Muriel Hurtis Jewelry

Silver is a popular precious metal used in jewelry, but like gold it can be too soft to use in its purest form for everyday jewelry, and so is mixed with trace amounts of other metals in order to create a stronger, more durable material. Sterling silver is one of the most popular alloys for jewelry and is made of a high density of silver 92.5%, with the remaining 7.5% commonly made up of copper.

This gives a strong, malleable and versatile alloy, which can be made into almost any shape, but the copper content can mean that the jewelry has a tendency to tarnish if not warn regularly, so you will need to care for items made from sterling silver carefully to keep them bright and shiny.

Caring for Sterling Silver jewelry
When you are not wearing sterling silver jewelry you will need to store it in a special tarnish proof cloth bag or case, which will help to reduce the effects of gases in the air reacting with the copper in the jewelry. This will help to prevent tarnishing, and will also protect the jewelry from rubbing or scratching against other harder items of jewelry. Sterling silver is still quite soft and can scratch very easily so you must not clean it with any abrasive cloths or substances, and the best way to bring up the shine again is with a smooth polishing cloth and a little dab of some special sterling silver polish which you can get in supermarkets and hardware stores.

If you wear your sterling silver jewelry all of the time it can develop a lovely patina, which has a lovely soft glowing look that combines lightly polished areas where the silver has rubbed against your skin with some smooth, darker areas of tarnish. This can be a great look for older silver jewelry and does no harm to the item, so if you like this look you do not need to polish or clean the jewelry.

Buying Sterling Silver
Sterling silver is stamped with a hallmark ‘925′, and also sometimes the maker’s mark and the country of origin. This will let you know the piece is genuine sterling, but if you are not sure for any reason then you can always ask a professional jeweller for more advice. Sterling silver is a beautiful and affordable precious metal alloy, and can be worked in to a huge variety of designs and styles.

You can find lots of bargains on many items of expensive and beautiful jewelry online, but it is important that you do your research very carefully first, as you will not be able to look at the pieces in person before you buy, and you need to know all of the karats and hallmarks to understand the value of what you are buying, so you know what is a fair price to pay.

Hallmarks
A hallmark is basically a quality control marking that tells you the weight of pure gold or silver in the jewelry, and all items sold in the UK must by law have a full set of hallmarks if they are being sold or traded. Hallmarks consist of 3 stamps, one that tells you the karat (the pureness of the precious metal), one that tells you the maker’s name and also one that tells you the country of origin.

In some rare cases items of antique jewelry may not have any recognisable hallmark stamps, and as you will not be able to examine the piece yourself when buying online it is best to stay away from these items unless you are absolutely sure of their authenticity. When buying gold, platinum or silver jewelry online make sure you check the hallmarks are present, and if you are buying on an auction site ask the seller to send you a clear picture of the hallmarks if it is not shown in the listing.

Auction Websites
Auction websites such as eBay are a great place to pick up bargains on new and used jewelry, but as with any type of auction buying you do need to be carefully about setting yourself a strict budget, and sticking to it. Auctions can be very exciting, and it can be tempting to keep bidding in the last few moments to ensure you get the piece, but this could mean that you end up spending over the odds for it, and then you have to add the postage costs as well.

Make sure you have checked the item you are bidding on carefully, and have noted down the weight, karat, country or origin and maker’s mark. Do some research online and look at what similar pieces are worth, and this will give you an idea of what budget to set yourself. Of course if you really like the piece of jewelry you are bidding on then it is worth spending a bit more money if you are going to keep it and wear it all the time, but it does pay to check prices first so you don’t end up paying more for something in an auction room, that you could buy new somewhere else for less.

Well i managed to make one of each of the bookmarks yesterday. I usually put a charm on the end but i thought with all the detail on the bookmark itself it would probably be best just to add beads.
The first is a mermaid with blue glass beads.

The second a hummingbird with pink glass beads.

The third a dragon with red glass beads.

And the last is a dolphin with blue glass beads.

It’s a wet and VERY windy day here today, hubby took our son to school this morning so i could stay in the warmth. But i had to go out to the post office, which i didn’t mind as it was a order from my website. It was actually the shell bracelet which i made yesterday so i’m happy with that.