Release Your Inner Gemologist With These Simple Jewelry Tips

31 May 2015
Shopping for jewelery can be tricky if you don't have all the right information, but with these easy steps you'll find that it's easier than you thought. Learning the best ways to identify value and make sound choices will help you turn the shopping trips you enjoy into investment decisions that could pay off for generations to come.

Birthstone jewelry makes a great gift for anyone at any time of the year. They are incredibly popular and perfectly suited to birthdays though. There are so many kinds of styles and pieces that you can find or have easily made for yourself or someone you care about using a birthstone.

If you are stuck on what gift to buy for a female, jewelry always works. Make sure you know what size the intended person wears in rings and necklaces before making your purchase. There is nothing worse than purchasing a nice piece of jewelry that doesn't fit the intended recipient. Do your research before making your purchase.

Essential to anyone buying jewelry for reclamation purposes is a pocket-sized gram and carat scale. While a scale can't determine the purity of the gold and silver you encounter in your jewelry hunting, a pocket scale can at least give you a basic starting point to determine fair pricing and valuing of your jewelry finds.

To keep your jewelry looking its best, make sure to remove it when handling harsh chemicals, such as when you clean your house, or when using beauty products. The chemicals in household cleaners and beauty products can be very hard on your jewelry, stripping them of their luster and leaving them dull and lifeless.

When making jewelry and you want to turn a bead into a linked piece, take an eye pin and thread it through the bead's hole. Let the bead slide to the bottom of the eye pin. Directly above the bead, use your pliers to bend the eye pin approximately 45 degrees. Using wire cutters, trim this to about half an inch in length. Using small round pliers, grasp the tip of the wire and start looping it around the pliers tip. Don't give up if your eye pin loop is not directly round - practice makes perfect!

Exercise

Rings, bracelets, necklaces, and other jewelry should be removed prior to participation in any physical work, exercise, or team sport. Sweat and oils can damage your jewelry. Also, increased physical movement makes it especially easy to snag prongs or dislodge stones from their settings. Furthermore, jewelry that has fallen off during activity is less likely to be found afterward.

Remove your jewelry before exercising and place it in a safe place. During exercise, gold and silver jewelry can get scratched, and prongs on rings can be broken. Some types of precious and semi-precious stones can also scratch during exercise. Some jewelry, such as necklaces or rings, can catch on exercise equipment and that could be dangerous. Also, perspiration can make your jewelry dirty.

Now you can see how finding a pretty new necklace or a handsome watch can also be a smart decision. By following these simple steps for jewelery buying you can transform your shopping trips into investments that can last a lifetime. If you know the right information, buying jewelery can be easy and fun!