I own quite a bit of jewellery, and I follow the below tips to add
years to my junk jewellery. I still own pieces from 8 years back, which look
spanking new even today.
1. Suffocate: Avoid Oxidation
Oxidation is the process by which the metal
comes in contact with air, thereby losing its sheen. In humid climate, metal also
develops a green coating on top to prevent from further oxidation.
Store your jewellery in ziplock bags or
plastic containers. It will add years to your jewellery and by not exposing
your jewellery to air, your jewellery will look sparkling new.
2. Villainous Humidity
Another villain that strips life from your jewellery is ‘Humidity’. Lot of people wear their jewellery to shower, and that should be avoided at all cost. In case of junk jewellery, most stones/rhinestones are attached to the base using Super glue/Fevicol and constant water exposure will weaken the glue, thereby leading to stone fall outs. Always make it a habit to remove your junk jewellery, especially earring before shower. You can always pat dry your jewellery with a tissue, in case its wet accidentally.3. Tangled
Have you ever faced this horror, most people dump all their delicate jewellery especially, neck chains in a bowl or somewhere, leading to one big tangled mess. Pulling or trying to remove the knot can lead to wear and tear.
As I have emphasized before, try storing your
jewellery in separate ziplock bags or plastic containers. If you are
constrained for storage space, another easy way is to wrap each delicate
jewellery in a tissue and put it all together in a box. Sometimes, even if you
are extra careful, the chain may get tangled by itself and gets knotted. One thing that you can to avoid this
situation is to lay the chain straight. If you have pieces that you wouldn’t mind losing
a bit of shine, but want to avoid tangles at all cost, hang them on a coat
hanger like how I have done.
4. Bedazzled
One advantage of wrapping up your
be-jewelled pieces in tissue is that in case a rhinestone or two fall out, it
will be safely held in the paper, and you can glue it right back.
5. Lost
One major mommy habit is to store stuff in different places and this is true for earrings/studs. In the end, my mom runs around the house searching for one half of the earring. This step would require a little patience. Always store your earrings in pairs. Take a small piece of paper and store it as a couple as shown in the below image. In this case, you will never lose one of them ever again and the pair will be forever united.
These are some of the tips that have worked well for me over the
years. Feel free to comment, and let me know what is your favorite tip to preserve your jewellery.