Durability

Most jewelry is not worn everyday, under all circumstances.  And even if it is worn everyday, it normally does not receive the beating that rings take. 14K/20 is considered a lifetime product under normal wear. For pendants, earrings, pins, and bracelets it is a great choice.

Fragility

Even though wire jewelry can look delicate, We do not believe it requires any more care than any other fine jewelry. The care required is really dictated more by the stone than by the fact the jewelry is made of wire. Soft stones such as opal and ammolite require more thought than super hard stones like diamonds.

Should you apply pressure and try hard enough, you can bend the wires. Basically you just want to keep wire jewelry away from things that will snag and pull hard on the wires. For the most part, this just means storing them in their box, where they will not be snagged by any hooks on other pieces of jewelry. Storing them in their boxes when traveling will prevent heavy items in your suitcase from resting on them and causing them any damage.

Designs with loose wires that are not locked down into the frame of the piece are more prone to getting caught on things such as loose chains in jewelry boxes and frayed threads inside the placket of a shirt.  If pulled hard when something is catching it, the loose wires can be pulled out of place. We do not take any special care with ours and have not had any problems - but do please be aware.

Cleaning

14K gold filled jewelry may be cleaned the same way that you would clean 14K solid gold jewelry. Again, the concern is not the wire, but the stone. Look for jewelry cleaners that say they are safe for opals and you should be ok with most stones. Do not allow your jewelry to be cleaned in ultrasonic cleaners, which can crack stones. Do not let your jewelry sit and soak in any cleaners however!!  Soaking stones like ammolite for prolonged time periods can ruin their surfaces.

The warnings to keep your jewelry away from chlorine, bromine, cleaning products that contain these chemicals, and pools and spas that use chlorine given for solid gold also apply to gold filled jewelry.

A great way to keep your wire jewelry clean and to keep silver jewelry from tarnishing is to just take a little bit of tooth paste on a toothbrush and give it a light cleaning. Get the toothbrush wet, dab just a little toothpaste on the brush and use your thumb to make it foamy. Go over the piece with the toothbrush, letting the bristles gently go between the wires as you do. Rinse and allow to dry. Doing this frequently with silver jewelry is a great way to prevent any tarnish from happening.

Chain Included?

Chains, collars, neck wires, pendants, and earrings are each sold individually. This allows for the greatest flexibility in mixing the various components or in using a chain, or collar that you already own. With pendants, you really should collect chains. Having an omega, a slightly longer chain, and a really longer chain will allow you to place the pendant at the right spot for any given outfit. Open necklines with pendants on omegas just POP! Longer chains allow you to wear pendants over turtlenecks. Putting your pendant over a string of beads will change up the look again.  Experiment and play to find the right combinations for your wardrobe.

Chains shown in pictures of pendants are just there to hold the pendants in a hanging position and are not included with the purchase of the pendants. Many of the pendants fit on 7mm omegas, larger chains or neck wires without problem. Please email us with any questions about the bail size on a specific pendant.

If necklace or chain is included it will state such in the description.

Gold Filled vs Gold

We normally use gold filled rather than gold (ie: solid gold) simply because it represents the best value. 14K/20 Gold Filled is considered a lifetime product and it has a low incidence of allergy problems (if you can wear 14K gold, you can wear 14K/20 gold filled).

Just looking at gold filled, there is no way for you or a jeweler to tell if it is layered gold or solid gold. The layer of gold does not wear off under normal wear situations and it makes it a good choice for pendants, pins, bracelets and other pieces of jewelry that are not in constant contact with other surfaces. 

Promotional Codes

We have a stock shopping cart and it comes with features we may or may not use.  One of those features is Promotional Codes. Should we choose to run a promortional it will be posted in the header message on each page.

Findings

Findings are small parts that make jewelry into jewelry. Things like ear wires, jump rings, clasps, pin shafts, bails, faceted gem moutings, etc. It is said that the word findings evolved from the fact that historically, when a jeweler needed one, he would go through his scraps to find a suitable piece to make it from. So they literally were findings from the workbench.

We use purchased findings in two major areas - ear wires and small faceted gem mounts. While we could make the ear wires, it is more cost efficient to purchase them.  Many people with allergies have come back to say how happy they are with the ear wires we use.  With small faceted gems, it is not only cost efficient, but I feel sometimes more secure. Since learning of the FCC rule, we try to make sure to remove the term hand-crafted from any of the items that include purchased ear wires, small faceted gem mounts, or small purchased accent beads or pearls. Any places we've missed, it is simple human error and not an intent to deceive.

Inclusions

Inclusions can be good or bad.

Faceted Stones - you don’t want inclusions, as they interfere with the light that the facets are trying to reflect through the stone to create sparkle.

Cabochons - you often want and pay more for stones with inclusions. Inclusions in cabochons are Mother Nature’s art work, creating patterns that add interest and beauty to the stone. Inclusions can also create pitting in the surface of the stone, where polishing to a smooth finish would take away some of the material you are trying to keep.