silver - Wryght Designs

Choosing a Jewellery Metal : A Quick Guide

06/06/2017
by adminwryght

Struggling to pick which colour metal jewellery you should buy? Then here is a quick guide to help you decide and snag a new favourite piece to compliment your wardrobe.

There are three mains considerations for choosing a jewellery metal : skin tone, wardrobe colours and other jewellery.

Skin tone

Just like certain clothes colours look good on certain skin tones, particular metals also look good on particular skin tones.

Cool skin tones : tend to be complimented by cooler metal colours like silver, white gold and platinum.
Warm skin tones : tend to be complimented by warmer metal colours like brass, copper and yellow and rose golds.
Neutral skin tones : have the benefit of looking great in both cool and warm metal colours aka free range on all metals.

Wardrobe colours

Choosing a specific metal for jewellery can be a great way to compliment or contrast the main colours in your wardrobe.

Black, white and grey : for contrast consider adding copper or brass, for subtlety add a splash of silver.
Green, blue and purple : silver and brass will tend to compliment these hues where copper will add contrast.
Red, yellow and orange : be aware that copper and brass that might clash tonally, add silver for a guaranteed complimentary dash.

Other Jewellery

Some women have a favourite jewellery metal, consistently seen in the matching jewellery metals, normally either gold or silver. Other women will mix their metals but this is normally a minority, though mixing is becoming more popular.

Gold lovers : an addition of brass will fit nicely with other golden items without the hefty price tag.
Silver lovers : obviously a purchase of silver will be loved.
Rose gold lovers : an addition of silver or copper will compliment this trend for rose gold.
Mixed metals lover or unsure : a splash of copper is most likely to please.

The above guide should help you choose a jewellery metals, but if you are wild at heart, or even just a little bit daring, adding a mixture of jewellery metals to match your daily mood or outfit of the day.

Shop here now : Silver : Copper : Brass or head over to my Etsy shop

Metal

Silver : A Brief Introduction

16/05/201716/05/2017
by Claire Wryght

Silver is one of the world’s most popular metals, precious but (more) affordable, vastly recyclable and still mined in Australia.

Pure silver is extremely soft which is why other metals are added in small amounts. There are four silver standards :
Sterling : 92.5% and 7.5% copper and stamped 925
Britannia : 95.8% and 4.2% copper and stamped 952
Argentium : can be either 93.5% or 95.84% balanced with copper and germanium
Fine : 99.9% with the balance of either copper, lead or zinc. This is the investment grade held in bullion.

Around one quarter of the production of silver is from recycled materials, aided by silver’s natural resistance to corrosion. All the silver metal sheet used at Wryght Designs is produced from recycled metal.

Silver is used in many forms, coins, jewellery, tableware and utensils, photographic film, medical instruments, investment bullion, x-rays and even solar panels. It is renowned for it high shine, durability and conductivity.

Did you know that although silver occurs in natural deposits, the majority of modern production is a byproduct of refining copper, lead, zinc and even gold?

Shop Silver now

Inside Wryght Designs

Cleaning Silver : A Quick and Easy Guide

07/03/201721/03/2017
by Claire Wryght

Tarnish accumulates over time on all metals, it’s actual a mini chemical reaction between elements in the air and the metal’s surface called oxidisation.

On silver items the sulphur in the air reacts with the compounds in the jewellery and becomes silver sulphide. These tiny specks of black build up to become black all over.

So second up in our easiest ways to clean metals series is silver.

Second Up : Silver

Our tried and tested tip for cleaning silver with only the things you have around the house? Aluminium foil, baking soda and hot water.

First line a heat proof, non-reactive vessel big enough to submerge the metal with aluminium foil. Boil some water. Then add the metal, the boiling water (enough to submerge) and a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for each cup of water. ‘Fresh’ tarnish comes off quickly. But stubborn tarnish can need a bit of a soak, or even a couple of applications for the chemistry to work. Finish with a quick rinse. Note : we only tested this method on sterling. We cannot recommend for other metals. Please do not soak any gemstones, pearls or other non-sterling items.

To make the shine last a little longer, add a coat of any clear wax or even a tiny daub of hair conditioner and buff to a shiny finish.

Check out Cleaning Copper and Cleaning Brass

Shop silver jewellery