How should I care for my jewellery for everyday wear? Remove your jewellery when doing activities that could cause damage, such as exercising, gardening, or cleaning. Avoid contact with harsh chemicals, perfumes, and lotions, which can dull or damage metal and gemstones. Apply lotions, creams and perfumes and let them dry before putting your jewellery on. Try to avoid sleeping, swimming and bathing in your jewellery when you can to prolong the life of your cherished pieces. Store your jewellery separately to prevent scratches, preferably in a soft pouch or lined box. How often should I clean my jewellery? As and when you feel it needs it! Take away fingerprints and restore shine using a soft jewellery cloth as often as you like. Take special care around claws to avoid catching them. To remove dirt, oils and cream residues from hard-to-reach areas, clean your jewellery regularly using a soft toothbrush (a baby toothbrush is ideal) in warm, soapy water (a dash of washing up liquid works perfectly). Avoid abrasive cleaners or brushes. If you want to really shine up your jewellery and/or remove fine scratches, you may want to have your piece professionally polished. Read more about a professional clean and polish here. Why is my jewellery dirty? Jewellery can appear dirty for a variety of reasons, depending on the material and how it’s worn. Silver Tarnish: Silver naturally tarnishes when exposed to air, leading to a grey or dull appearance. Use a jewellery polishing cloth to remove tarnish and restore shine. If silver turns black, it may be reacting to skin oils, moisture, or chemicals. Rhodium plating can help in such cases. Gold Tarnish: While less common, gold can tarnish due to chemical exposure, such as chlorine or bleach. Even some jewellery boxes can react with the alloys in gold, causing unusual discoloration. A professional polish can usually remove stubborn tarnish. Build-Up from Daily Wear: Skin cells, creams, food, oils, and other substances can accumulate on jewellery, making it look cloudy or dull. Regular cleaning with warm soapy water can loosen dirt. For stubborn grime or dull gemstones, a professional clean may be needed. White Gold Yellowing: If white gold jewellery appears patchy or yellow, it’s likely due to rhodium plating wearing off. This is a normal occurrence, especially in high-wear areas like the back of rings. The piece can be polished and re-plated to restore its bright, silvery finish. Chemical Reactions: Exposure to perfumes, cleaning products, and chlorine can cause discoloration or tarnish in both silver and gold. Avoid wearing jewellery during activities that involve harsh chemicals to keep it looking its best. Can I wear my jewellery in water? While precious metals like gold and platinum are water-resistant, exposure to chlorinated or salty water can tarnish or weaken jewellery. Remove your jewellery before swimming or bathing. Why has my jewellery tarnished, and how can I restore it? Silver naturally tarnishes over time due to exposure to air and moisture. Use a silver polishing cloth to restore its shine, or clean it with a gentle silver jewellery cleaner. If your silver has turned black, it may be due to exposure to oils on your skin, perfumes, or most commonly chlorine or bleach. Gold can also tarnish and is most commonly caused by chlorine, bleach or a reaction to the oils on your skin. Even some jewellery boxes have been known to react with the alloys within gold. Take your jewellery for a professional clean and polish and then take note of what you’ve been doing if your jewellery repeatedly tarnishes/discolours. Why has my jewellery changed colour? Tarnishing and plating wear are often mistaken for one another. Tarnishing typically causes an even colour change across the metal's surface, whereas worn plating can appear patchy. White gold may develop a yellowish hue as its rhodium plating wears off, which is completely natural and can be replated. If your jewellery or skin turns green, it likely indicates a low quality base metal beneath the plating. This is most commonly seen in gold plated jewellery items. At April Dace Jewellery, we use only precious metals—sterling silver, gold, and platinum—ensuring your jewellery won’t cause skin discolouration. How should I store my jewellery? Keep your jewellery in a cool, dry place, ideally in individual compartments to prevent tangling and scratching. Keep gemstones and pearls out of direct sunlight and areas with more moisture.

How do I care for my bespoke jewellery pieces? Follow the same cleaning and storage guidelines but take extra care with intricate or delicate designs. Consider scheduling regular check-ups to ensure the settings remain secure. What should I do if my bespoke jewellery needs repairs? Contact April Dace Jewellery directly for professional repairs to ensure your bespoke piece is handled with care. How do I protect my bespoke jewellery from damage? Avoid wearing bespoke pieces during high-risk activities and store them safely when not in use. Insure your bespoke jewellery for added peace of mind. How do I care for my bespoke engagement ring? Some engagement ring styles need more care and maintenance than others. Claw settings and higher set gemstones usually require more care due to risk of catching or knocking. To protect your precious engagement ring, take it off during high-risk activities and store them safely. Take special care with claw set engagement rings when removing gloves as they have a tendency to catch and can pull claws away. It's always advised to match up your engagement ring metal with your wedding ring metal so both rings wear evenly. If you have a shaped engagement ring, try to match it up with a wedding ring that shapes with it, not against it, to prevent uneven wearing especially to the underside of stone settings. Find out more about Shaped-To-Fit here. Buffing the surface with a jewellery polishing cloth helps restore shine, and using warm soapy water and a soft brush helps remove surface residues, but if you’d like to remove fine marks or go for a full clean in hard-to-reach areas, a professional clean and polish is recommended. Read more about gemstone-specific care here. For more information on your bespoke jewellery guarantee, read more here. How do I care for my bespoke wedding ring? You may find when wearing two rings together (engagement ring and wedding ring) that they wear against each other over time. Try and swap your wedding band around every now and then so both sides receive equal wear. Take extra care with your stone set and engraved wedding rings. Avoid wearing them during high-risk activities and store them safely when not in use. Buffing the surface with a jewellery polishing cloth helps restore shine, but if you’d like to remove fine marks, a professional polish is recommended. For more information on your bespoke jewellery guarantee, read more here. How should I care for my bespoke signet ring? Signet rings typically receive the most amount of wear and tear, usually because they're worn on the outer fingers where knocks and grazes are more likely to occur. They also tend to have a broader, flatter surface area so scratches and marks are often more noticeable. Avoid wearing bespoke signet rings during high-risk activities and store them safely when not in use. Take special care with signet rings when removing gloves as they have a tendency to catch and pull off inside your glove. In cold weather or while washing hands, be aware of your signet ring so it doesn’t come loose. Take it off and store it safely if you are worried about losing it while washing hands, in the swimming pool/open water, or out in the cold. Buffing the surface with a jewellery polishing cloth helps restore shine, but if you’d like to remove fine marks, a professional polish is recommended. For more information on your bespoke jewellery guarantee, read more here.

How should I clean jewellery with gemstones? Most gemstones are fine to clean at home in warm, soapy water (washing up liquid works well) and a soft brush. Don’t use any chemicals or cleaning products. There are some exceptions where special care is required, in particular softer stones such as opals, emeralds, pearls and amber. Take care when brushing gemstones not to dislodge the settings and always check your jewellery after soaking to see if any stones have come loose before throwing your water away! Gently dab your jewellery dry with kitchen roll or a soft absorbent cloth. Avoid rubbing excessively as it may cause claws to catch. How do I care for opal jewellery? Opals are a soft gemstone and require extra awareness and care when being worn and cleaned. They can easily break through knocking and can scratch against harder materials. They can also dry out and “craze” if not cared for correctly. You need to know whether your opal jewellery holds full opals, doublets or triplets (read more about opals here) to make sure the appropriate cleaning methods are applied. Depending how “dirty” your jewellery is will depend on how you approach your opal cleaning. If you want to wipe over the surface to brighten the metal and stones, a soft cloth with a small amount of soapy water works well. Be sure to lightly rinse the jewellery under water afterwards to remove any soap. If you need to clean away built up dirt you can use warm soapy water and a soft brush. Try brushing the jewellery first before fully soaking and for stubborn areas you can soak for a few minutes. Don’t use chemicals or ultrasonic cleaners. Don’t leave opals in moisture or in direct heat or sunlight as they can dry out. Don’t spray perfume directly onto opals, it damages the surface. Apply lotions, creams, sprays etc first and let them dry before putting on your jewellery. If in doubt, ask your trusted jeweller to professionally clean your opal jewellery. How do I care for pearl jewellery? Pearls are a soft gemstone and require extra awareness and care when being worn and cleaned. They can easily scuff and scratch against harder materials. Pearls only really need a gentle clean with a soft cloth, rubbing in soft circular motions to take away surface residues. You can wash pearl jewellery in warm soapy water and a soft brush or cloth. If cleaning strung pearl necklaces, be mindful of the silk and leave to dry naturally, laid out on some kitchen roll. If cleaning pearl cup earrings or pendants, make sure the water isn’t too hot as it may soften the glue. Pearls don’t like direct sunlight, moisture or heat so store in a cool, dry place. Its best not to sleep or shower in your pearl jewellery. Taking off your jewellery will help prevent damage. Don’t use chemicals or ultrasonic cleaners. Don’t spray perfume directly onto opals, it damages the surface. Apply lotions, creams, sprays etc first and let them dry before putting on your jewellery. If in doubt, ask your trusted jeweller to professionally clean your pearl jewellery. How do I care for emerald jewellery? Emeralds are a soft gemstone and require extra awareness and care when being worn. They can easily break through knocking and can scratch against harder materials. Always take your emerald jewellery off for activities where there may be a chance of damage. Store separately in a soft jewellery pouch or box, in a cool dry place. Clean with warm soapy water and a soft brush and pat dry. Don’t use chemicals or ultrasonic cleaners. If in doubt, ask your trusted jeweller to professionally clean your emerald jewellery. How do I care for amber jewellery? Amber is a very soft gemstone and extra care needs to be taken when wearing. It can easily break through knocking and can scratch against harder materials.The surface can also dull.. Don’t leave your amber jewellery in direct sunlight or heat. Don’t use chemicals or ultrasonic cleaners. Don’t spray perfume directly onto amber, it damages the surface. Apply lotions, creams, sprays etc first and let them dry before putting on your jewellery. If in doubt, ask your trusted jeweller to professionally clean your amber jewellery. Can gemstones be worn every day? Harder gemstones like diamonds and sapphires are ideal for daily wear, while softer stones like pearls and opals require extra care and should be worn more occasionally.

Jewellery is not indestructible - quite the contrary. Like anything it will wear and tear depending on how much use its getting and what its exposed to. The smallest, most insignificant of things can mark your jewellery, from your steering wheel, door handle, or oven door, to going to the gym, pushing a trolley or doing the washing up! Regular checks of stone settings and finer areas of your jewellery including clasps and chain links are advised as these areas tend to receive more wear and tear. Worn areas can always be rebuilt and strengthened. The best way to prolong wear and tear is removing your jewellery when it is not necessary to wear it (sleeping, showering etc). Here’s some advice on how to care for your precious metals and make their lustre last! How do I maintain gold jewellery? There are no major differences to maintaining gold jewellery in comparison to other metals. Along with platinum, it is one of the easiest metals to maintain, requiring the least maintenance overall. Regular gentle buffing with a gold jewellery polishing cloth will ensure you can keep your gold shiny at home. A professional clean and polish can help maintain its luster and soften light marks and fine scratches - learn more here. 9ct gold is typically considered a “harder” metal so can require a more rigorous set of polishing stages due to marks and scratches often being more obvious. 18ct gold is “softer” so tends to ‘move like butter’ rather than wear down due to its less rigid makeup, so you may find it is less likely to show off scratches and marks like 9ct would. Read more about the differences between 9ct and 18ct gold here. How do I maintain white gold jewellery? White gold jewellery typically requires more maintenance than yellow or rose gold and platinum. Rhodium plating is the most common form of maintenance for white gold. The same rules apply when it comes to everyday maintenance of white gold (read above), but if your jewellery is rhodium plated you may want to take more care to remove your jewellery more often to avoid wear and tear to further prolong your rhodium plating. Read more about rhodium plating here. How do I care for platinum jewellery? Platinum requires very little care besides a professional polish and regular checks on jewellery with stone settings to ensure the claws and edges are substantial and well held (both recommended approx once yearly). It is a highly durable metal but can develop a natural patina over time which is completely normal. To maintain its shine, clean it regularly and consider professional refinishing for deeper scratches. Platinum is a much harder metal so will stand the test of time with very little wear, but because of its hardness it may show deeper scratches more easily so take special care to remove your jewellery when it could be damaged (gardening, using tools etc). What should I do if my jewellery gets scratched? Light scratches can often be polished out by a professional jeweller. Avoid attempting to remove deep scratches yourself. Deeper scratches and marks can be professionally removed by a jeweller using a more involved polishing process and sometimes more metal needs to be added by laser welder to fill very large scratches or dents.

What is rhodium plating? Rhodium plating is a process where a layer of rhodium, a precious metal, is applied to jewellery to temporarily enhance its colour or prevent tarnishing. Its important to remember rhodium plating is a layer, or “coating” and with wear will eventually start to wear off. Why is rhodium plating used? Often white gold jewellery is rhodium plated to provide a jewellery piece with a “more desirable” bright white-silvery colour rather than the natural yellowy-grey colour of white gold. (FYI, white gold is a mix of yellow gold and other silvery-white metals so often naturally has a yellow-ish tinge). Silver is also sometimes rhodium plated so the silver doesn’t tarnish. It can sometimes also help as a barrier for anyone with allergies to certain metals. In some cases, although not usually advised due to the temporary nature of plating, rhodium plating can be used to change the colour of a piece of jewellery from yellow or rose, to white. How long does rhodium plating last? The longevity of rhodium plating depends on how often the jewellery is worn and what wear and tear the jewellery is exposed to. Typically, it lasts 6-12 months with regular wear. How can I maintain rhodium-plated jewellery? When you can, take your jewellery off while sleeping, bathing, swimming and for more manual activities. This will prolong the life of your rhodium plating. Avoid exposing rhodium-plated jewellery to harsh chemicals, abrasive materials, or prolonged water exposure. For any plated jewellery, its important to apply creams, lotions, sprays, oils, perfumes etc and allow them to dry BEFORE putting on your jewellery. Store it in a soft pouch or box to prevent scratches. Can rhodium plating be reapplied? Yes, rhodium plating can be reapplied by a professional jeweller to restore the jewellery's original appearance. This process includes a full clean and polish to remove light marks and restore the overall shine to your jewellery before plating. Read more about a professional clean and polish here. Is rhodium plating suitable for all jewellery? Rhodium plating is typically used for white gold and silver jewellery. It’s less common for yellow or rose gold as it only alters the colour temporarily and any wear and tear will show more obviously once the layer of rhodium comes off, meaning more regular maintenance and re-plating. Most gemstones are resistant to the rhodium plating process, but some need special care and in some cases it may be advised the gemstone be temporarily removed for plating then reset. Every jewellery piece is assessed on a case by case basis. Does rhodium plating wear off? Over time, the rhodium layer will wear off, especially on frequently handled areas such as the underside of rings or on necklace chains where natural oils in our skin or perfume is applied. It's entirely up to you as to how regularly you re-plate your jewellery, it is all down to personal preference on how noticeable you feel the colour change is and how often you want to pay for the service. How long does rhodium plating take? Approximately 2-3 weeks. It can sometimes be done sooner if needed, just get in touch to ask about current lead times. If a jewellery piece needs any more work done it may take longer but every piece is checked, cleaned and polished prior to plating so you will always be contacted should any additional work be required. Do you send rhodium plating away? No, I do all the rhodium plating myself so you can feel reassured your jewellery is in safe hands. For more detailed care instructions or to inquire about rhodium replating services contact April here

What is a professional clean and polish? A professional clean and polish involves a meticulous process to restore your jewellery’s original shine and brilliance. Here’s what it includes: Initial Inspection: Your jewellery is thoroughly examined to identify any loose or thinning claws, insecure stone settings, or potential damage such as fractures, thinning or general wear and tear. This ensures your piece is safe for cleaning and highlights any necessary repairs*. *You will always be contacting prior to any cleaning should there be any repair advisories or concerns. Surface Preparation: Fine marks and light scratches on the metal are carefully removed using jewellers’ sandpapers. This step uses progressively finer grades to achieve a smooth surface while preserving delicate details like engraving or stone settings. Polishing: The jewellery is polished by hand using a spinning motor equipped with soft polishing mops. Two grades of polishing compounds (coarse and fine) are used to create a high-shine finish. Ultrasonic Cleaning: The piece is placed in an ultrasonic cleaner—a bath of warm water and professional cleaning fluid that vibrates to dislodge dirt, oils, and residues from gemstones and hard-to-reach areas. This step ensures the entire piece is clean inside and out. Final Inspection: After rinsing and gently drying the jewellery, it undergoes a final check to confirm its fully clean and ready to wear again! This method is ideal for rings, pendants, bangles, earrings, and some chains. Fine chains and delicate pieces are mainly cleaned using the ultrasonic process to avoid over-polishing or pulling. How long does professional jewellery cleaning take? Professional cleaning typically takes 1–2 weeks, depending on the number of items, current lead times, and whether additional work is required. Express cleaning may be available within a few days. Contact April to check the current lead times. Do you send my jewellery away? No, all work is carried out in April’s Norfolk workshop, ensuring your jewellery stays safely in-house at all times. How can I get my jewellery to you? If you’re local to Norfolk, feel free to contact April to arrange a drop-off at her workshop. For those further afield or unable to deliver in person, we recommend using Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed Before 1pm (next day). This fully tracked service allows you to add your own insurance cover. For more details, visit the Royal Mail website: https://www.royalmail.com/sending/uk/special-delivery-guaranteed-1pm. For additional jewellery postage advice, click here. Is the jewellery cleaning process damaging? No, we take great pride in using a safe and gentle approach. With years of experience and industry-standard tools and techniques in our workshop, we offer expert care for your precious jewellery. Each piece is handled with the utmost care and respect to ensure a safe and effective clean. Each item is carefully inspected before cleaning, with its condition noted and any recommended repairs communicated to you before we proceed with any work. Where there may be risk to a piece of jewellery due to age or wear and tear, you will be made aware prior to cleaning. How do I book in a professional jewellery polish? Fill in the contact form, here. Contact April directly at info@aprildacejewellery.com Message April on Instagram: @aprildacejewellery Send as much information as possible, including metal type, stone type and any photos you have and April will get back to you as soon as possible.