Product Care

Jewelry Care

It’s called Fine Jewelry for a reason!

Keep in mind, each piece of jewelry from Heather J. Studios is handcrafted and should be treated with tender loving care to make sure you share a long, happy life together. Here are some friendly tips to make sure your fine pieces of jewelry stay fine.

Fine Jewelry Care Commandments:

THOU SHALL NOT Take your jewelry for a dip in the pool, hot tub, spa, shower, sauna, slip and slide, pond, ocean, etc. You chance damaging your pieces and even more so losing them. Remember that dude walking around with the metal detector at the beach…..guess what he just found. Also, even though pearls come from water, they do not belong in chemically treated baths, they do not like chlorine, and worse yet, they don’t like doing dishes and other household chores…it’s a mutual thing.

THOU SHALL NOT Spray your jewelry with perfume or lather it in lotion. The basic rule of jewelry says it’s the last thing to go on and the first thing to come off. That means after you do your make up, hair, perfume and/or lotion, you are clear to put on your fine jewelry. Trust me, I’ve cleaned my fair share of rings and your jewelers will thank you for this one.

THOU SHALL NOT Place your jewelry in an ultrasonic unless you have been told otherwise by a knowledgeable jeweler! There are many stones such as opal, peridot, emeralds, shell, pearls, and amber that DO NOT belong in an ultrasonic . Also, keep in mind that some treatments make otherwise stable stones unstable for an ultrasonic. You can always clean your piece at home with some warm water, mild detergent and a soft toothbrush.

THOU SHALL NOT Take your Tahitian pearls for a few laps around the pool or pump some iron in your oh-so-malleable platinum rings or better yet, play tennis in your tennis bracelet. Ever wonder how the tennis bracelet got its name “Tennis bracelets got their unusual name from an incident involving Chris Evert during a US Open match in 1987. Chris had been wearing an expensive bracelet featuring an inline string of individually-set diamonds. When the clasp snapped, she asked the officials to stop the match until the jewelry could be found.” (chrisevert.net/museum.html) In other words, please don’t work out in your FINE JEWELRY.

THOU SHALL NOT Wear your jewelry to bed. Let it catch some z’s in its own bed (aka your jewelry dish, box or pouch). I can’t tell you how many earrings I’ve lost by breaking this commandment….. Major bummer.

THOU SHALL Take your jewelry in for regular check-ups. Just like your pets, children, spouses and parents, jewelry needs a routine check up to extend its life. Think about it, if you are wearing your jewelry everyday there will be normal wear and tear on the piece . It’s better to find and fix that bent or loose prong than to lose that beautiful rock of yours. This is so much more common than you think. Go to your faithful jeweler and get it repaired pronto!

THOU SHALL Insure your jewelry. Most insurance companies require individual appraisals on items valued over $2500. Better safe, than sorry.

Again, please remember, it’s called Fine Jewelry for a reason. These guidelines will help further the life of all your jewelry, but know that with every Heather J. Studios jewelry purchase, you will receive specific care instructions tailored to that piece.

Having worked in the jewelry industry for some time, I’ve seen it all and either broken a commandment myself, or experienced it with my clients. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me, I’m more than happy to help.