Lamenting silk thread...

I am quite anxious. I got an order where I need silk thread, and my order from Japan hasn't arrived yet.  Usually, I bought mine from USA or Singapore, and stock up more than I need, but I am out of the white one and unfortunately, that one is the one that I need =(

I do try locally, if any sell the brand that I usually used, but so far I can't find any.

In general, I do have a love-hate relationship with silk thread. While silk thread makes the finished jewelry looks nice and has a pretty lustre, they have to be stretched overnight first before being used. My first try on this, I didn't stretch the thread long enough and in a week, my bracelet has been stretched out of shape.

Also, usually silk thread is used when you want to make knots between beads. The knots has to be tight and just exactly beside the beads. Now, imagine making a necklace. Half the way to finish, you made one knot that is not exactly beside the bead. You have to cut the entire necklace, stretch a new thread and begin again. Not to mention cutting open the necklace is not easy, because there're many knots that are just beside the beads ><.

Cleaning jewelery

I often hear that  to clean out your jewelery is to send it to the jewelerer and let he or she clean it for you. But how if the jewelery is not made of silver and gold? And how if it's not an expensive jewelery, you just particularly in love with it?

The thing is, there is no metal, except perhaps stainless steel and pure 24k gold, that will not change color sooner or later. In fact, the reason I owned a jewelery polisher is because of my platinum necklace. It's a good necklace made of high degree of platinum, but it is also older than me. And after 20 something years, I noticed that some of the link has blacken. 

I considered cleaning it in the jewelerer, but at the same time, I also have a nice metal necklace, Japan made, hypo-allergenic somehow, that had became blackish instead of it's original rose gold color. And unlike the platinum one, I am not sure gold store will want to clean this necklace or that the cost of cleaning it even worth it. So I bought jewelery cleaner, and never regret it since. 

A lot of gemstones are actually fragiles, so cleaning them with ultrasonic machine is out of the questions. But most of them can be clean at home with warm water and mild dish soap, and dried off with soft cloth or tissues. If you do this, take extra care when you are cleaning pearls, because they are easily scratched. 

If the jewelery is knotted with silk thread, the thread has to be totally dry first before the jewelery was worn again. 

For cleaning off metal part, polishing clothes can be easily gain and the prices are quite reasonable as well. There are polishing clothes for silvers, golds, etc. 

Simple, but totally work =)