Category: Jewellery

Pandora is a well-known brand for jewellery. Over the past few years, it has grown in popularity with many stores popping up all over the country. Pandora specialises in jewellery such as charm bracelets that you can then build on over the years. They even do a child’s bracelet, which can be a great gift for a christening or a birthday.

With the bracelets, you often have a choice of bracelets and clasps to choose from. Often they will do an offer that includes the bracelet, clash and one or two charms. The charms can then be bought separately and are often available in a range of designs to signify certain events such as a birth of a child, birthstone colours, special birthdays, weddings and even in ranges such as Disney. This allows the bracelet to be built upon year after year with the end result of a bracelet with many different memories attached to it. A Pandora bracelet can be the perfect gift for a mum, sister, partner, daughter or friend and prices start from around £100 for a set.

With Christmas fast approaching, you may find some great deals on the Pandora range as well as sales that you may want to take advantage of.

Everyone knows diamonds are valuable but do you realise that there is a structured system by which they’re classified in terms of quality and value?

This grading system was developed by a company called GIA in the 1950’s, and assesses diamonds based on four key characteristics, as set out below.

Clarity – This can be thought of like the purity of a diamond – a perfect diamond should have no as close to no blemishes or inclusions as possible.

Colour – Diamonds are, of course, naturally occurring stones and as such, there is a great variability in colour as different environmental factors are at play. Colourless diamonds are the rarest, and therefore the most valuable. Colour is rated on a scale from D to Z, with D being colourless and Z being noticeably yellowy.

Cut – This reflects how well a diamond’s facets react to light, thus meaning the higher the cut grade, the brighter the diamond will appear. However, it’s also used to refer to the way in which the diamond has been shaped, or ‘cut’.

Carat Weight – perhaps the most familiar assessment. The carat weight reflects the weight of the diamond, so whilst it’s not technically a measure of size, it is indicative. A single carat equates to 0.2 grams.

Whilst there are a number of products specifically designed for the purpose of cleaning jewellery, these are often expensive. Thankfully there are a number of handy alternative options using simple household items that you already possess. Here, we run through just a couple of them.

Silver – Toothpaste: This one is particularly effective, and will remove all tarnish and restore a healthy shine without scratching or damaging your item. Tubes of toothpaste with bicarbonate of soda are the best as any abrasion is so mild it won’t leave scratches or marks, just a perfect polish. Simply rub toothpaste over the area you want to clean, wait a few moments, and then buff off with a clean cloth. For difficult-to-reach areas (such as hallmarks) you can even use a toothbrush!

Gold – Washing up liquid: Being much softer than silver, you’ll need a different solution for gold – but you’ll be pleased to know that a toothbrush is still a valuable tool. Go for the softest type of brush, as this will give the best finish without marks. Then simply soak your gold items in warm water with a few drops of washing up liquid for about 15 minutes, and buff away.

Many people now prefer the look of silver jewellery rather than gold so white gold is often a very popular choice. To change the colour of gold, yellow gold is mixed with one or more metals, resulting in an alloy that is white. Most white gold jewellery offered today has been plated with rhodium. Over time this coating can become discoloured and removed leaving the jewellery looking tarnished or back to a more original gold colour. This process is sped up by wearing your jewellery often especially if it is getting wet, exposed to chemicals or worn on a finger for example that often gets more damaged than a necklace or earrings.

The best way to preserve the colour of your white gold jewellery, apart from not wearing it, is to have it re-plated.

If your white gold jewellery has a lot of scratches, you may want to get rid of them by having it polished, however it is important to understand that when polishing white gold jewellery you are removing all or part of its rhodium plating, and it won’t be long before you will have to pay again to have it recoated.

Whether you’re looking for a wedding ring, engagement ring or just want to surprise a loved one, a ring can be a special item that can be worn easily night and day. If looked after a ring can often last a good number of years, but it is very important to consider the metal that the ring is made from. Metals such as gold and platinum can be very expensive and some people simply cannot afford to or do not want to spend that much money on a ring. There are some great alternative metals that can be sued that still give the same effect but at a fraction of the cost.

In jewellery production, tungsten carbide wedding rings have many advantages over the traditional metals. Tungsten as a raw element and is very strong, similar to titanium. Although gold, silver and platinum look very nice, they are nowhere near as hard wearing as tungsten so will often get damaged and wear away easier. Tungsten is ten times stronger than gold for example.

One of the greatest appeals to tungsten carbide is its ability to hold a shine. Unlike gold and silver which often tarnish and fade over time, tungsten will never get dull, meaning that you do not have to worry about getting it cleaned.