TAKING CARE OF YOUR BRASS JEWELRY

Few brass facts

Brass metal is an alloy of copper and zinc, which doesn’t rust. It however with time may lose it’s original shine, forming a brown and eventually black layer. This is as a result of it’s reaction with oxygen in it’s environment. Brass is not a magnetic metal; hence should not stick to magnets should you pass one over it. This explains why you’ll go through security checks in your brass jewelry and not hear a sound. This is the difference between actual brass metal and brass-coated/plated pieces.

Cleaning

At Brassed Crafts, we offer free jewelry polishing services to our clients, which helps keep the pieces as good as new all day everyday. There are however some ways you can clean your own jewelry from home, especially in the current social distancing situation. Oh yes, just added one more thing to your to-do list during this time…you’re welcome.

So, a frequent question we get is if you should take your brass rings off when interacting with water, and the answer is no you don’t have to. As you wash your hands with soap and water, you can clean your pieces too. You’ll notice the difference. Next time you’re washing your hands, do it with your rings on, tell us how that goes eey? That said, you can also wash your other pieces using soap and water, using a soft brush to reach the places your hands can’t get to. Once done, rinse using clean running water then dry using a dry piece of cloth.

If you’re feeling a little extra though, you could use ketchup. Yes, you read right, the ketchup that we use on food cleans jewelry too. Apply even amounts on to the jewelry you want to clean, rubbing it evenly through the whole piece and let them sit for a minute. Rinse well with running water then dry completely with a clean dry cloth.

A replacement to ketchup can be a vinegar, salt and flour paste, which you apply to your pieces and let it sit for about 10 minutes, then rinse well and dry. One last alternative is using the lemon fruit. Cut open a lemon fruit then sprinkle some salt onto the open side. Then like we do with that street roasted maize, rub the lemon evenly on your jewelry making sure it gets to every place, especially the more intricate pieces. Once this is done, rinse thoroughly then dry.

Now y’all can gather all your brass jewelry and give them a fine polish eey?

Let us know of the result.

Love and light!