GOLD LOTUS DROP EARRINGS
Gorgeous, multi-tasking earrings that you’ll never want to take off.
Scratched textured gold plated drops approx 10mm x 10mm, hang from gold french hook. Please note the gold is plated onto 925 sterling silver and will fade slightly after prolonged wear.
Gold Drop Earrings By Claudia Bradby
BLACK VELVET EARRINGS
These earrings are begging to party. Wow your friends (and yourself every time you look in the mirror) with this stunning and unique pair of earrings.
4cm / 1.5 inch 14 karat gold plated oval hoops with small black spinal coated bead above sterling silver snakeskin textured oval. Please note gold will fade over a prolonged period of wear.
Gold Hoop Earrings By Claudia Bradby
About the pearls we use
Eternally appealing, forever coming back into fashion, worn (inspiringly) by women from Sarah Jessica Parker to Coco Chanel, pearls come in all shapes, sizes, colour and cost.We use only freshwater pearls – they offer great value for their lustre and with their myriad shapes adapt really well to my designs and vision.
You can buy Tahitian pearls from French Polynesia, Thailand, Burma, Philippines & Indonesia (£2,000 – £20,000 a strand): South Sea Pearls from Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Burma (£3,000-£100,000); Akoya Pearls (£500-£10,000) from Japan or South East Asia – or you can have some modern style at a fraction of the cost with our freshwater pearls.
All our white and pink pearls have a natural colour – our other colours are all dyed so we can get just the right tone.Fresh water pearls take around 2 years to grow in their freshwater mussels (these can be very large, like a large rectangular purse), and our very special rebirth pearls go in twice for double the lustre and beauty.
Pearls need to be worn or theydry out so don’t keep them for special, wear them everyday.
Cleaning and caring for your jewellery
Dust, pollution, air, chemicals, and acids all erode or tarnish silver, gold and pearl jewellery. Chlorine in particular. Heat can dry out pearls. Oxygen tarnishes silver. The softer the metal, the more vulnerable. The higher the carat weight of gold the softer it is.
So, best to avoid them all as far as possible.
To this end
1. Put on your jewellery AFTER you have put on your make up, hairspray and your perfume (both can erode, tarnish etc). Make it the first item you take off when getting undressed (!) – ideally!
2. Never wear in chlorine – pools, hot tubs etc.
To keep clean:
1. Clean regularly. This is boring but important. Little and often. We could all do with slowing down anyway, I do enjoy taking a moment to look after my jewellery. Pearls should really be polished gently with a soft, lint free cloth after every use, but I try to do it once a week/month depending on wear. This applies to silver and gold too. A regular polish with a soft, lint free cloth keeps its beauty. For example, everyday perspiration, which is acidic, is good to get off with a cloth to avoid erosion.
2. Store well – I keep my silver in ziploc bags as this slows tarnishing and I polish my everyday silver items with a proper jewellery silver cloth (john lewis sell them) at least once a week. I then keep my jewellery in my jewellery boxes as this keeps temperature cool and minimises other pollution.
3. Separate – pearls from other jewellery. Although quite robust (ie won’t shatter if you step on them) pearls are very soft and don’t want to be sitting next to scratchy things – such as silver and gold!
4. Moisture – pearls don’t want to be kept in zipped bags as they need the moisture in the air. However if you do get them wet it is key to let the thread dry before putting them away as otherwise the string they are strung on will stretch. We supply all our jewellery in soft pouches which are ideal to keep each piece in. If you are really organised you could print out a picture from our website to put on the outside of each bag…..If it’s good enough for shoes, it’s good enough for jewellery! You can polish pearls with a slightly damp cloth, but make sure you then polish them with a dry one so they don’t go away wet.
Don’t ever
*Use commercial cleaners, ultrasonic cleaner, or strong detergents, toothbrushes, abrasive or scouring pads, on pearls.
*Wear pearls wet, or hang them up as the string will stretch.
*Keep pearls near heaters or strong light – made from 2-4% water if they get dehydrated they can get brittle and crack. Safe deposit boxes can be unusually dry so if you keep your pearls there take them out regularly!
If very dirty – eg inherited pieces, forgotten pieces etc. Best to take to a jeweller to clean.
Re-polishing – you can send your jewellery to be polished professionally. We use an engraver and they can polish jewellery too. Obviously quite expensive it is useful if it is heavily tarnished.
What colour pearls are best for you?
One easy way to determine which pearl colours will compliment you is to put on white, light pink, and cream coloured clothing and see what lost best next to your face. Often two of the colours will look equally attractive,but it’s rare that all three will. Consider too, if you want people to notice the pearls when you wear them. If you do, then choose a colour that contrasts with your skin tone. Pearls that blend in too closely won’t be very striking.
The purpose of the jewellery is to enhance your appearance, not detract from it, so it’s worth putting some thought into your colour choices!
Storage Solutions
For a fun, stylish and practical way to store earrings buy a brightly coloured ice cube tray (ideally with a lid to keep dust off) and pop a pair of earrings in each compartment.
To learn more about these rings, visit Claudia Bradby.
