Monday, August 4, 2008
New Design
I thought I'd post a photo of one of my newer designs that has gotten me a ton of compliments this summer. It is made of hand formed and hammered sterling silver adorned with beautiful red coral chips.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Welcome and a great jewelry cleaning tip
I'm very pleased to finally get this blog going. I will be using it to share tips on caring for your jewelry, the latest happenings with Trish Thackston Designs including upcoming shows and to introduce new designs as I create them. Please check back often to see what's new. You can always see and purchase my handcrafted sterling silver and gold filled jewelry on my web site as well trishthackston.com
My tip for today is a very easy and effective way to clean your sterling silver jewelry. (This also works well for gold and diamonds)
Place your jewelry on an uncoated aluminum cookie sheet make sure that the silver is in contact with the cookie sheet. (If you don't have an aluminum cookie sheet you can also use aluminum foil I just find that the cookie sheet seems to work best.) Sprinkle enough baking soda over the jewelry to cover it lightly. Then pour enough boiling water over the jewelry and baking soda to cover it all the jewelry. The baking soda will fizz as you add the boiling water and within five minutes the tarnish will vanish from your jewelry without any rubbing at all. For items that are heavily tarinsh you may need to repeat the process but usually one time will get things sparkling clean. Then all you need to do is wash your jewelry off with a touch soapy water, rinse well and dry. You can put quite a few pieces in the cookie tray at once which is a huge time saver.
Note: DO NOT use this method with delicate stones like opals and emeralds as it will damage them and do not use it on pieces that have "oxidized" or blackened areas that are part of the design as this will remove the darkened finish along with the tarnish.
My tip for today is a very easy and effective way to clean your sterling silver jewelry. (This also works well for gold and diamonds)
Place your jewelry on an uncoated aluminum cookie sheet make sure that the silver is in contact with the cookie sheet. (If you don't have an aluminum cookie sheet you can also use aluminum foil I just find that the cookie sheet seems to work best.) Sprinkle enough baking soda over the jewelry to cover it lightly. Then pour enough boiling water over the jewelry and baking soda to cover it all the jewelry. The baking soda will fizz as you add the boiling water and within five minutes the tarnish will vanish from your jewelry without any rubbing at all. For items that are heavily tarinsh you may need to repeat the process but usually one time will get things sparkling clean. Then all you need to do is wash your jewelry off with a touch soapy water, rinse well and dry. You can put quite a few pieces in the cookie tray at once which is a huge time saver.
Note: DO NOT use this method with delicate stones like opals and emeralds as it will damage them and do not use it on pieces that have "oxidized" or blackened areas that are part of the design as this will remove the darkened finish along with the tarnish.
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