INSTRUCTIONS FOR CARE

How to wear jewellery

In order for your jewellery to last and bring joy for a long time they should be worn with consideration. We recommend that you remove all jewellery always when doing physical work that can cause the jewellery to get broken. Gym equipment, gardening, even washing up and conducting other household work wears out the jewellery and also collects dirt.

Ideally jewellery should be off for the night. This applies in particular to earrings and rings. Don’t shower, bath, swim or go in the sauna wearing you jewellery. The humidity that stick to the jewellery irritates sensitive skin easily and in cold water a ring might slip off the finger without you noticing.

They way jewellery is manufactured effects a lot how durable and pleasant the pieces are to wear. This is exactly the reason for why we at Atelier Torbjörn Tillander want to manufacture our jewellery by hand and out of the very best materials.

Cleaning

The most important duty that should be repeated often is the care and cleansing of jewellery. Dirt that accumulates around the jewellery makes the metal surfaces mat whilst the gemstones brightness is lost. Too long bracelets are also likely to wear out faster than well fitted ones.

Diamonds attract grease to them which is why diamond rings that are in daily use are worth washing once a week. Once the base of the diamond is covered with dirt its brilliance is gone. Jewellery with gemstones in light colours remains beautiful when they are washed on a weekly basis. Other jewellery in daily use can be washed approximately once a month.

Washing is simple. A soft children’s toothbrush or an equivalent small brush and washing up liquid is ideal for cleaning jewellery. It is worth using a bowl or putting the tap on in the sink whilst washing jewellery; otherwise small parts and possibly loose stones might go down the drain. All jewellery is placed in washing up liquid with water for a couple of minutes and all cavities and the base of the stones are brushed clean. After this the jewellery is cleansed well with water and dried gently with a towel. Most pieces can in addition be dried on top of a towel with a hair dryer.

Some gemstones are sensitive and therefore need to be cleaned with great caution. Examples of such porous gemstones are emeralds, turquoises, coral, pearls and opals.

Pearl jewellery should be cleaned more gently and is often best to hand in to professionals for care and cleaning.

We don’t recommend you to clean antique jewellery in the manner described above. The care of antique jewellery should be left for professionals only.

POLISHING

Gold and platinum are soft metals, hence jewellery made out of these wear out in use. Rings, bracelets and chains are the most prone to wearing.

The best quick fix to minor scratches is silver cleaning cloth with some polishing detergent. Rings can be cleansed by rubbing them against a polishing cloth tightly against a table. Chains are polished by taking the cloth in one hand and pulling the chain between the cloths with the other.

For best results you should let your goldsmith polish your jewellery. Pieces that are in everyday use should be serviced at your goldsmith once a year or two. In the same time your goldsmith will check the settings of the stones.
Repair and care
Sometimes jewellery wears out in a way that they break or lose their beauty. The size of fingers may change or jewellery might have lost a stone. The goldsmith is a grand help for these kinds of situations. Repaired jewellery will look like brand new after the goldsmith has cleaned and polished it.

Checking stone settings is a vital part of taking care of jewellery, because the jewellery wears out when used. If a ring gets stuck in clothes it’s a sign of that the piece needs to be taken to the goldsmith. Unfortunately smooth bezel settings don’t alarm of their condition in the same way in use. If a piece of jewellery with stones is accidentally slammed onto something it’s worth having the stone and setting checked immediately. Any stone, even a diamond can shatter when it’s hit hard.

Use and care of pearl jewellery

It is necessary to be particularly cautious with pearl jewellery. We recommend that you dress on the pearls at the very last, after applying the make-up, skin cream, perfume and hair spray. It’s good to wipe off a pearl necklace after each use with a soft cloth. In this way you wipe the surface of the pearls off most of the grease that comes off from the skin.

A pearl necklace that is in daily use is worth restringing each year. The need for it is shown in a stretched silk thread which results in the pearls being able to move around on the string. The silk thread also collects dirt and the knots that are in between the pearls are no longer white.

If the pearls have become very dirty it is worth taking them to us for restringing which is when they’ll be cleaned as well.

Pearl bracelets and all stringed jewellery with jewels are worth restringing regularly. You are most welcome to visit our shop if you are uncertain about when your piece of jewellery should be restringed. We are delighted to assist you.

Renewing jewellery

Most of us have jewellery we have received as a gift or inherited jewellery that we simply don’t find use for because they don’t feel familiar. With clever design and technical know-how this kind of jewellery can be renewed in several ways. Atelier Torbjörn Tillander has the creativity and skill to work on these kinds of assignments as well.

Already a minor change can make grandmother’s brooch into a beautiful necklace in contemporary style, which can be clipped on to a string of small pearls or jewels. The brooch mechanism can however be conserved so that it can still be used as a brooch on occasion. In this way the jewellery’s history and sentimental value is preserved but it is rescued from the shadows of the jewellery box in order to please the eye and charm with its beauty as well as to tell the story of its contemporary owner as well.

All jewellery doesn’t last in one piece whilst used. A broken piece of jewellery can be renewed into something new and pretty. Stones from the broken jewellery can be reused in new jewellery or parts can be built into something new and unique.