At Adina Jozsef, we pride ourselves on highly polished, lustrous jewellery, designed to withstand the test of time.  However, no matter how careful you are with your jewellery, occupational and lifestyle wear, cleaning products, perfume and chlorine can accelerate the tarnishing process of Sterling silver and wear through rhodium plating. The first signs that rhodium is wearing thin is often yellowing around the ring band.  Thankfully, with prices that start at $120 for polishing and plating with Rhodium, it is easily fixed (each piece needs to be assessed). When it comes to Yellow Gold and Platinum there is no need to Rhodium plate. Polishing prices start from $85 for Yellow Gold and $95 for Platinum. We can reverse cosmetic wear and tear and restore your jewellery to its former glory.  In addition, we can check the integrity of your jewellery and ensure stones and pearls are secure and assess your rings settings.  If your jewellery is looking less than brilliant, or you have a specific concern, please feel free to phone or call past.  We would love to bring your jewellery back to life!

Adina Jozsef’s Guide to Keeping your Jewellery Sparkling

• With silver, gold and platinum jewellery (with the exception of opals, pearls and emeralds, as these are porous, please see below information on selected gemstones and how to care for them) you can leave to soak for a short time in a bowl of warm water mild liquid detergent and a spoonful of cloudy Amonia to soften the dirt, then use a soft toothbrush to take away any residue, for example, hand cream, soap and everyday dirt (more details below)
• Always store your jewellery individually in the packaging it came in or a jewellery box, to avoid tangled chains or tarnishing
• Check your jewellery regularly for any wear and tear –

• • Check necklace clasps are still secure
  • Any stones which are set in rings, pendants or earrings (We strongly recommend you bring your jewellery in to the studio for assessment and refurbishment every 12-18 months).
  • When you purchase an Adina Jozsef piece you acquire a lifetime guarantee to have your jewellery cleaned in our industrial ultrasonic (a warm liquid solution bath which ‘shakes’ trapped dirt and removed grease from the surface of jewellery). Plus we would love you to say hello when you are in the area. Please note, this does not include jewellery with porous gems.

Try really hard not to…

• Expose your jewellery to any chemicals such as household cleaners and perfumes as these could cause damage and discolouration to the surface of your jewellery (that means ‘no’ to cleaning any of your jewellery with vinegar, gin and coca cola, which can be very acidic!)
• Wear your jewellery during activities such as exercising or gardening to avoid knocking or scratching. Stones do not come loose unless knocked, which alot of people don’t realise they do during everyday activities.
• Let it have prolonged contact with hard or abrasive surfaces. Avoid carrying heavy bags when wearing delicate rings or bracelets as these can cause damage or misshape your jewellery.

• Tarnish: Silver can tarnish (turn dull or grey) over time if unworn or stored against other items of jewellery. Tarnish can be removed with a non-abrasive silver polishing cloth or liquid silver dip. Both are available from Supermarkets and/or some shoe repair shops. We’d recommend that silver dip is only used occasionally as over-use can be detrimental to your jewellery. Full instructions for use will be given on the packaging.
• Sparkle: To get your jewellery sparkling again (with the exception of opals, pearls and emeralds, as these are porous) leave to soak for a short time in a bowl of warm water with a mild liquid detergent and a spoonful of cloudy Amonia. Then, using a soft bristle toothbrush gently clean over the surface and in and behind any stone settings. Avoid harder bristled brushes or new toothbrushes as these can leave scratches on the surface of the metal. Rinse the piece under running water and use a soft cloth to dry the piece. Be careful if the diamonds are in claw-settings as these may catch on certain cloths.
• Pearls: The golden rule with all pearl jewellery is to put it on as the final touch – after you have dressed, styled your hair and applied your make-up. Avoid wearing your jewellery when bathing, allow all creams to soak in and perfumes to dry before putting-on any pearl jewellery – this will also keep any chains, ring shanks or earring settings which feature pearls clean. When you remove your pearl jewellery, wipe it over with a lint-free cloth. This will not only lift any surface dirt, but will also gently polish the pearls.
  Pearls can be cleaned using a mild detergent and water solution, and a soft cloth. Avoid chemicals or strong soapy cleaners and abrasive cloths. Allow your pearls to air dry.
  Store them in a soft bag made from leather, velvet, or the equivalent. If you wear a string of pearls regularly, make sure you have them re-strung once a year; a regular 40cm single strand can cost from $35, and up for longer strands to be re-strung. Likewise, a pearl necklace which may not have been worn for sometime should be checked for any wear before being worn.

When a piece of jewellery has a matt finish you may find over a long period of time the surface starts to become polished. If this happens it’s not a problem as we are able to re-finish the item for you.

A member of the platinum group, rhodium is a rare silvery-white hard metal and is one of the most expensive metals worldwide.  Found in the use of jewellery, it is used as a coating on white Gold (seeing there is a yellow gold content, a slight ting yellow shows through) Rhodium is used to make the metal look whiter and diamonds sparkle brighter. It is occasionally used on sterling silver to strengthen the metal from tarnish caused by the copper contained in silver and if a customer request it. If you have purchased a 9ct, 14ct or 18ct White Gold ring you may wish to have it polished and re-rhodium plated annually (Approximately $120 per piece). It will walk out looking like new again!

Gold plating (also called Gold vermeil) is a process achieved by microns of gold being fused to the surface of the silver. Gold plating is a surface finish so it can be susceptible to wear, but if looked after correctly signs of wearing should only occur over a long period of time. Avoid wearing gold plated jewellery when swimming or bathing, and remove rings before applying hand cream as the acids in moisturisers can affect the longevity of the plating. Perfumes can also affect gold plated necklaces, so allow your perfume to dry before putting on gold plated jewellery.

Gold plating is not available at Adina Jozsef.

When a piece of jewellery has a matt finish – a smooth, non-shiny surface – you may find over time the surface starts to become polished. Similarly, polished rings will take on subtle surface marks with wear, and their appearance will dull slightly. If this happens, both finishes are easily achieved, we are able to re-finish items for you at Adina Jozsef.

Our natural stones include diamonds, sapphires, garnet, aquamarine, rubies, agate (white & black), onyx, howlite, amethyst, carnelian, lapis, jadeite, chalcedony, amazonite, turquoise, chrysophrase, prenite, pearl, coral and quartz (with colours including clear, black, smoky, pink, and green), just to name a few.

Natural stones have a unique quality with some containing inclusions. (An inclusion is any foreign object, be it solid, liquid or gas, trapped within a rock or mineral during the formation).This leaves the stone with a natural and unique pattern, for example, tourmaline and rutilated quartz.

Synthetic stones: Include cubic zirconia (CZ), which is fashioned under high temperatures

(up to 2300 degrees Celcius) and high pressure in special chamber known as a skull crucible.  Special oxides of copper, titanium, iron and nickel are added during the final processes to create various colours.

Hydro-thermal quartz: Produced in a chamber under high temperature and pressure but using a water base and is best described as being a ‘grown’ gem.

A mixture of a natural stone crushed and mixed with a strong acrylic resin creating an inexpensive alternative to its costly counterpart. There are many different gemstones, all with individual characteristics, colours, cuts and care-guides.