The sterling silver jewelry has taken the fashion world by storm as them being durable and flexible has made fashion designers carve all sorts of trendy, latest and traditional ornaments from it.
You can find beautiful and simple ornaments to a princess-like sterling silver snowflake ornaments to get you styled whether as daily wear or festive wear.
If you think of giving a gift to your friends or loved ones on a special occasion? Then what will be better than choosing a silver snowflake ornament? Because it will be a reminder and celebration of winter snowflakes.
What is Sterling Silver?
Sterling silver consists of 92.5% of silver and copper mixed in it which makes it hard and durable to get them made into two different types of jewelry like sterling silver necklaces, rings earrings, sterling silver charm bracelet and so on.
How Can You Identify if it’s Real Sterling Silver?
To identify whether it’s real or fake sold by untrusted makers, you should follow certain steps:
- Rubbing – The sterling silver jewellery using a soft white cloth. When you rub, you will see black marks on it which is proof that it’s real and it happens because when silver is exposed to air, it gets oxidized.
- Use Nitric Acid on Silver Jewellery- If it is fake, then nitric acid will make it lose its color. And if it’s pure sterling silver, then the area on which you dropped the acid will become creamy in color.
- Doing Smell Test– The real sterling silver has no smell, and if it has, then there is too much copper in it, which makes it fake.
- Conducting Magnet Test– There will be no effect as the magnet doesn’t get attracted to sterling silver snowflake ornaments, gold and platinum jewellery.
- You can also identify sterling silver by seeing markings such as “ster” and “925” in hidden places.
How to Take Care of Your Delicate Sterling Silver Snowflake Ornaments?
The high-grade sterling silver will last you a lifetime. However, it gets tarnished, which happens because sterling silver is made by combining silver and some other metal alloys, basically copper in it. When silver comes in contact with the air, it changes its color .
However, you can avoid your sterling silver jewellery from getting tarnished by following certain step:
- Storing it properly– You should always store your sterling silver snowflake pendant and other jewellery in a soft cloth bag, as it will avoid it from coming in contact with moisture in the air. It also prevents the ornament from rubbing against any other hard jewellery or gemstones of different pieces.
- Always keep your sterling silver jewellery in a dry and cool place.
- If you want your sterling silver snowflake and other jewelry pieces to stay for decades, you should polish them regularly every few days to keep them shiny and glossy. It is also recommended as more tarnished jewelry will be challenging to clean.
- Always choose microfiber or flannel fabric to polish your jewelry as it’s lint-free and won’t damage it.
- Using toothpaste to remove the tarnish from your sterling silver ornament is a strict no as it contains harsh components which can damage the outer design of your jewellery.
- When you are polishing your silver or sterling silver snowflake charm bracelet, always do it in back and forth movement. It will help in raising the shine and gloss of it, while circular motion will cause scratches on it.
- Always keep changing the cleaning cloth as dirty one will not help.
- If your jewellery pieces are too tarnished, then you should take it to a professional jewellery cleaner.
- You can also clean your sterling silver pieces with some homemade tips and tricks:
- Using water and soap mixture will be effective; however, use soap which is phosphate and ammonia-free.
- Olive oil and Lemon juice is used to clean silver snowflake ornaments. Just dip a cloth in it and apply on jewellery then clean it with a dry cloth.
Tip: Don’t rub hard on your delicate jewellery pieces like sterling silver snowflake jewelry as you may end up damaging the pendant.