Cleaning your jewellery

1. Wash with warm water and a liquid soap. Soap for woollens or even hand soap with no moisturiser or harsh chemicals should work well. A soft bristled brush with some Sodium Bicarbonate also helps to get grime out of crevices. Once it's clean make sure you rinse well and dry it quickly and thoroughly.

2. Sterling silver will tarnish over time, but other precious metals can as well, including lower carats of gold. This is a normal process with metal and the tarnish is easy enough to clean off precious metals. If your precious metal jewellery is tarnished, use a precious metal polishing cloth to remove it, such as the professional quality Town Talk cloth available in my online shop.
Using a polishing cloth is the best option for jewellery with delicate stones such as opals, as the cloth will not damage them.
Once you’ve polished your piece, give it a rinse, and dry it thoroughly to remove any chemical residue.

3. You could also use a jewellery dip, available at the supermarket or hardware store. Jewellery dip is particularly good for chains, but take care not to use dip for pieces that have deliberately oxidised parts, my Spiral Daisy collection, for example. These would be better cleaned with a cloth. Also make sure you follow the directions; jewellery dips can harm delicate stones and pearls.

4. Avoid storing precious metal jewellery in a humid place – especially the bathroom. Humidity will speed up tarnishing, so it's best avoided. If you live in a humid place, you will need to clean your jewellery more often.
Ideally precious metal jewellery should be stored away from free flowing air. This will also slow down tarnish, plus it will help keep dust at bay. Keep it in a plastic ziplock bag, pouch, small jewellery box or similar if you can.