Care instructions
We hope you are enjoying your JHW piece.
Please find below some simple guidelines for caring for your jewellery.
DOWNLOAD Care Instructions PDF here.
Jo Hayes Ward jewellery is produced in a variety of 18ct Gold alloys, silver and precious and semi-precious stones.
A defining feature of our designs is the construction of jewellery from multi-faceted building-block elements, each with their own fine texture.
On buying a piece, the edges of these elements will be crisp, but they will naturally wear down slightly over time and with wear.
This wearing process is unique to each owner, dependent on how each individual wears and personalizes their jewellery, creating their own finish over time.
Most of our rings, for example commitment rings and shield rings are suitable for everyday wear. There are some designs however, which are more suited to occasional wear. These include much of the structural collection, which have a more delicate lace-like metal structure or pieces with delicate stones – naturally more care needs to be taken when wearing these pieces.
Our jewellery can be kept in good condition, provided some simple care guidelines are below:
Regular handling
It is advisable to remove your jewellery before engaging in practical activities to ensure it does not get accidentally damaged. We recommend that our rings are not worn when handling other metal objects – for example, that rings be taken off when gardening, at the gym or during other forms of exercise. Repetitive movement against metals of different hardness will damage the ring over time.
It is also recommended that our 18ct gold rings are worn only next to rings also made of 18ct gold. This is because different metals have different hardnesses– a harder metal such as platinum will wear down 18ct gold over time.
Please note: Rings worn on adjacent fingers, directly next to each other will wear each other down over time, regardless of their metal type.
It’s advisable to remove rings, particularly those with stones before applying hand cream, moisturizer etc as these can leave residue and dirt on the surfaces of the jewellery which will dull the finish.
Cleaning
All jewellery will need cleaning from time to time.
It’s safe to clean our jewellery yourself using hot water with a mild detergent (e.g. washing up liquid) and a soft brush.
Do try not to expose our jewellery to household chemicals, perfume or hairspray, as these can cause precious stones and metals, particularly silver, to tarnish and discolour.
You may find the jewellery will benefit from an occasional professional clean as well. Jo Hayes Ward’s workshop will be happy to provide this service – please contact us for details.
Restoring Surface Finishes
With wear, matt surfaces can start to polish up; this is especially true with rings, which receive more everyday wear.
To restore a matt finish, very gently rub the piece with a green scouring pad, in a soft circular motion, with warm soapy water. If you are unsure, you can test this out on the underside of the ring first. Ensure you dry the piece completely afterwards.
You can use silver or gold cloth / polish to restore the shine to polished pieces.
Silver pieces come in either a white or grey/black (oxidised) finish. White silver will naturally oxidise or tarnish over time particularly in recessed crevices of the designs. This creates a rather interesting two-tone finish accentuating the 3D qualities of the piece. However it is easy to restore the white finish if desired using silver foam polish – this is best applied with a soft tooth brush and then cleaned thoroughly afterwards with warm soapy water and then dried.
Oxidised silver pieces have a surface treatment to make the normally white metal an even grey/black. This surface finish will start to rub back over time with wear, exposing the silver underneath. This worn effect can be desirable as silver highlights are added to the piece. However, if you would like the oxidised surface restored Jo Hayes Ward’s workshop can of course assist - please contact us for details.
Storage
If the piece is not being worn, it is recommended that it is stored in one of our branded, padded boxes. Otherwise, another padded box will also be sufficient.
Don’t store multiple pieces in the same box without some kind of protection between them – for example by wrapping individually in tissue paper
Necklaces and earrings with moving parts should be stored flat, ensuring any chain is untangled to minimise breakages of the finer elements.