WHY DOES CERTAIN JEWELRY STAIN OUR SKIN, HOW TO CLEAN AND TO PREVENT IT.

I am sure we have all dealt with it, one time or another. You have a favorite new bracelet but the day you wear it, you end up with a large green circle on your wrist. Or a reddish, itchy stain from a ring on your finger, a black or brown circle around your neck from that choker you wanted so badly.

Even though these stains look badly on your skin, the good news is that the stains are not permanent or harmful for your health, although an itchy reaction can be very unpleasant. The easiest way to get rid of these stains is with a warm, wet washcloth and mild soap. Gently rub your skin, it should come off pretty easy. 

Silver Tuesday Bracelet, ©House Of Joris Jewelry

Why does certain jewelry stain the skin? Tarnish is a thin layer of corrosion that forms over copper, nickel, aluminum and magnesium. If you are especially allergic to nickel, you will see a discoloration on your skin that is usually a red itchy hue, as it is due to inflammation. Even brass and silver can color the skin through oxidation, although it is usually not as severe.

Jewelry that is plated is common to tarnish the skin, especially cheap plated jewelry that has a very thin layer of silver or gold over the base metal. These plated metals can rub off quickly, even wearing it for one hot day in the summer. In my experience, if you work with plated metal, make sure the base is brass (certainly not copper) and the layer of silver or gold is nice and thick, made in America can make a big difference too. Metal that is dipped in silver or gold is much more solid, then a thin sprayed layer. 

So how do you prevent getting stains from jewelry. The best answer is buying more high-end jewelry, silver, gold (yellow, white or rose) and the prestigious platinum . For gold you can use gold-filled jewelry, this is jewelry plated with a 20% gold layer on the outside of the alloy. This jewelry can last up to 30 or 40 years before you will see places where the gold has rubbed off. If you have sensitive skin, you might have better luck with rhodium plated and stainless steel jewelry. Rhodium is an expensive metal, used a lot in space crafts. It looks more like white gold or platinum. Some jewelers use rhodium to plate their silver jewelry to prevent tarnish. 

Silver Monaco Earrings, ©House Of Joris Jewelry

If you have plated jewelry that you really love, you can always use clear nail polish or a clear acrylic spray to coat it. Also, make sure you take it off when you are putting on make-up, or wait until your skin has absorbed the lotion you used. Don't shower with it (although I will wear silver jewelry that is plated with rhodium in the shower. It makes it shine and sparkle) and take it off at night or when you come home.

Who writes this blog? What's on her mind?

If I can make a comfortable living with my art, this being music and jewelry at this point in my life, I will be the happiest person around. I have done it before, I made a very comfortable living for a while, but I was too young, I didn't invest in anything, just blew it. So it is my goal this year to make a comfortable living again, with my own business, House Of Joris Jewelry.

It really took a long time, and tons of people trying to convince me, before I finally believed that I am indeed blessed with talent. And so I should use this gift. Creating, Art, it is my coffee, my joy, my life force, it is what gets me up in the morning, and can make me stay up all night, because I am so excited about my latest design.

I play music too, this is how I made a good living in the 90's, and got to see quite a bit of the world.... I still do music, the bass guitar is my main instrument. But you can find me playing guitar and sing as well. Look, I even add a picture of me playing (I am not so fond of pictures of myself, either having them taken or posting them, for no good reason I might add, I even modeled in my twenties...).

At the Saxon Pub, 06/2012, Austin TX
with Mike Dubose & The Dissidents

There was a break from music, followed by a dysfunctional relationship, involving 3 step daughters, they were 7, 9 and 14 at the time, and so my life became caring for them, I had no life of my own. This relationship, with a complete control freak, brought enough drama to last a life time.

This all is now past, and I found a new passion, making the finest fashion jewelry money can buy! I closed my shop on Etsy, but you will be able to purchase my jewelry again online, real soon!  I even have a blog, and as I lay in bed, in my brand new home, so tired, I can not sleep and have things on my mind....

Living this life, well, it didn't turn out at all what I imagined it would be, back when I was a child. I thought I would be married by 20 and have kids.....
And contrary to what I thought, I love getting older, I gladly trade in a few wrinkles for wisdom, and peace of mind, that is now being given to me, like a super cool present (or did I earn it?).

I never feel the outside wrinkles on the inside though, I can still be as naïve and impulsive as when I was a child (although I have a real love affair with logic, it can be the most comforting thing I can think of).
But I do get the reality check, like when I see my skin do things that it used to not do.... just a few years ago.

Though I tend to over-think and analyze to much since I can remember. I love doing research, I have many interests and am naturally very curious. And I am convinced that we should never stop improving ourselves. I know I can always do things better (next time around), and I push myself hard, especially when it comes to my art, lately this counts for my handmade jewelry.

Though pushing myself can be frustrating and tedious, I do love to be challenged and do this to myself on a regular basis:

Tuesday Bracelet, OOAK
©2012 House Of Joris Jewelry

The conviction to keep growing, and do better every time, is my personal opinion, and it is not set in stone, it is just my way, it is what I believe in, and so it works for me.
It is not always pleasant, it can be kind of heavy... Suffering is most definitely a very real part of life, just as beauty is a real part of life.

Everyone should believe and do what works for them, whatever it might be. And I would not, never could not judge people for what they do, or their beliefs.

Unless your way of life includes: using, manipulating, and hurting other people, and especially children and animals.

Even then I will not waste my breath on judging you. I will skip that part, and shall go straight to seriously kicking your ass, until you are begging for mercy, or are crying for your mommy.

Up-Cycled Vintage Jewelry.... What does this mean exactly?

The term Up-Cycled (Vintage) Jewelry is found in many jewelry stores online. If you go to Etsy.com and type this term in their search engine, you will find many jewelry shops, with handmade jewelry for sale. But what exactly does this mean?

I was fortunate enough to participate in a local fashion photo-shoot, last April. It was low-key local shoot, with the lovely photographer Laura Morales, from Blushing Mulberry Photography in Austin TX. It was there that I met one of the models, Aleta, from Austin Tx. Aleta (aka Stephanie Oliver) came to my house to drop off vintage jewelry in need of repair, and also gave me a pair of vitrail colored, vintage ear-clips, asking me if I could make another jewelry piece with them.

We decided on a bracelet. I truly had no idea how I would do this, but I didn't show this insecurity, I told her I was excited and would make something beautiful. And I did, eventually... I waited until I had the repairs done, as I did not have an idea yet, but it did come to me, as you can see here in the picture below:

©2012 House Of Joris Jewelry, Elvira Bracelet
Up-Cycled Vintage Earrings

This is a great example of 'up-cycled vintage jewelry'. You can see the earrings on this  picture clearly, the 3 prong vitrail navettes, with 3 vitrail chatons, a very common style of earrings in the 1950's. I am sure most of you are familiar with this style of earrings. For this bracelet, I added Swarovski, clear crystal vintage chatons in the middle, as to resemble a flower.

I started with a basic silver, rhodium plated (non-tarnish), clamp bracelet, with a flat base on both sides.  I took the clips off the earrings, and mounted them on these flat bases. The sides of this bracelet, were 2 single wires, about 10mm apart from each other, leading to the flat base. I carefully mounted about a foot of vintage silver Swarovski chain, with tiny clear crystals, on top of these wires, and in between the wires, I added Swarovski tanzanite octagon jewels (10 x 8 mm) in silver setting, as well as Swarovski vitrail vintage, octagon jewels in silver setting (10 x 8 m), and I had beautiful, smaller, vintage Swarovski aqua jewels (8 x 6 mm), and these matched the color scheme of vitrail beautifully, as you can see on this picture:

©2012 House Of Joris Jewelry, Elvira Bracelet
Up-Cycled Vintage Earrings

Alternating these three colors makes the result more interesting, then if I would have chosen just one color. The final step was to bend both sides, so that they would overlap, rather then meet each other exactly.

This bracelet shimmers and shines like no other, it is absolutely gorgeous! Even though the pictures represent this bracelet well, the beauty of it has to be seen in person. I use only Swarovski or the best Czech (vintage) jewels, as the quality can not be matched by any other. The price is definitely higher then other jewels, but they will last a few life-times, without losing any clarity or shine, and there is very little chance you will find scratches or chips off the jewels, even after 75 years!

I am very pleased with the result of this bracelet. The assembly took about 4 to 5 hours of work, labored with LOVE. I can not wait to hear what Aleta thinks of this bracelet, I truly hope she likes it as much as I do. And by sharing this with you, I was able to explain to you exactly what the term 'Up-Cycled Vintage Jewelry' actually means.

I love making custom jewelry. With this post I also want to let you know that I will be happy to take your custom order! Just leave me a comment under this post, and I will contact you asap!