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ITEM CARE

General Care

Every piece of Amelie Atelier jewellery is thoughtfully designed and intricately hand crafted.

Follow these simple guidelines to ensure your jewellery will stay beautiful.

  • Apply all beauty products, such as perfume, hairspray or deodorant, before putting on your jewellery.
  • Jewellery should be removed prior to swimming or doing household chores which involve the use of abrasive cleaners or chemicals.
  • It is also not advised to clean jewellery products with abrasive cleaning products or even proprietary jewellery cleaning products to restore pieces, doing so may damage the jewellery. 
  • To clean your jewellery, use dishwashing detergent and a soft toothbrush. Do not use any brush or cloth that has hard bristles as this will damage the surface patina and/or finish of your jewellery.
  • To return previously polished jewellery to a shiny finish you can use a jewellery polishing cloth, be wary that if your cloth has dust on it, you may add scratches to the surface of the jewellery when you apply pressure to the cloth against the metal. Keep your polishing cloth in a dust free container to avoid this.
  • Contact Amelie to use her professional ultrasonic cleaning equipment for a deeper and safer cleaning of jewellery pieces .

Please note colour changes to the surface of the jewellery is generally due to natural tarnishing and wear & tear and is not a manufacturing fault. However if you are concerned about changes to the appearance of your jewellery please contact us.

Gold

Gold is a dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal with an attractive, bright yellow, vivid rose or warm grey colour and lustre that is maintained without tarnishing in air or water. This means that it will retain all of the beautiful qualities you love about gold and remain the same from the day purchased there onwards with only minor maintenance needed to clean dirt that may get trapped in its detailing.

For a deep cleaning of gold jewellery, especially if there are diamonds and gems set in the material; an ultrasonic cleaner is most effective. Contact Us to use our repair and cleaning service.

Please bear in mind that whilst incredibly durable, gold can be quite soft depending on how many carats it is. This often means that a shiny polished surface will wear away over time to become matte and the exterior of your jewellery is susceptible to scratches and dents. This wear can often be easily fixed with a simple re finishing, though this process does remove a fine layer of your gold each time it’s performed, so please be careful and attempt to reduce the amount of impact that your jewellery has against other hard objects.

Black Ruthenium, Yellow or Rose Gold Plated detail on gold.

If you’ve chosen a design with black ruthenium plating, yellow gold plating or rose gold plating detail from Amelie Atelier then you can relax about the fact that this surface finish will wear away because the plating on the raised surfaces of the design will already be polished or brushed away by Amelie in the finishing process. The plating remaining in the recessed areas will not be scratched away easily and will remain that intended colour for many years. You can clean this type of jewellery with a small amount of dishwashing detergent and a soft toothbrush or alternatively you can Contact Us to use our repair and cleaning service.

Platinum

Platinum is as easy to maintain as it is beautiful because it does not require rhodium plating and since it is so hard and durable, it receives less scratches and dings than gold jewellery. It may need to have the surface re polished or re textured every now and then depending on the design chosen and the amount of knocks it gets from day to day.

For a deep cleaning of platinum jewellery, especially if there are diamonds and gems set in the material; an ultrasonic cleaner is most effective. Contact Us to use our repair and cleaning service.

Stone Set Rings

For engagement rings and other stone set jewellery it is highly recommended to get your settings checked regularly, at least once every two years, so that we can see how much wear the claws or bezel setting is getting and whether the claws need to be re-tipped or whether the bezel wall needs to be replaced. The settings of stones, regardless of who made the setting, will always be susceptible to wear and tear and as such need to be maintained to ensure that your stone does not fall out of its setting.

Gemstones

Some gemstones are harder to take care of than others. Some are allowed in an ultrasonic whilst others are too porous or have imperfections in them that ultrasonic rays can damage. Any Amelie Atelier Jewellery purchase that includes gemstones will come with instructions on how to care for that particular stone. Often we will advise that you have the jewellery cleaned and maintained by Amelie or a jeweller in your local area to ensure that the gemstone does not get damaged by mistreatment.

Sterling Silver

Due to sterling silver being an alloy that contains copper it tarnishes over time, especially when exposed to oxygen, salty air and some household chemicals. To decelerate this process it is recommended to store your silver jewellery in an airtight container or zip lock bag.

There are a few methods to clean your silver jewellery and bring it back to its beautiful bright white state:

  1. Silver Polishing cleaner, available from most hardware stores, can be used to dip your silver piece into and then rinse however this can be smelly and poisonous and if the wrong chemicals are used this could damage the piece.
  2. A great alternative to try is toothpaste, apply a small amount on a soft toothbrush with a bit of water and lightly scrub the piece to clean your silver perfectly. Once cleaned you can run it under the water and dry. 
  3. Another safe method is to use bi-carb soda, mix a teaspoon with 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of water and scrub the piece with a soft toothbrush then rinse under water and dry.

For heavily tarnished silver the most effective method to brighten and restore your jewellery is to use an ionic or ultrasonic cleaner. Contact Us to use our repair and cleaning service.

Oxidised Sterling Silver

With wear, oxidisation rubs back, exposing the true metal colour beneath. This will happen at varying speeds depending on how regularly the piece is worn and how much it rubs against other hard objects. Rings and bangles tend to wear the fastest, pendants a little slower, and earrings the slowest, but they will all wear back eventually.

Amelie designs her jewellery with this in mind and will polish or brush back the oxidised layer at the higher surface areas in the finishing process. However it will continue to wear away further so relax and enjoy the way the surface of your jewellery evolves with time.

If you need to clean your oxidised jewellery piece, use a soft sponge or cotton ball with a dab of methylated spirit and wipe gently to remove any grease or dirt. Do not rub too hard and do not use an abrasive surface or solvent. If you’d like to have your oxidised jewellery professionally cleaned or would like the surface re oxidised please Contact Us to use our repair and cleaning service.