Cleaning Custom Designed Jewelry

I came across this article about the care and cleaning of your fine jewelry.  Custom designed jewelry, if properly designed for wear, requires very little maintenence overall, but you will want to inspect it periodically for loose stones and have it cleaned once in a while.  You can perform a quick test yourself by pressing lightly on both sides of the stones in your piece with a pair of thin tweezers.  If they wiggle at all bring it in to a jeweler to have the stone re-set.  This shouldn't be a substitute for having a trained eye periodically inspect the piece, but it's a good habit to get in, in-between inspections and cleanings.

Here are some more tips from www.barbieinablender.org:

Training Your Fine Jewelry:

The first thing you should do is to give your fine jewelry its own little space for when it is not being worn and train it to stay there. Jewelry items do not live or party well together. Much of the damage, other than wear, that is done to jewelry happens in jewelry boxes. Stones scratch each other and the metals around them.

 

Cleaning Your Fine Jewelry:

The best way to clean your fine jewelry is with a soft (used) toothbrush and a mild dish detergent. If the pieces are very dirty, you can soak them in detergent and water.

 

Any competent jeweler can polish items on occasion, but this process also removes small amounts of metal and so should be used sparingly.

 

Checking for Wear and Tear:

Over time, gold and silver will wear down. This can happen over months or years. This can be a problem for people who do certain kinds of work. The solution to this type of problem is the use of heavier metal in the prongs, the use of platinum for the setting or the use of a bezel setting to secure the stone. Prongs should be checked occasionally and if thin they should be replaced.

If you invest in quality made pieces you will have very little maintenance to worry about, aside from the occasional cleaning.  It's worth investing in better work simply for the piece of mind.

Here is an excellent video on cleaning your jewelry from Youtube.

 

The Richmond, by Chris Van Dyke

Here is the latest custom ring design by Chris Van Dyke.  14k gold, huge natural peridot, and diamonds circling the stone and on the side.

 

Suzanne Evon Fine Jewelry

Fine Asheville jewelry by Suzanne Evon.

Suzanne Evon is a fine metal jewelry artist and member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild.  She makes beautiful jewelry with different layers and shapes, often with a mix of metals.

To quote Suzanne:

While attending Parsons School of Design I discovered my greatest skill was in wax carving. With this skill, and a passion for medieval metalwork and architecture, Q Evon Design was born.

In 1992, I began as a small production business that grew to several hundred gallery and catalog accounts worldwide.

My work has always reflected a love for ancient metalwork and architecture. My current collections combine both gold and silver with an emphasis on texture. Reticulation, anti-clastic raising, acid etching, granulation, roller printing and the ancient art of keum-boo are combined to create rich metal tapestry.

Currently living in Weaverville, NC, Suzanne has lived and worked all around the country, first as an actress and model, and later working with jewelry under master jewelers and at school.  Her work is featured at galleries throughout the country and the Asheville area.

You can see her work, as well as many other fine Asheville jewelers, at the next Southern Highland Craft Show, October 21-24.

Visit her website at :http://www.qevon.com

 

"Temporal" by Chris Van Dyke

Here is the latest custom designed Asheville jewelry by Chris Van Dyke.  Temporal was just finished  using a large piece of boulder opal that we've had just waiting to be set.

You can clearly see the influence of his dad in this piece, where Chris began learning the jewelry trade.

Representing at least 20 hrs. of work to make from the ground up, Temporal includes a large amount of white and yellow gold, a 32.8ct. boulder opal, and 2 round diamonds at .2 and .21 ct.

This piece reminds us of a sundial and represents the value of time.  Temporal seems fitting.

A Better Sterling Silver

Finally, we have a true tarnish resistant sterling!

Sterling silver is traditionally 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper, hence the traditional number we see on most silver, 925.  Argentium is a new type of silver patented by the Argentium Silver Company located in the UK, that replaces some of the copper with germanium while still keeping 92.5% silver.  Keeping this amount of silver in the metal allows it to still be called sterling.

Argentium sterling is far more resistant to tarnish, a drawback of silver that has plagued jewelers and buyers since it's been used for decoration.  This is a true breakthrough for ease of use and maintenance free wear.  

With the price of gold being through the roof, we now have a great silver option that's almost as easy to own.

New York 2 By Terry Van Dyke

Chris' dad Terry brought us some beautiful work down from Bloomsburg, PA a couple of months ago.  We were finally able to take some pictures that do the piece justice.  All of Terry's work is completely hand made with impeccable detail and has an extravagant look.  Wow, now we know where Chris gets it.

This piece makes a statement with an opal onyx doublet, mother of pearl, 28pt. diamond and five other cabochon gemstones.  All of this is set with a mix of white and yellow gold.

We have it hung on a gold strand necklace made in Germany.

Custom Design Jewelry

Sapphire Pendant, Chris Van Dyke

Custom design jewelry is a fun way to save some money and get and new design that's uniquely your own.  That ring you have had sitting around since the 70's can be made into a nice pendant, or take some links out of a bracelet to do the same.  We recently had a customer come in that found an estate piece she liked, a bracelet, that was too big.  One option we gave her was taking some of the links off to make a matching pendant, something that is easily done with a very little amount of gold and labor.  For just a little more then the price of the bracelet she would have a matching set!

Another option for custom design jewelry is trading in some of your old gold jewelry to add or enhance some of your other pieces.  With gold being at over 1000/oz., the price of gold jewelry gets up there fast.  If you trade some of in you can offset this cost, and even come out ahead if you look into estate or work that was done some years ago.  Jewelers, like every other retailer, want to move their older inventory and make room for new inventory.  This includes custom design jewelry that's been made and sitting in the case for a few years.

Opal Ring, Chris Van Dyke

You can also use the credit from your gold trade in to add some fresh work to an existing estate piece.  The possibilities are endless, and its fun to help design a unique piece custom design jewelry yourself.  There is something about knowing that what you are wearing is  created by you and a trusted jeweler. You never know, you might just start getting interested in different stones or the virtues of various types of metal.  You could be the only one you know who knows what a rutilated quartz is!