40% of the original material, we can usually re-tip a prong to build its strength back up. When too much material is lost and the prong becomes “flat”, tipping may no longer be an option as building strength on top of something as thin as tinfoil will not withstand the test of time! If this is the case, or if the prong is already missing, you will need to replace the prong in its entirety. Depending on how many prongs, or tips need to be replaced, it can sometimes be more beneficial to replace the head, or full setting. This can not only be the most cost-effective solution in some instances, but instead of patching a worn and tired setting with small repair after small repair, by replacing the full head or setting, you can rest assured that your treasured diamonds and gemstones will be set safely in a singular cast piece of precious metal. This will inherently be a stronger and more resilient solution.
Gird your loins; we’re going to continue talking about loose stones and wonky settings, but this next section is not for the squeamish! Jewelry becomes gunky over time, especially when worn often. That shouldn’t come as a shock. Afterall, we shed skin cells, we smother our bodies in lotions and potions, we cook, we eat, we exercise, we do all the things with our jewelry on. It’s maybe not the best idea to wear your rings when it comes to sticking your hands in a meatball mix or chowing down on a few tacos. Our activities create gunk. The gunk often cements stones in, so we don’t even notice they’re loose or if a setting is not doing its job properly until AFTER it has been cleaned. This is why we check your jewelry both before and after cleaning. It often fills in worn down channels or cracked undercarriages. Moral of the story? Have us get rid of the gunk. Let us clean your jewelry so we can see what’s really going on with it. And please. Step away from the meatball mix while wearing rings.
On a less gross topic, when looking over necklaces, pendants, and bracelets, we like to make sure clasps are working as they should and jump rings or links are not pulling apart. If you give us your pearl necklaces, we’ll make sure they’re not super stretched out or fraying. Did you know that when restringing pearl necklaces we even go as far as to count each individual pearl, because the added stretch of the necklaces can change the overall length of the newly strung necklace by a full inch or more pending the amount of pearls! All of these pieces tend to get caught on clothing, hair, and other objects that wiggle their way between you and get tangled and knotted, and they’re often rubbing against pendant bails or other pieces of jewelry. These little occurrences can all create stress points or cause parts to loosen up and pull open. As with stone settings, it’s better to catch these issues early on before pearls go flying or chains, bracelets, or pendants go missing.
Sometimes when we catch things that are cause for concern with your jewelry, they’re not repairs that require immediate attention. Problem spots like thinning shanks and bridges, notched tails or heads, or rhodium that’s wearing away don’t necessarily demand immediate action. However, it’s always nice to be conscious of impending repairs so you can plan on having our jeweler tackle them within the recommended time frame.
Regular cleaning and checks can prevent a lot of stress and added expenses. They help keep your jewelry looking fabulous and add to its longevity! We love surprises, but we know that not all surprises are good ones. The more in tune you are with the health and wellness of your jewelry, the less unpleasant surprises you’ll experience overall with your treasured, heirloom, sentimental, or just plain loved jewelry. Whenever you want your items shined up and checked over, bring them in! We always want to help keep your jewelry looking oh so fabulous.
Come see us anytime, or if you're in a time crunch, book an appointment with anyone of our helpful staff.
