Titanium Jewelry Care and Niobium Jewelry Care
Handmade jewelry is more delicate than mass-manufactured jewelry. In particular, don’t expect your jewelry to take an unreasonable amount of weight or force.
Here are some tips to help you caring for your titanium and niobium jewelry to ensure it is kept in great condition and will survive safely long into the future.
The fundamentals of good jewelry care are: make sure it is the last thing you put on and the first thing you take off. Best is to keep it away from chemicals such as sunscreen, hairspray, perfume, etc.
It is also not recommended to exercise in your handmade jewelry, as it can cause unnecessary stress on the piece.
I definitely do not recommend wearing jewelry with gemstones , pearls or crystals in a treated swimming environment (unlike a natural environment like a lake or ocean). Any sort of pool or hot tub has chemicals that the jewelry does not like, so take them off before swimming.
I’m sure it’s common sense to know that it can and will get damaged – perhaps irreversibly – if care is not taken.
Cleaning Titanium Jewelry and Niobium Jewelry
Soap and water
The good new is both Titanium and Niobium are metals that don’t tarnish. But if you want to clean them; soap and water are great for cleaning your Nonita Jewelry pieces. Jewelry can get dirty from ordinary wear, so giving it a clean with soap and water occasionally is a great idea. You can use a soft cloth to help clean the piece.
Don’t use a plastic bristled brush as a brush may mark the surface of highly polished pieces.
This is also a great way to clean most gemstones and glass beads. However, I recommend you research cleaning individual gemstone types if you are worried about damaging them – more porous gemstones such as turquoise and pearls should be treated with more care than more hard-wearing stones.
Be sure not to use cleansers containing chlorine bleach in them as they can damage your gemstones badly.
You can also slow down the process of your jewelry getting dirty by simply storing it in a jewelry box when you are not wearing it.
Ultrasonic cleaners
These days there are inexpensive ultrasonic cleaners available on the market and if you have detailed pieces of jewelry which can trap grime, getting an ultrasonic cleaner is a great idea. They will clean your jewelry without (generally!) damaging the surface. However, note that these cleaners will not remove tarnish.
Ultrasonic cleaners work by creating miniscule bubbles which burst on the surface of anything submerged in them, which dislodges any loose particles.
Any instructions that come with the cleaner unit should be observed and it’s strongly suggested you don’t put pearls or turquoise gemstones in particular into one of these cleaners.
Baking soda, powdered cleansers or toothpaste
A traditional household cleaning method for jewelry is to use a paste made with baking soda or toothpaste. This will clean your jewelry, but it’s not recommended. This is because these methods are abrasive and will damage the surface of the metal, especially when you have anodized Niobium and Titanium pieces of jewelry.
You may not necessarily notice this, particularly if the piece does not have a high polish, but each time you do it you will be removing metal from the surface. Over time this will become more of an issue.
Polishing cloths and liquid cleaners
Don’t use polishing cloths or liquid cleaners as they contain chemicals for cleaning precious metal jewelry. The chemicals will likely make you react if you have a sensitive skin.
Storing your jewelry
Your handmade jewelry is delicate, be careful not to store it with heavier items on top of it or in a place where it might get broken or bent against another surfaces. And of course don’t allow it to rub up other jewelry items or other surfaces which will scratch it. It is best stored in the jewelry box your Nonita Jewelry piece arrives in.