JEWELRY CARE:

Let's talk about earrings first. Through normal wear, it's just good practice to always wear backs to your earrings. It's easy to get in a hurry or forget, yet you sure don't want to risk losing one of your earrings. Your day is quite busy, and you're likely on the run, so just take those 4 extra seconds and put those backings on your earrings - you'll be glad for the peace of mind! Also, for necklaces and bracelets, take notice of the clasps periodically just to ensure they are closing properly. Of course, we, at TN Jewelry Art, test our clasps and ensure high quality, yet this goes for any jewelry - take a quick second to periodically ensure your clasps open and close properly.

Jewelry Sensitivities: Sometimes, jewelry sensitivities can take the fun out of wearing a variety of metal jewelry. We do our best to use only nickel-free, lead-free, and hypoallergenic metals. Hypoallergenic metals do not guarantee "allergy-free" wear, and is not a guarantee that there will never be a reaction. This is because it depends on a person's type of allergy and how severe the allergy may be. We do our very best to ensure high quality metals.

It's so important to give your jewelry regular attention. It needs just a little attention in order to maintain it's beautiful luster and shine. Below we have highlighted key ways to ensure your TN Jewelry Art jewelry maintains it's beauty for years to come.  But first a little bit about our jewelry.

BRASS:

WHY BRASS?: We love using base metal brass because it's quite versatile. It's appearance can range from shiny to vintage, and it is quite durable. You'll see in our TN Jewelry Art jewelry that we love mixing vintage with shine and mixing metals. Brass is a beautiful 'go-to' in achieving many of the looks we love in our designs. A nice bonus to using brass is that it believed to have positive effects within the body. You'll see this same note in our copper section below. Both brass and copper are believed to have health benefits when worn. TN Jewelry Art does not claim any health benefits, yet it is an interesting viewpoint of which you may find interesting.

STORING: It's always best to keep your brass jewelry in a dry location. Keeping it as dry as possible or storing in an anti-tarnish bag are ideal. Air, moisture, body oils, lotions, perfume, sweat... all of these contribute to brass losing it's luster, or tarnishing.  Don't take a shower or bath without first removing your jewelry. Wash soap off thoroughly when washing your hands, and make sure to completely dry your hands. Ideally, removing jewelry prior to washing your hands is best, but let's face it...that may not be the most practical solution.  Store your jewelry in a room where there is less humidity -ideally NOT the bathroom, as shower or tub steam can find it's way to your jewelry.

CARE: Brass does not maintain it's luster all on it's own. It needs your help with a little attention to keep it looking good as new.  Tarnish is a natural occurrence caused by air and moisture, so don't be surprised if, at some point, you begin to see your brass lose a bit of luster. Oxidation, also known as patina, is a natural occurrence that can also take place over time, resulting from moisture in the air. When this occurs, often the result is a blackish, blue, green appearance. Many people love this naturally occurring look.  Brass can sometimes create a slight green tinge to your skin, as a response to the moisture in your skin. Again, this is a natural response of brass to the elements. There are ways to minimize tarnish and oxidation, by storing them as suggested above. Also, setting aside a few minutes to create a routine of cleaning your jewelry is a great habit to start. And it really doesn't take much time at all. There are DIY natural cleaning recipes involving vinegar and salt, lemon juice, flour, ketchup, toothpaste, and baking soda. There are pro's and con's to these. Pro's: they are natural and utilize common household ingredients that you may have on hand. The con's are that baking soda and toothpaste are abrasive and could damage the brass. Lemon juice, ketchup, and vinegar are acidic and could also damage the brass. They are also time-consuming as you have to leave them on your brass 30 minutes to an hour.

Our suggestions for cleaning your brass are to utilize a Polishing Pad or Polishing Cloth, and store in the anti-tarnishing bag. We might suggest using such cleaning agents such as Tarn-X to polish and maintain your TN Jewelry Art brass jewelry. For brass, we dilute Tarn-X solution to be 50% water and 50% Tarn-X. There are other suitable agents out on the market as well. It's always the best idea to use gloves and eye protection when using cleaning agents.

COPPER:

WHY COPPER?: We think copper is simply beautiful. Copper has a natural vintage feel, and the unique charm of each piece is elevated by copper. There is quite a bit of information available on the health benefits of wearing copper, and we'll leave that conclusion up to you. We love using it because of it's beauty, and any health benefits that may be a result, will be a bonus! Again, TN Jewelry Art does not claim any health benefits, yet you may find it interesting to research or explore.

STORING & CARE: Our recommendations for storing your copper jewelry are very similar to those of brass. Store copper in a dry location, and avoid contact with moisture, lotions, perfumes, etc. And, because we all use lotion, many of us use perfume or cologne, and our natural body oils are simply that...natural, it's difficult to avoid your jewelry coming in contact with these. Just be sure to give your jewelry some love and attention when you remove it.

Similarly to brass, use a Polishing Pad or Polishing Cloth, and store in the anti-tarnishing bag to help it maintain it's luster. We use Tarn-X to clean our copper, yet we do not dilute it. Just follow the instructions on any cleaning agent bottle for copper. Again, there are other suitable agents out on the market as well. It's always the best idea to use gloves and eye protection when using cleaning agents.

GOLD-FILLED

WHY GOLD-FILLED? We use gold-filled or, in a few cases, vermeil gold. We love them, because they are less reactive to the elements, so they will hold their shine with less maintenance than brass or copper.  We know sometimes you may want to wear a daintier chain with lots of glisten (or even chunky with a lot of glisten), and gold-filled is perfect for this look. Also, gold-filled is a beautiful option to those who may have allergies to brass or copper with good longevity and durability.

STORING: Although gold-filled does not require much maintenance, we do recommend same storing and care as with brass. Dry, less humid, environment in an anti-tarnish bag would be ideal.

CARE: An easy solution for at-home is using an untreated cloth, cotton ball and mild soapy water to clean your gold-filled jewelry. Be sure to avoid scrubbing. Allow to dry completely. Be sure to avoid exposure to household bleach and other cleaning products, which may cause gold-filled jewelry to discolor.

STERLING SILVER:

WHY STERLING SILVER?: We love the timeless brilliance and sheen of sterling silver, as well as it's strength and durability. Sterling Silver is a metal you'll be seeing more and more of within our jewelry.

STORING: It's pretty common knowledge that sterling silver is naturally susceptible to tarnish, so storing in an anti-tarnish bag will just minimize this and enable less maintenance on your part.

CARE: When you first notice tarnish, it's best to go ahead and remove it, using a polishing cloth or pad. There are sterling silver cleaning agents that are great, as well. If left untreated, it becomes more difficult to remove the tarnish and may require cleaning from a professional. You'll notice that this is the case if the color of the tarnish gets a bit darker. And as with gold-filled and vermeil gold, you'll want to avoid exposing sterling silver jewelry to harsh chemicals like chlorine, lotions, hair spray, and perfume. You'll also want to avoid extended exposure to sunlight, if possible, or give it a quick polish when you remove it after time a long period of time in the sun.

Q & A:

As we get questions from real customers, like you, we will add them here. They are practical questions that we all are asking, so we want to give you the best answer(s) that we can...

Can I shower in my jewelry?

Brass, Copper, Sterling Silver = No! See comments above in Jewelry Care for each metal. These metals react to air and moisture and will lose their luster through tarnish and oxidation with water contact. This likely won't happen immediately, yet it will precipitate the natural process.

Gold-filled = It's strongly recommended to remove gold-filled jewelry when showering or bathing. Gold-filled jewelry is much lower maintenance than other metals and does not react to the elements as brass, copper, and sterling silver. As mentioned above, we use gold-filled, which is very durable and resists the elements quite well. However, it's just good practice to remove your jewelry prior to swimming, bathing, showering, water skiing, etc.

Will Brass or Copper turn my skin green?

Potentially, yes, is the quick answer. This occurs because of the metal's response to the moisture in your skin, and it doesn’t mean you’re having a reaction to the metal. This is an oxidation reaction vs. a skin reaction.