 llyn at the bench working on her latest masterpiece. |
1) Faceted cut: Facets are the small planes cut on the stone, and are applied mainly on transparent gems. There are 3 basic types of facet cuts; brilliant cuts, step cuts, and mixed facet cuts. Brilliant cuts mainly can be seen in rhomboid and triangular facets in a radial pattern. Step cuts can be seen in rectangular and trapezoid facets in a row. Mixed cuts are a combination of both brilliant and step cuts. 2) Plain: Plain cuts can be arched, sphere, or executed plain. A cabochon cut would be an example of a plain cut, and can be seen on opaque gemstones mainly. 3) Mixed: This is a combination of faceted and plain cut. Either the upper or lower part of the stone can be facet cut, with the opposite part being plain.
How to Care for Your Jewelry
1) Pearls should be stored in a soft cloth bag and wiped clean with a soft cloth each time you take them off.
2) Pearls, as well as other beaded items, need to be restrung every so often.
3) Avoid wearing your jewelry in the pool. The chlorine can corrode and affect your metals.
4) Like anything you must properly care for, clean, and check your jewelry regularly in order to get the most out of it. Don’t forget, jewelry does wear out, so be sure to take the best possible care of it.
5) Your jewelry should be professionally cleaned on a regular basis and the stones checked twice a year.
6) In between professional cleaning it is usually safe to clean your jewelry with a soft cloth and a low solution of ammonia and chloride. Do not use any other household products, such as toothpaste, on your jewelry as it may abrade or deteriorate your jewelry.
7) Porous stone, such as pearls, lapis, and turquoise should be cleaned only with a soft cloth as they absorb many solutions which could damage them.
8) Silver items that do not contain porous stones can be cleaned using a silver buffing cloth and Tarnex, or other tarnish remover, in order to remove tarnish from silver.
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