From the Bench · Denver, CO

How to Care for Sterling Silver Jewelry

Every piece I sell is hand-poured 925 sterling silver - 92.5% pure silver alloyed with copper for strength. Silver wants to be worn, and it only asks for a little attention in return: a decent cloth, a dry place to sleep, and the good sense to take it off before you slide into a hot spring. Here's everything I tell people at the booth, written down.

Why silver tarnishes

Tarnish isn't rust and it isn't damage. Silver reacts with trace sulfur in the air - from exhaust, rubber, wool, even eggs at breakfast - and builds a thin dark film of silver sulfide on the surface. It's purely cosmetic and completely reversible. The copper in sterling speeds the reaction up slightly; that's the trade for a metal hard enough to hold carved detail through years of wear. Humidity accelerates it, and so does your own skin chemistry, which is why the same pendant stays bright for months on one person and goes smoky in weeks on another. Neither is wrong. It's just chemistry.

The polishing cloth

A jeweler's polishing cloth is the only tool most people will ever need - a soft cloth loaded with an ultra-fine polishing compound. Hold the piece firm and wipe in straight lines rather than scrubbing circles; straight strokes leave a cleaner shine and circles can leave visible swirl. Work the high surfaces and edges and let the cloth glide. It will turn black as it lifts tarnish - that's the compound doing its job, not the cloth wearing out, so keep using it until it stops working, and never wash it.

Skip toothpaste, baking soda, and liquid "silver dip" cleaners. They're all more aggressive than they sound: pastes scratch, and dips strip everything indiscriminately - including intentional darkening and anything near an inlay.

Storing it right

Air exposure is what tarnishes silver, so storage is simple: less air, less tarnish. A small zip bag with the air pressed out will keep a piece bright for months. Toss in an anti-tarnish strip if you have one. Keep pieces bagged separately so chains don't drag across polished faces, and store them somewhere dry - a bathroom shelf next to a hot shower is the worst room in the house for silver.

What to avoid

Festival reality: I pour these to be worn on the lot, not kept in a drawer. Dust, sweat, sunscreen, and three days of dancing won't hurt a piece - that's what it's for. At the end of a run, rinse it under clean water, dry it completely, and give it a pass with the cloth when you're home. That's the whole ritual.

When patina is a good thing

Not all darkening should be polished away. On carved and textured work, tarnish that settles into the recesses gives the design its depth - low spots go dark, high spots stay bright, and the carving reads from across the room. Jewelers create that contrast on purpose and call it patina. So when you polish a carved piece, hit the high surfaces and leave the valleys alone; a flat cloth naturally does exactly that. If a piece ever needs its deep detail brought fully back to bright, that's a bench job - get in touch and I'll walk you through it.

Cleaning stone-inlay pieces

My inlay work is crushed opal and stone set flush and polished by hand. It's built for daily wear, but stone isn't silver, so it gets gentler treatment: no ultrasonic cleaners, no chemical dips, no long soaks in hot water, and no dry heat like a dashboard in July. Warm water, one drop of mild dish soap, a soft cloth or a very soft brush, rinse, and dry thoroughly. Use the polishing cloth on the surrounding silver and glide lightly over the inlay itself - the stone doesn't tarnish, so it doesn't need the compound.

Curious about the material itself? The full inlay catalog lives on the stone catalog page, and if you want the story behind each stone, read the stone meanings guide. The tarnished and stippled finishes get asked about most on the Pretty Lights pendants and the Dogs In A Pile stealies - that darkening is deliberate, and the polishing advice above is exactly what you do not want to do to those recesses. Same goes for the Daily Bread toast pieces and the Magic Beans marching bears.

The long game

Treat a piece like this with basic respect and it will outlast all of us - silver has been doing this job for a few thousand years. All sales are final on handmade work, but if a craftsmanship issue ever shows up, I make it right; the details are on the shipping & returns page. Otherwise: wear it hard, polish it now and then, and send me a photo from the rail.

Shop the collection