Caring for Your Jewelry
Julia’s work is driven by a continuous exploration of materials, from precious metals and stones, to steel, wood, enamel, and industrial paint. This experimental, material-driven approach is what makes her work unique, and caring well for your pieces will help keep them beautiful for years to come.
This page aims to provide general information about how best to care for your jewelry, but if you have any specific questions, feel free to reach out to the studio at hello@juliaturner.com.
Sterling Silver and Gold
About the Materials: All of our precious metal findings are solid sterling silver, 14k or 18k gold. None of our jewelry is plated.
Sterling silver is an alloy (mixture) of silver and copper commonly used in jewelry-making for its bright color and versatility. When it is exposed to moisture and the air, sterling silver will gradually develop a layer of grey oxide called tarnish.
We often oxidize the silver to a beautiful gunmetal grey for contrast with our bright colors, and if you are generally able to wear bright sterling without allergy issues, you'll have no troubles wearing the oxidized surface in contact with your skin.
Care: To clean bright silver pieces, you can use anything ranging from plain soap and water to some baking soda on an old toothbrush, or if they're really tarnished, a paste-type silver polish from the hardware store.
Oxidized silver will slowly wear to its natural bright state over time, especially on exposed corners, but it can be re-oxidized easily. Only use soap and water on oxidized pieces. Fun fact: if you wear your silver jewelry to a really sulfur-ey hot spring, it will turn grey!
Powder-coated Steel
About the Materials: Our graphic powder-coated pieces begin as panels of steel with an industrial black powder-coat, finely sanded to a smooth finish. A layer of white enamel paint is applied to the black surface, and the graphic pattern is then scribed through the white layer to expose black lines. Each earring is created by hand and no two are alike. These are finished with findings in 18k gold or oxidized sterling silver.
Care: The surfaces are sealed with a tough acrylic matte sealant, and no special care is needed other than avoiding deep scratches on the white surface. If the surface becomes discolored by makeup or fingerprints, it can be cleaned with some gentle soap on a cotton pad, then rinsed and well dried.
Sweep Necklace Cleaning FAQs
As with any jewelry that gets daily love and wear, you may find that your sweep necklace sometimes needs a little TLC to keep it looking its best. Most commonly, we receive questions about cleaning built-up oils off of the beads and cleaning out the magnet clasp to ensure that it stays closed securely.
How should I clean the glass beads? If you notice that the beads on your sweep necklace are getting a little dingy, we've found that the best way to clean them is just with some warm water, dish soap, and a toothbrush. Everything but the clasp itself can be submerged in water as if you were washing dishes, and the clasp can be safely brushed with soap and rinsed with water as long as it is thoroughly dried right after with a hairdryer set to warm.
How should I clean the clasp? If you notice that your sweep necklace clasp isn’t staying closed as well as it used to, and both magnets inside still look to be in good shape (i.e., not rusted), it may be in need of some cleaning. Sometimes there can be material built up inside the tube that prevents the magnets from meeting and that may make it seem as if the magnets have stopped working, when they just aren’t making good contact. We've found that the best way to clean the magnets is to pull open the clasp and use a toothpick and/or piece of tape to dislodge any dust or gunk. But if you happen to have some "blu tack" putty for hanging posters, a gumdrop-sized piece of that is great for getting out any loosely lodged dust. If that's not the issue, just let us know and we'll be happy to repair the clasp!
Enameled Steel
About the Materials: The rich, colorful surfaces on our enameled steel pieces are created by sifting layers of powdered, pigmented glass onto steel forms and firing them in a kiln at high temperature to allow the glass (enamel) to liquify and then cool to form a glossy sheet.
Care: Though the steel is tough and durable, the enamel itself is truly a wearable piece of glass and should be cared for as such; please avoid putting pressure on the surface or allowing them to drop on hard surfaces as the enamel may crack and/or break off. The steel is sealed with a tough protective acrylic coating, but abrasion may remove it and expose the metal- so keep your steel pieces away from water, especially salt water!
Wood
About the Materials: We use mostly domestic hardwoods in our colorful wood pieces. We use a combination of salvaged and sustainably harvested new wood.
We use walnut in shades from medium brown to almost charcoal, depending whether we've left its natural color or ebonized it (using iron acetate to turn the natural tannins black).
For the brightly colored elements we use maple, which has a pale bright tone that takes color beautifully. The color on the maple is achieved by layering thin coats of acylic ink as a stain so that the wood grain still shows through.
Care: All of our wood is sealed, using either danish oil, museum wax or UV-protective varnish. So while it will survive if you get caught in a surprise drizzle, to keep it beautiful as long as possible please wear it gently, keep it out of direct contact with liquids, and avoid storing it in direct sunlight.
Beaded Pieces
About the Materials: Our long, beaded Sweep necklaces are made from tiny Japanese glass Miyuki delica beads, hand-strung on a very flexible steel cable and finished with a handmade sterling silver magnetic clasp.
Care: If your necklace sits for a long time in one position, it may show a residual curve when draped long. A quick steaming using a clothing steamer, or just passing it through the steam from a kettle (don't burn yourself though please!) will allow the necklace to relax back to hanging straight.
Our cable has a thin coating of nylon on it and is impervious to rust, tangling, kinking, etc. and should give you years of wear. Do please take your necklace off before showering or swimming though; with many hours of exposure to water the magnets in the clasp may begin to rust.
The magnetic clasp is made by hand here in the studio using neodymium magnets. They are small but strong and won't lose their magnetic pull, though if you feel the clasp is getting weaker, check the little inset part of the clasp for dust that may be keeping the two ends from meeting. Please keep any jewelry that contains magnets out of the hands of children.