JEWELRY CARE TIPS

BECOME AN EXPERT AT HOW TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR JEWELRY 

It's a new year and a perfect time for new beginnings. Every New Year most of us come up with new resolutions that are hard to achieve only to break our promises to ourselves. Here we have a suggestion as a New Year's resolution that is realistic, very easy to accomplish and greatly helpful for your fashion statements: How to keep your jewelry beautiful and sparkly like the day you got it!

KEEP YOUR JEWELRY HEALTY

Don't spray perfume or hairspray on your pearls. Perfume is the biggest enemy of pearls. It would strip the outer layer on the pearls where all the luster is. When you put on any kind of fragrance, be sure that it dries completely before you put your pearl jewelry on, and if possible, try to avoid the areas where your pearls will be touching.  

Diamond jewelry, especially the delicate settings needs to be taken care of differently than plain pieces without stones. Due to regular wear and tear, prongs get slightly shifted or pave beads get bent,  causing diamonds to become loose. Best way to make sure the security of the diamonds is to get them checked by a good jeweler every 6 months. At OKG Jewelry we offer free cleaning and prong tightening for items that are purchased from our store. We also give full repair and jewelry check service for any kind of precious, semi-precious jewelry. We have an onsite setter and a master jeweler, also a great watch repairman in our second location. You are more than welcome to stop by and get your jewelry cleaned. It's on the house! 

If you are a gym person, please do yourself a huge favor and don't work out while you have your jewelry on. Whether it is lifting dumbbells, or some tough workout, you can easily damage your delicate jewelry without even noticing. 

Always hold your engagement ring from the sides while putting it on or taking it off. Never push and pull by holding the center stone. This way you don't shift the prongs in time and you would also keep your diamond free of fingerprints. 

Don't do this! 

KEEP IT CLEAN AND SPARKLY

Jewelry and diamonds lose their shine quickly after purchasing due to regular wear. However there are a few super easy to follow tips that would keep your jewelry beautifully clean and shiny!

Don't take a shower while wearing your jewelry. The soap and steam leaves a residue and your diamonds would lose their sparkle until you clean it very well. 

Put your hand or body cream before you put on your jewelry. Certain house cleaning products also may damage your jewelry or leave soap scum on the gemstones at the very least. 

Try not to sleep with your jewelry on. Especially if it is a bracelet, since this causes the links to stretch and weaken, possibly causing them to break and fall.

If you have the green thumb, it is great for your front yard but not so much for your rings! Besides the fact that soil can get stuck in the tiny crevices of the jewelry while gardening, we also had customers losing their rings when working in the garden. 

One customer actually came to replace the pendant she lost during planting flowers and a year later she found the pendant wrapped up on the rose bush that finally grew and brought it out of the ground. True story!

CLEAN IT GENTLY

You can actually clean your fine jewelry at home. This would never be close to professional cleaning jewelry stores do with ultrasonic cleaning systems and powerful steams, but it still helps. If your jewelry is made of gold/platinum and diamonds, you can soak them in a solution containing 1 part ammonia and 6 parts warm water. The jewelry can soak in there for about half hour. Afterwards you can brush them with a soft toothbrush and rinse it under water. Do not use soap since it leaves a residue. And never use this solution for pearls, gemstones or custom jewelry since the chemicals might permanently damage the jewelry. 

KEEP IT SAFE 

Now the rule is: Always take off your jewelry while working on something messy, before workout or shower. However if you are away from home (i.e. on vacation) never take off your jewelry, since it can easily get lost or even stolen. 

If you don't want to be away from your bling A lot of our customers have a silver/CZ replica of their bridal jewelry to wear while on the beach or at the gym. 

Insure your valuable jewelry. At OKG Jewelry we give free appraisal for all the jewelry purchased from us. We also give additional appraisal service for jewelry that is not from our stock. 

When you take off your jewelry, always put it in the same spot and preferably in a box or a pouch where they don't rub against each other and get scratched. If it is a ring, it is best to keep it in its own box. 

What exactly is an eternity ring?

A perfect eternity band

One very popular item we sell in our store is eternity rings...

What exactly is an eternity ring?

Let's talk about eternity rings/bands. An ultimate symbol of never ending love, this concept was created in 1960's by De Beers. The name comes from its design where the diamonds go all around in a continuous pattern. People usually buy this ring as a wedding band or an anniversary ring or with one of our customer's own words, a "bye-bye ring". She says that she loves eternity rings because when she waves goodbye, she can still show off her gorgeous diamonds!  

Some girls are very superstitious about their wedding bands. They like the design and the diamonds to be continuous all the way around, without any gaps, because they believe it will foreshadow their marriage. A second reason for this popular style is that rings always turn on the finger. It gets really annoying seeing the metal on top and the diamonds in the palm of your hand and having to fix it all day.  This is usually the biggest reason why girls love these rings.

One thing you should watch out about the eternity rings is that you need to be extra careful with how you are wearing them, since the diamonds and the prongs go all around, there are more chances to damage the ring. For example we would never recommend to go to the gym, lifting heavy things, gardening, or slapping your husband in the face (No, we never recommend this under any condition!) wearing your ring.

PLEASE be careful with your diamonds. These rings need to be checked periodically which is a service we give in the store every Friday and Saturday. We recommend our customers to have their prongs checked and tightened every three months.

Eternity rings, are like shoes.You can find many beautiful shoes in stores but not all are comfortable to wear, making you regret the purchase, or they are not made with high quality materials and craftsmanship, so it breaks down. Same things apply to these bands. First thing you should pay attention to when buying an eternity band is the quality of the setting. The prongs should be strong enough to support the diamonds and the setting should be what we call "low-profile." The height of the ring should be almost equal to the dept of the diamond, in other words the diamond should be as close as possible to your finger so that when you close your fingers, it wont bulge out and be uncomfortable.

Here is an example of a "high-profile" eternity band. 

And here is a "low-profile" eternity band that fits just right and lets you close your fingers comfortably.

The second thing to pay attention to is the prongs to be strong and substantial enough to hold the diamonds securely without looking chunky and overwhelming.

When we create our eternity bands we hand-select the diamonds and make sure that they match perfectly in color and quality. The diameter of the diamonds must be almost the same so that they look beautifully uniformed. Our designer, master setter but most importantly my brother Gary Azatyan selects the perfect diamonds then Dad (George Azatyan) custom-designs the setting using the measurements of each diamond. Once that's done, the setting is given to Gary to put the diamonds in and finish all the fine tuning. Every time we create a beautiful and well made piece of jewelry, it is a very proud moment for us!

http://www.okgjewelry.com

Here is a snapshot of 3 gorgeous rings Gary just finished for one of our customers, one being a showstopper baguette and round eternity band! You can also follow us on Instagram with #okgjewelry hashtag.