Beaded Jewelry CAre Tips
✤ Store your jewelry laying flat
In an ideal world all of your beaded jewelry pieces should be stored laying flat to preserve the fringe. Should you store them hanging, that’s okay too, but you should note that gravity could make the thread on the fringe stretch and sag slightly over time.
✤ Keep your beadwork dry
Beaded fringe specifically can tend to be somewhat fickle and any wetness on the thread has the potential to shrink while drying, causing the fringe to become “wavy”. If your earrings do get wet, hang them to dry, gravity will help in this case. I use a method where you hang the earrings on the rim of a jar and use a wide rubber band or washi tape to bind the fringe to the surface of the jar while they dry. A couple days like this and they usually bounce back to normal.
✤ Avoid Storing in the direct sunlight
Some beads are dyed or colored in a way that does not resist UV light. Beadwork is fine to wear out and about in the sun but storage in direct light over long periods could cause some of the coloring to fade or deteriorate.
✤ try not to over handle the beads and thread
As tempting as it is to sit and roll the fringe through your fingers, the oils on our hands can cause color to rub off or shift in tonality. I use both nylon and plastic thread in my beadwork and while it is strong, over-handling of anything made with thread could eventually cuase it to break. A side note to this bullet, the beads are glass, please be careful not to drop them or crush them, the glass will break, trust me i would know…
✤ protect during transport
A small jewelry box or silk ‘envelope’ style jewelry case would be the best way to make sure your lovely adornments get from point A to point B unharmed!