CARE
If this is your first time in the ceramic jewelry world here are some tried-and-true tips for keeping your gems in top shape. It’s a little more effort than your basic metal jewelry care but we think it’s totally worth it for the beautiful finishes that you can only get from porcelain gems.
Why all these rules? Or why even make jewelry with clay if it needs so much care?
Porcelain is truly an AWESOME material for jewelry. It’s ultra lightweight, the strongest kind of clay, and has a beautiful glossy surface that allows fused gold to fully shine. It’s main drawback is that it can break when dropped, but here at tinybs we take a bunch of extra steps to ensure your gems are as durable as humanly possible!
It can seem a little overwhelming if you’ve only had metal jewelry before but we promise these care instructions are pretty easy to follow once you get used to it. Plus, it will help ALL your non-solid gold jewelry looking fresh - these care instructions will extend the lifespan of everything from gold-plated jewelry to soft gems like opals to porus materials like wood or shells.
The Basics
Don’t:-sleep, shower, or swim with it-put concentrated pressure on it-drop it on hard surfaces like concrete-expose to chemicals - these can antique or even strip the beautiful gold and iridescent finishes! |
Do:-wipe down with water and a mild soap if it gets dirty or sweaty-Take it off before bed-Put it on after applying any sprays like perfume or hair products
|
A Little More In Depth (for those who love to know the ‘why’ behind rules)
Why no showering?
-While porcelain is obviously ok with water (after all, we have plenty of examples of 1000 year old cups in museums!) jewelry is a composite - metal findings, jeweler’s glue and porcelain.
-Forgetting occasionally won’t mean catastrophe (we accidentally do it all the time!) but it can shorten the lifespan of the jewelry glue in particular if moisture gets trapped near it.
Why not to sleep in or drop porcelain gems?
-The physical properties of porcelain jewelry are very similar to glass.
-Basically both porcelain and glass are extremely strong but also very brittle (aka not flexible.)
-Pick a shape that fits your activity level/lifestyle -skinny shapes like rods will snap if stressed but strong shapes (think like marbles) can take a bit of beating
-Even though strong shapes most likely be fine sleeping in, they can still chip if contact is made with hard surfaces like concrete.
Why avoid chemicals or abrasives?
-The beautiful golden illustrations you see on each gem are handpainted with real 22k gold, but its only on the top layer.
-The gold is fused to the porcelain’s surface in a special 3rd kiln firing at about 1000 degrees F.
-So while it is fully bonded, anything that could damage the surface of the ceramic itself will also damage the gold.
-If you use something abrasive to clean a gem (think like a melamine sponge instead of a soft cloth) you can scratch the surface of the porcelain. If you wouldn’t use it to clean a glass window - don’t use it for porcelain!
-Chemicals can damage the surface in a similar way. Chemicals is a nebulous term but even common natural cleansers that we think of as gentle can do damage. Think of how effective things like salt scrubs and orange essential oil is at cleaning our kitchen. Therefore we say better to be safe than sorry and avoid letting your jewelry contact shampoos, perfumes, essential oils and the like.
How Do We Know This All Works?
- We’ve been passionate about porcelain gems for a looooong time. In our personal collection we have some porcelain jewelry that’s over 15 years old following these care instuctions and they still look brand new spankin’ new!
