Metal Types

Sterling Silver

Silver is soft and easily scratched. Use a polishing cloth or microfiber cloth to polish your jewelry. Avoid using paper towels or tissues on your jewelry as they have fibers that may cause scratching.

Contact with household chemicals, perspiration, rubber, chlorinated water, or any substances which contain sulfur (e.g., mayonnaise, eggs, mustard, onions, latex, wool), will cause corrosion and tarnish — so it’s a smart idea to remove silver jewelry when doing household chores. Direct sunlight also causes silver to tarnish, so be sure to take off your silver jewelry before you go swimming and sunbathing.

Lotions, cosmetics, hair spray, hair products, and perfumes will accelerate tarnishing. There’s a reason that generations of women put on their jewelry last, as a finishing touch!

Be careful with silver-plated items, as excessive polishing can remove the plating (depending on the thickness) and leave pieces looking worse than when you started.

GOLD

Pure gold is too soft for everyday wear, so it is alloyed with a mixture of metals like silver, copper, nickel, and zinc to give it strength and durability. Karatage, denoted by a number followed by “k” indicates purity, or how much of the metal in a piece of jewelry is gold. Karatage is expressed in 24ths, making 24k gold, 100% gold.

We craft our jewelry using both 18k and 14k gold. Below is a chart showing the common karatage of gold and ex.

24 karat = 100% gold

Way too soft for fine jewelry

22 karat = 91.7% gold
Too soft for fine jewelry

18 karat = 75.0% gold
Ideal for fine jewelry

14 karat = 58.3% gold
Ideal for fine jewelry

10 karat = 41.7% gold
Not acceptable for jewelry

Yellow Gold

Natural gold and color-saturated alloys are what give yellow gold jewelry its rich shine. The alloys most commonly used, are copper with a red hue, and silver featuring a green hue. An expert mixture of copper, silver and pure gold gives this precious metal its signature warmth.

White Gold

A silvery-white character is what makes white gold jewelry so appealing. In order to make the gold white, it is combined with metal alloys that are white in nature and plated with an extremely hard element called rhodium. Although strong, rhodium wears away over time due to normal wear. Replating (commonly known as “dipping”) is a simple process that can be done to restore whiteness to your jewelry.

Rose Gold

The beautiful pink hue of rose gold jewelry is created by using a copper alloy. Again, the overall percentages of metal alloys are the same for rose gold as it is for yellow or white, there is just a different mixture in what alloys are used.

Platinum

Platinum is our most popular metal for engagement rings and wedding bands. Platinum’s naturally white sheen will never fade or change color, and accentuates the sparkle and brilliance of a diamond. Platinum will last forever, making it the ultimate symbol for true, enduring, and everlasting love. It is durable. Its density makes for the most secure setting for your diamond or precious gemstone.

Platinum jewelry is very rare; in fact, 30 times more so than gold. The special platinum mix we use is 95% pure platinum and 5% cobalt chrome to ensure durability. The purity of platinum makes it naturally hypoallergenic, ideal for those with sensitive skin issues.

As a custom manufacture, we always recommend platinum.