Sterling Silver Jewelry

Sterling silver – a metal for you

Recently, people tend to pay more attention to silver metal in the jewelry world, apart from gold. Silver is actually represent its beauty to the world since the ancient time, but gold was the major interest for many people in the past. Silver jewelry keep itself alive throughout these years, and now it’s time for people to pay more attention on silver jewelry.

You can easily find the jewelry ornaments, for example rings, necklaces, bracelets, pendants, chains and brooches made by silver available in the jewelry market today. The style and designs are great in the similar way as gold and platinum jewelry. However, with affordable price compare with those two metal types, silver is more available to people than the others.

Today, silver is frequently used for both men and women jewelry ornaments. However, the pure silver is not a suitable metal for jewelry maker. Pure silver is too soft for making a jewelry mold; therefore other metal has been used to mix with pure silver for creating silver alloy. This silver alloy is called “sterling silver” which compose of 92.5% silver with 7.5% copper for a more durable and strength alloy metal and able to use for jewelry creations. The mixture between silver and copper also extends a lifetime of silver jewelry when people use them in their daily life. Sterling silver provide a stable alloy metal for using in jewelry world, although some jewelers may use rhodium to cover sterling silver jewelry for a better finish and tarnish resistance jewelry piece. But with sterling silver only, you can also enjoy its beauty look as well.

Generally, sterling silver is made of 92.5% of pure silver with other metal. But for today, people do make another proportion of sterling silver which made of 80% silver mix with 20% of other metals. This combination will reduce the price for this type of sterling silver jewelry. If you want to go with the sterling silver jewelry, please check for combination between silver and other metals to ensure about percent of silver inside.

Either of pure silver or sterling silver jewelry ornaments, keep in mind that they will easily get tarnished and able to get scratched after sometimes. You need to know how to take an extra care on your sterling silver jewelry to keep it stay with you as long as you like. Look for the easy way on silver jewelry cleaning steps for your jewelry best look.

Basic cleaning tips for your sterling silver jewelry

Sterling silver is made of pure silver mixed with copper with the proportion of 92.5: 7.5. The combination between these two metals improved the sterling silver quality suitable for jewelry maker. Sterling silver is easy to get starch and make a mold into any shape and become very popular for many people today.

The use of sterling silver as jewelry ornaments; silver rings, pendants, chains, earrings and bracelets make them expose to any chemical which can damage the silver metal directly. The sterling silver jewelry will get the shade of gold and black color with chemical damage. However, you can prevent this chemical reaction based on your regular basis.

Firstly, you need to choose the right cleanser. Keep away of ammonia, alcohol, bleaching reagent and acetone from your sterling silver jewelry as these chemical reagents can damage the metal. Make sure that the cleansing solution you choose do not contain any of these chemicals. Go with the mild cleanser, free from these chemicals for your regular cleaning process.

Secondly, choose the specially designed brushes for jewelry cleaning propose only. You might also either use a baby toothbrush or mushroom brush for its soft bristles to clean your sterling silver jewelry.

For the cleaning process, you should start with dipping a mild cleanser into warm water. Then, brush on your sterling silver jewelry with gentle care. Make sure that the sterling silver jewelry ornaments have been thoroughly cleaned using both cleanser and brush.

Lastly, the final step for this regular cleaning is about the drying step. After cleaning, make sure that you have dried your sterling silver in a proper way. Put the jewelry ornaments on a proper cloth for jewelry dry propose. Make sure that you use only a cotton cloth, which will not damage the jewelry pieces. Let the piece dry properly before keep it back to your jewelry box.

Base on this regular basic cleaning, you can be sure that your sterling silver ornaments will stay with you for a longer time. Every time you wear your jewelry, it will get dusted and damaged by chemical touch. You should at least clean it after used, to prevent primary damage on your jewelry and extend its jewelry lifetime to stay with you.

Sterling silver – silver alloy for beauty and practical usage

Definition of sterling silver is the finest balance between beauty and practical use alloy metal. Sterling silver is the mixture of 92.5% pure silver with 7.5% copper. With the major part of silver inside, the beauty of silver is totally maintained inside this sterling silver alloy. Silver is a soft metal and uneasy to handle for jewelry maker. The adding for copper into this alloy will make it more function for jewelry maker. Copper in the alloy will increase the alloy strength, able to use for jewelry making.

Not only copper that is using for sterling silver, other metals are occasionally use to mix with silver to reduce tarnishing effect of silver jewelry. Germanium, zinc and platinum are occasionally use for alloy making. The standard sterling silver is made of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other metals.

Sterling silver is widely used in many countries, for variety of applications. In the past, silver is used as money currency in the European countries, in the coin format.  Beyond currency, sterling silver was used as jewelry and cutlery, follow by society set stringent standards for table setting. They have come in the form or fine art and design for daily use. The use of silver was recorded back to the ancient Egypt time, as a symbolic for anniversaries, birthday, faith and religious expressions. As jewelry, it was combined with precious and semi-precious gemstones to enhance the jewelry design. Today, people do love to use sterling silver as jewelry ornament. Not only because of its beauty but also the designs and styles for sterling silver is available in many modern form.

The only thing you need to think about sterling silver jewelry is about its chemical reaction with many chemical reagents, including oxygen. The reaction between oxygen and silver alloy will cause a black silver sulfide or tarnish on the silver jewelry. The beauty of silver is easily to cover by these marks. All you need to do is to polish your sterling silver jewelry from times to time, with mild reagent to remove these marks and clearly shown the beauty of polish silver again. With sterling silver jewelry, you will find both beauty and practical use in this same piece of jewelry. Look for the right sterling silver jewelry for you, to celebrate and enjoy and your life in the easy way.

Invest in silver jewelry

Before invest in anything, you need to learn about the subject investment first. For jewelry, it has been subjected of interest in investment recently. Gold was the subject for major investment since the ancient time and still be today. However, the price of gold in investing market is quite fluctuated. Therefore, people look for other jewelry/materials instead of gold, to keep their money safe.

The silver jewelry is interesting item for people to invest their money in. Both men and women in this modern world prefer to spend their money not only on the valuable things at anytime, but also want to spend their money for a piece of jewelry art at the same time.

The value of silver jewelry is not only measure by silver material, but also involved with the jewelry design, style and how to make that particular piece. To invest your money in silver jewelry, you need to know about its nature and style that you have to go with.

Pure silver is not suitable for jewelry make as it is difficult to work with. The mixture between silver and other metals (eg. copper) is called sterling silver, which is a silver alloy. The properties of sterling silver are improved and better for making jewelry piece than pure silver, as it is craft-able and more durable compare with pure silver. With the high quality sterling silver materials, next step is abou t the jewelry maker. Since you decide to invest your money in silver jewelry, you have to consider for all the best option including jewelry maker. Make sure that you go with the well known jewelry designer for high quality silver jewelry.

The other way to invest your money on silver jewelry is on handcrafted sterling silver jewelry. This way you can also get the unique sterling silver design for yourself. With the special design, you can increase the value of your jewelry in a long run.

Silver jewelry can be a special gift for anyone you love, especially for the unique style and design. You can select the special design that suit personality of that person; for your mom, dad, other family members and etc. This special gift will be more than just special thing. It will represent all your loves to that person, which off course give its value higher than its real value as silver metal for sure.