Twelve Tips for Greater Enjoyment of Your Gold and Silver Jewelry
By Sam Serio

Jewelry can be beautiful to look at, fun to buy, and can make bold and revealing statements about you. Hear are some tips for greater enjoyment of your favorite gold and silver jewelry.

1. Never swim in a chlorinated pool while wearing gold and silver jewelry.

2. Always apply make-up, perfumes, oils or colognes before you put on your gold and silver jewelry

3. Keep both your skin and your gold and silver jewelry clean and free of oil.

4. Using an absorbent, abrasive-free body powder on areas that your gold and silver jewelry touches your skin can help with skin discoloration.

5. If you do have any skin discoloration you may need to move to a higher gold content. Say, from 14K gold jewelry to 18K jewelry.

6. Are your gold and silver chains all tied-up in knots? If so, here’s a nifty little trick for straightening them out. Dust your chain with a little talcum powder and then try to unknot it. If the knot is stubborn, place a small drop of baby oil on a sheet of wax paper. Lay the knot in the oil and work it out with two pins; then clean the chain as instructed below.

7. Don't be afraid to wear gold and silver jewelry together. Artful use of accessories that use both metals provide an effective visual segue' or bridge.

8. For daily cleaning it is recommended to use a simple jewelry polishing cloth that is impregnated with special jewelry cleaner. These are widely available and are very easy to use. Store your cloth in a plastic zip-lock bag, and keep in your jewelry drawer or armoire. It is a good idea to have one cleaning cloth for gold and one for silver.

9. For a Super Spring Cleaning of your gold and silver jewelry, mix 1cup of clean warm water with ½ cup of ammonia. Soak your jewelry in this solution for about 15 minutes; gently scrub with a soft, clean toothbrush, then rinse in warm water. Air dry on an absorbent paper towel. When thoroughly dry, you may lightly buff with a soft flannel cloth.

10. If a ring gets stuck on your finger; spray the area surrounding the ring with Windex. Wiggle and twist the ring right off.

11. For a slightly more "in depth" cleaning you may want to use a liquid jewelry cleaner.

12. For cleaning badly tarnished silver, here's a neat little trick.

    1. Cover the inside bottom of a heat-proof glass dish or bowl with a piece of aluminum foil, shiny side up.

    2. Place the tarnished silver in the bottom of the dish, contacting the aluminum foil.

    3. Add 1 heaping tablespoon of baking soda, and then slowly pour boiling water to cover the piece. The tarnish will gradually collect on the aluminum foil.

    4. Remove your silver, rinse thoroughly, and polish.