The Woes of Silver and Pearl

I recently came across a thread somewhere in the black hole that is the internet where people were saying that they never ever get pearl jewelry with silver metal with it, because of how hard it is to clean the tarnishing silver without damaging the pearls.  I was slightly taken aback, as the majority of my jewelry is made with some form of silver.  

I use silver filled wire in all my designs, some designs use more than others but its needed in all of them.  Even in my strung necklaces and bracelets, the pearl or crystal at the end of the extender chain is held on by wire.  I have many designs made with sterling silver chain.  Like these:

I do make a lot of designs with stainless steel chain instead of silver, like these:

The stainless steel chain is good for several reasons.  For one, it's strong and low maintenance, it won't ever turn or tarnish, it's less expensive than silver or gold, by a lot, and it gives the jewelry a little edge!  But, you can't wire wrap jewelry with stainless steel, the wire would be so strong that it wouldn't be workable.  Pure silver wire is great, but its expensive and not as strong.  That's why I use silver filled wire, the copper center give the wire added strength, but unlike silver plated wire, the silver coating is so thick that by the time it wore down to the copper center the wire would be so thin it would break.  Plus filled wire is a lot less expensive and that helps keep prices down!

The truth is, you can clean silver without harming pearls!  I read somewhere that baking soda would do it, I don't know about that, but I do know that non-bleach tide will do the trick!  I used it a ton when I worked in a jewelry store.  All it takes is some hot water and about a tablespoon of the tide, let the jewelry soak for a minute and its clean!  If you keep the jewelry in a little plastic bag when you're not wearing it, the silver won't tarnish nearly as fast.  It's really easy, you don't need to go buy special bags or expensive cleaners! 

I do apologize if this post sounds 'salespersony' but I want to give you all more information about the materials I use and why I use them.  That's it for today, pop back over on Thursday for this weeks 'Design of the Week'!