How to Clean Silver Jewelry

Casual in its timeless simplicity or dressed up with more ornate designs, Sterling silver is a versatile metal. It can also tarnish when used or worn frequently. It’s quite easy to clean silver, but here are a few important tips to keep in mind when polishing silver jewelry (especially when set with pearls).

1. Clean Them Frequently: If you wear silver jewelry every day, consider washing it with a mild detergent every evening. This will reduce tarnish buildup and the need for professional silver polish.

2. Use Proper Polish: When your silver rings or pendants develop dark tarnish stains, buy a small jar of silver polish and dampen the enclosed sponge. After dabbing the sponge in the polish, clean your silver in up-and-down strokes (not circular). Rinse under the tap and allow to dry.

3. Toothbrush Cleanse: For jewelry with deep crevices (like John Christian’s monogram rings or posey rings) use a toothbrush to reach the tough places.

In addition, here are some helpful silver tips:

• Avoid wearing silver jewelry in swimming pools, as the chlorine can be damaging.
• Avoid standard detergents and cleaners. Some people use baking soda or toothpaste to clean silver, but it is not recommended.
• Silver polish contains chemicals. Be careful when using around children.

 

A Whole New Look

The John Christian, innovators in personalized jewelry, site has a whole new look: Check it out here.

Whether you’re looking for wedding bands, monogram rings, Roman numeral rings, or cross pendants, John Christian products provide high quality and excellent prices.

The John Christian name inside your ring is your assurance of the very finest quality. John Christian Jewelry is designed and handcrafted to today’s exacting standards, while still maintaining Old World custom-made craftsmanship. John Christian’s one-of-a-kind custom jewelry is made by craft people whose hand-crafting skills are unsurpassed anywhere in the world. All John Christian Jewelry is warranted against any imperfection in design and workmanship and comes with a full 30-day money back guarantee!

 

Miss Manners: Family Rings vs. Engagement Rings

Leave it to Miss Manners to clear up a major issue for jewelry inheritors. Is it appropriate to wear an ancestor’s engagement ring even if you’re not engaged or married and never plan on being?

Today, a reader asked the following question:

“DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am in my 50s, have never been married and I have no children, sisters, nieces or nephews. Being the only granddaughter, I inherited two diamond engagement rings from my grandmothers. They both have great sentimental value to me.

Would it be improper to wear them on my right-hand fingers? It’s a waste to let nice rings just sit in a box.”

Miss Manners replies by saying that, because they once were her grandmother’s rings but are now hers, they are no longer engagement rings but instead “Family Rings.”

For those interested in the concept of family rings, no need to wait for a relative to leave you a special ring. Consider John Christian’s Continuous Life Mothers’ Rings, which feature the names of children and family members; and also the Family Crest rings. Just provide your name and country of origin and the John Christian jewelers will do the rest.

They truly are “instant heirlooms.”

 

Jessica Simpson, Romo Go Ring Shopping!

In another round of useless celebrity news… pop singer Jessica Simpson and Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo were spotted in Dallas’ Neiman Marcus looking at wedding rings.

(While they’re at it, they should check out some Diamond Charms from John Christian!)

Now, you’d think, after the Cabo San Lucas scandal of last season–not to mention the ‘Boys drubbing by the Skins on Sunday–that Romo would not hang around Jessica Simpson, who’s clearly bad luck for the team.

Instead, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, they’re planning a winter wedding. I guess some things really are more important than football.

 

2008’s Most Innovative (and Unusual) Rings

InventorSpot, a blog that supports and highlights interesting inventions around the world, has put together a pretty interesting feature of the 10 Most Innovative Rings of 2008. These rings are not just pretty, they’re sometimes practical and always unique.

Among the interesting designs are Ken Goldman’s Meat Tenderizer ring which looks slightly more lethal than a set of brass knuckles:

The white gold, waterproof Remember Ring which chimes to remind you of a particular date:

And then there’s the (Pilo Pilo) Cushion Ring, perfect for resting your head. It’s designed by Sae Shigeto & Ming Lo:

But let’s not forget the Salt & Pepper shaker ring!

For the full feature, click here.

 

A Little Tuesday Bling

Here’s Lindsay Lohan with something dazzling on her ring finger.

And here’s a gallery of even more stunning Celeb engagement rings.

 

Specialty jewelers have customer service edge

According to the Washington Post, couples plan to spend more than $62 billion on their weddings this year. $2 billion of that will go toward wedding bands (while $6 billion will go to engagement rings).

The article also mentions that specialty jewelers these days are doing slightly better than larger chains. The data, coming from retail association Jewelers of America, shows that smaller jewelers saw a 6 percent increase from 2006 to 2007 while bigger retailers grew 3.5 percent.

Why? It could be that when it comes to a personal item like a wedding ring, consumers want the personal experience you get from a specialty jeweler.

Either way, it’s enouraging to see small businesses rocking the house.

 

Survey: Engagement rings untouched by slow economy

Sure, an economic downturn may prevent a guy from buying, let’s say, a $140,000 Hot Wheels car, but a new survey says that same guy won’t blink when it comes to his engagement ring.

According to diamond merchants GemEx Inc., 62 percent of men and 60 percent of women say an engagement ring is always worth spending money on, to the tun of 1-3 months of the fiancee’s salary. In fact, 10 percent thought that the ring should account for 10 months’ salary. Ka-pow! The good news is, 41 percent of the women said they would help pay for the wedding ring.

MarketWatch unearths more details from the report, like:

• Size doesn’t matter: Ninety-four percent of women and 90 percent of men say they would prefer a bright 3/4 carat diamond as opposed to a duller 1 carat diamond
• Only 50 percent of men said they would be insulted if their fiancee asked to exchange her engagement ring
• Eighty-four percent of women say their diamond ring represents more than an engagement–it’s a symbol of their style and personality
• Eighty-five percent of women were surprised when their boyfriends proposed and 15 percent knew it was coming

 

Cameron Diaz’s ‘Chunky’ Rock

Though Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz traded boyfriends (John Mayer for Paul Sculfor) not too long ago, it now looks like Cameron is getting the better end of the deal. Aniston and Mayer have split, while the ‘What Happens in Vegas’ star had the tabloids hoppin’ yesterday with reports of her sojorn with model Paul Sculfor.

According to a source, the pair seemed very happy during their holiday south of India’s Lakshadweep islands in the Maldives, during which the actress “ate like a horse.” Did we really need to know that? They also snorkled and kayaked and seemed “very happy,” thank goodness.

But the big, big news is that the source noticed a “chunky ring on her left ring finger.”

We’re on standby for an image…