Silver & Resin Care Instructions.
At Beyond the Bluebells we understand how precious your keepsake jewellery is, and how upsetting it would be should you lose your stone. Like any jewellery, your keepsake piece is likely to suffer wear and tear over time, you may accidentally have it come in contact with a chemical, or may scratch or knock the stone out for example.
Understanding how important these pieces are, where possible I make a spare stone. This is often the case with rings as the stone is set within the ring. The spare stone will be sent to you, and you can keep it safely should it be needed in the future. Where this is not possible, which is the case with most charms, necklaces and some rings, I recommend you keep back some of your inclusion, e.g. your loved ones ashes or hair. This would enable the stone to be remade in the future.
With milk, I keep the remaining preserved milk in case of failures with the product. In the unlikely event your jewellery becomes damaged and we are satisfied that all care instructions have been closely followed and it was through no fault of your own, we will be happy to make free repairs or, if necessary replace jewellery for anywhere up to 8 weeks after you receive your finished order. Past this date, all repairs or replacements will be charged accordingly.
Silver Jewellery care
Silver Jewellery Care Instructions Silver is a great precious metal to choose for keepsake and memorial jewellery and does not need much care.
Tarnishing
Most silver will usually tarnish eventually. This often turns the silver black, brown or dark grey but can also have a greenish or blueish hue because of the copper content. Silver will tarnish faster under certain conditions. Sulphur, humidity, air quality (such as living near the sea), even body chemistry will affect how quickly it tarnishes. Coming into contact with egg and oil can tarnish silver faster. Silver jewellery can be polished with a silver polishing cloth but please avoid the resin area. We don’t recommend you use an ultrasonic cleaner or cleaning bath because the liquid/chemicals may damage the resin. Most local jewellers can polish the piece for you and will take care to protect the resin. Some silver is rhodium plated, which makes it tarnish-free, but that will wear off over time and leave a patchy effect. These pieces need to be re-coated by a specialist who can protect the resin during the plating process. We use Argentium 935 silver when possible, it is 1% purer than sterling silver with a lower copper content, and is more tarnish resistant. Scrapes & Scratches
Try to avoid bumping and scratching your piece as this could damage. A professional jeweller can remove scratches but please let them know your piece contains resin. Resizing Silver rings with resin can easily be enlarged up to one UK size or half a US or EU size. To enlarge any more than that without risking the silver cracking, the ring will need to be annealed. A professional silversmith may be able to do this for you with using ThermoGel to protect the resin but it can result in damage and discolouration. The same goes for reduction, it may be safer and less expensive for us to remove the resin stone and set it in a new ring for you. Please get in touch.
When Silver Jewellery Has Been Damaged
If your piece has become damaged then it may need to be remade from scratch. We can usually save the resin part and set it in a new piece but please see our resin jewellery care instructions if the resin is also damaged.
Resin Jewellery care
Resin Jewellery Care Instructions
Resin jewellery is pretty hard-wearing but to get the best out of your pieces and ensure they last a lifetime please try to adhere to the following advice. This will keep your pieces looking their best and save you having to pay for the resin jewellery to be repaired or replaced. The instructions are the same for epoxy and UV based pieces.
Scrapes
Try to avoid bumping or scratching your piece as this could result in damage. Avoid using tools and doing manual work with the piece on.
Water
Do NOT submerge your jewellery pieces in water. Resin is NOT waterproof, only water resistant. So please remember to remove your jewellery before showers, swimming, washing up etc.
Heat
If your piece is exposed to big temperature fluctuations, it might expand and contract and cause the elements inside to separate.
Sunlight
Store your jewellery out of direct sunlight. Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight can cause the resin to discolour and soften.
Smoking
If your piece is in regular contact with smoke it will usually yellow. However, some of our smoking resin jewellery clients have worn their pieces for years without discolouration.
Chemicals
Avoid exposing your jewellery to harsh chemicals and cleaning products. This includes antibacterial hand sanitiser, perfume, hair spray, cleaning solutions, nail polish remover, chlorine etc.
When Resin Jewellery Care Has Been Forgotten
If your piece suffers damage or wear please get in touch and we will give you a price based on photos. We ask clients to retain your elements such as breastmilk, cremation ashes, hair and cord because it makes a remake possible when needed. If you haven’t retained the elements, we may be able to do a repair, but can’t guarantee results.
Yellowing
Yellowing is almost always due to resin care rather than the brand or type of resin or insufficient breastmilk preservation. The top layer can often be removed and re-coated, depending on the damage.
Dullness & Scratches
If your piece has dulled or been scratched or scraped, we can add a new top coat layer. If this doesn’t work out we can always remove this if necessary. For charm beads and orbs, it may be easier to replace the piece completely because the hardware can’t be removed.
Thank you for reading, we will do our best to help if your piece needs repair!