Jewellery Care Guide
Guide on how to take care of you jewellery
Jewellery Care Guide
Each piece of jewellery is made with longevity in mind, from design through prototyping, development and final production. To ensure the originality and sustainability of your Tom Wood jewellery, we recommend reading our jewellery care guide thoroughly.
Tom Wood jewellery is handcrafted in Thailand, at some of the best factories in the world, using locally sourced, recycled materials. Experienced specialists maintain each step in our development and manufacturing process to ensure the best possible quality. Nevertheless, each piece is delicate and requires to be handled with care.
Everyday wear
Remove your jewellery when cleaning, bathing and sleeping, and always keep away from any source of heat. Avoid direct contact with water and chemical products. Chlorine, make-up, soap, perfume and hair-spray may dull the finish of your jewellery and cause discoloration or oxidation of the metal. Stones connected to your jewellery might also be affected by water, chemicals and damp conditions. We therefore advise you do not store your jewellery in the bathroom.
Please handle your jewellery with care and avoid collision with hard surfaces, as it could change the shape of the jewellery, as well as damage or cause stones to fall out. This is particularly true for rings, as they are more exposed.
Kindly note that layering a ring with another ring can cause wear and tear, which might affect the stone-setting.
Storing your jewellery
We recommend storing your jewellery individually in its accompanied Tom Wood jewellery box or pouch, as this prevents wear and tear. This also helps against the jewellery being exposed to direct sunlight.
Cleaning your jewellery
Clean your jewellery with warm water and detergent free soap, or with a professional cleaning kit. Furthermore, we recommend your jewellery to be cleaned by a professional jeweler once a year to have it last longer. Cleaning of stone-settings should always be done by a professional. Following these instructions will reduce abrasions and prolong the lifespan and luster of your jewellery.
Metals
Tom Wood works exclusively with precious metals such as recycled 925 sterling silver and recycled 9k gold.
925 sterling silver is considered a ‘soft’ metal. Chunky jewellery made of silver, like Tom Wood signet rings, are more easily exposed to collisions with other surfaces which might create dents and small scratches. Over time, dents and scratches will blend into each other and the surface of the ring will become ‘softer’ and the cuts less visible. Scratches and small dents are not considered a defect, but rather a sign of normal wear and tear.
All our jewellery is treated with anti-tarnish treatment. We normally plate our 925 sterling silver jewellery with white rhodium plating to achieve a strong and resistant surface. Nevertheless, silver might oxidise over time. To avoid this as much as possible, gently wipe your jewellery clean with a soft cloth after each wear to remove any dirt or oils that accumulate during wearing. Silver polish can also be bought at any goldsmith.
Our gold-plated jewellery is plated with 1 micron 9k gold. Plating will naturally wear off over time, depending on usage, and can be re-plated by a professional jeweller. As we have created our own unique gold-finish, the repairs at your jeweller may come out looking slightly different.
Stones
Please note that all our stones are ethically sourced and of the highest quality.
Natural stones may result in different patterns and unique looks for each stone. The stones might also come with different hardness, but all stones are fragile and might break or chip if they collide with a hard surface.
No jewellery should be pulled or re-sized out of shape. Rings and ear cuffs with diamonds and gemstones should never be pressed out of shape or bent. This could cause the original setting to re-shape, increasing the risk of stones falling out.
Our band rings with stones going all the way around the ring should be worn gently.
Depending on the amount of use your jewellery sees, we advise all jewellery with stones, and in particular jewellery with multiple stones, to be checked once per year to ensure that the metal setting has not been hurt while wearing the piece.
Cleaning stone settings should be done at a goldsmith, as these are fragile and can easily be damaged if not cleaned correctly.
Chains and Bracelets
Please avoid using force when opening and closing locks, and make sure you know how the lock functions before attempting to open it. Do not bend or pull chains or bracelets, as they might break.
Make sure chains are not tangled when storing, and please try to place the chain or bracelet in a soft pouch to prevent it from getting bent or breaking.
How to open our snap lock?
To open the snap lock, start by opening the eight-locks on each side, before pinching the lock together and sliding it out. The eight-locks adds an extra level of security to your necklaces and bracelets. Please avoid using force when opening and closing locks, to avoid the mechanism bending out of place or shape.
How to open our earrings?
Please note that we do not use any nickel in our alloy, for any kind of jewellery. Irritations might occur when you wear ear piercings, and this might be due to a type of metal in the alloy. All alloys are a blend of different metal types.
If you wear multiple ear pieces in one ear, please note that the platings might wear off more easily by the ear rings scratching into each other.
Take care not to use force when opening and closing the lock mechanism of our earrings. The pin going through the ear is delicate and might bend, and the lock mechanism might wear down over time. Please adjust the pin carefully if this occurs, as shown in the film below. If you are close to a Tom Wood retailer, we advise you to visit them to get further instructions and aid.