Cleaning – a year of lockdown has seen me address some parts of my house that have been ignored for a good while! One of my favourite jobs has been to sort through my Jewellery collection, with some cleaning and caretaking along the way. Most of my Jewellery is sterling silver as I have been working with silver for over 30 years and silver does tarnish over time. The surface of the silver reacts with oxygen to create silver oxide which is grey/black in colour. To prevent this, or slow down the process, pop all your Jewellery into airtight plastic bags. Plastic isn’t always the enemy! This also stops your Jewellery from being scratched, killing two birds with one stone. You can then stack your Jewellery neatly in a dry box or cabinet.

To clean tarnished silver or gold, a soft “silver cloth” would be your first step. With a little bit of “huff” and elbow grease you should find that your jewellery returns to its original high shine. If there are more stubborn stains you may need to use some silver dip or other similar cleaners but DO make sure you follow the instructions. Do not soak, do not use hot water, and any cloths that you use make sure they are clean otherwise little specks of dirt on the cloth may scratch the surface of your jewellery.

For Jewellery with set stones or pearls then a silver cloth really should be all you use, stones and pearls should not be put into any cleaning solution. Taking a little time with the cloth to get into those hard to reach corners will pay off.

Remember that silver will react to different chemicals such as chlorine, moisturisers, perfumes and even salt. You should remove your Jewellery for swimming, exercise, showering and sleeping as all these activities can increase the risk of tarnishing and discolouration. The discolouration caused by some of these chemicals can be irreversible so do treat your Jewellery with the care it deserves, it is precious after all!

#clean #your #jewellery #jewellerycare #silver #silvercloth #jewellerybox

Silver is a wonderful metal to work with, it is very malleable and there are so many different ways and techniques that can be used to create jewellery. It is also a relatively unreactive metal, so good to sit next to the skin. Working as a married couple has far more challenges! For a start, there is no book to read (other than maybe “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus?) and every day presents a new challenge! We are in the midst of the pandemic though and that has thrown us a new one! Heath has drawn the short straw and works from home whilst keeping an eye on the homeschooling of our 2 teenagers. They don’t need too much from him, other than to be fed lunch, top up a water bottle, check the wifi and made to go for their daily exercise, but even this can be tricky when dealing with 2 socially deprived teenagers…#silver #jewellery #women #pandemic

Whilst I lived in London, way back in the 1990’s, I noticed there was an exhibition on at the V&A that I knew my mother would love. I got us tickets and she came to visit so off we went, not quite hand in hand, to the V&A to see the Faberge exhibition. Oh my goodness, for someone who loves all things sparkly, this was heaven. The exquisite work on display was just awe inspiring. Almost 20 years later, that exhibition inspired me to create our very own “Egg collection,” one of the first collections that we created at Reeves & Reeves and one that has lasted the test of time. I wouldn’t go so far as to compare our works to that of Faberge, but I hope our necklaces are just as cherished. 

The village created a challenge to create the best 'scarecrow' out of household objects and sit them outside their houses. There was over 70 entries! What a great idea! - maybe a good one to get the kids (or adults) creative minds flowing, even just to make your neighbours smile as they walk past your house! Have a look at some of the great entries in the village below!

#scarecrows #creative #keepsmiling #villagelife

We often talk about our CZ jewellery, but what is it?

Since Cubic Zirconia was introduced into the fashion world around 1978, there have not been any synthetic gemstones that have made as much impact’CZ’.

Cubic Zirconia is made from a simple synthetic crystalline substance and used as a more affordable alternative to diamonds and other gemstones. Cubic Zirconia is a man-made substance, so quality can be consistently maintained.

CZ is much less expensive than diamonds and the brilliance and crystal clarity of it makes it a great alternative for everyday wear. Not very many people can tell the difference between a cubic zirconia and a real diamond; both have exquisite clarity and capture the light spectacularly.

It sparkles in sunshine or candlelight, and means you don’t have to keep your crystal jewellery just for special occasions. Every day needs a bit of sparkle!

With everyday life on hold, I have more time to spare, so I’ve volunteered a couple of days a week in a local food project, taking orders & packing up deliveries for vulnerable members of the community.

The charity (Halff - Project Food) usually run cooking sessions for young careers, people living with health problems and other vulnerable groups, but with those on hold it’s all hands on deck getting fresh, local food out to families and people who need it. 

I have been answering phones, packing orders and making soups and ready meals to send out. It’s very busy, but good fun, and very well appreciated!

Today in the Reeves & Reeves office we have only three dogs often it can be four or five. Smudge Reeves has had his face on our website once or twice as has Mr Chips.

In an effort to keep our office tidy we have reverted to putting our shredded paper into a box so that we can dry the dogs after our lunchtime walkies around the stunning grounds of Forde Abbey. In my opinion, this has somewhat back fired as now there are little bits of paper all over the place.

We had a lot of fun expanding our dog collection – check out just a few of our favourites above.

As we are so deeply embedded in the countryside, it’s second nature to notice the natural world, but we’re trying a bit harder to make sure that our activities sit more lightly on the planet, and make a few changes to make us that bit greener.

Reduce, reuse, recycle is a brilliant mantra to keep it simple. We reduce our packaging, both in & out, wherever possible, and reuse an awful lots of cardboard boxes, packing materials and bubble wrap. In fact, our friends give us so much, we never have to buy bubble wrap!

Our jewellery arrives to us in little plastic bags - these are incredibly useful, and get used for storing jewellery in the office (plastic bags are actually a brilliant way to keep jewellery in good condition), and are used again and again. Deliveries from India come in wonderful aluminium boxes, sometimes with a little padlock! We fight over these as they are very cool for storage, and are easily customised to make brilliantly quirky containers. All correspondence is shredded, and makes lovely cosy bedding for Caroline’s chickens (who were a Christmas present from the girls in the office, her previous bunch having met a sorry end with a marauding dog just before Christmas).

Our building is a very old converted forge, built into the hill below the gardens, so it could be cold & damp, but we are very lucky to have biomass heating provided by a system that warms the whole of Forde Abbey, using wood taken from maintenance done on the estate. We used to wear woolly hats in the office, but not these days!

Even getting to & from the office is getting greener - we all live locally, and Heath often walks down with Smudge the dog, and our newest recruit plans to walk along the valley through the water meadows in the summer. For our accounts lady, it’s literally about 50ft door to door! 

There is much more we can all do, but we’re taking it on bit by bit, and hopefully it will all add up to make a real difference. We are always looking for new ideas, so if there’s something you are doing to make your workplace greener, we’d love to hear about it!

We’ve been having a bit of an argument about our top ten favourites from the Equestrian Collection - it seems we all have different favourites! What do you think? What would YOU include?

 The Boot & Golden Stirrup is a classic, wear-anywhere, while the Chunky Snaffle Bracelet is more of a statement. A Friendship Bracelet is a great gift, and the Continuous Snaffle Necklace looks fab with a low neckline.

Caroline often wears this Horseshoe Shadow Necklace, with its gold highlights, and the Large Stirrup Cuff is also a favourite. Not everyone wants bold pieces though - these little Silver & Pave Earrings and Leather Snaffle Bracelet are a bit more subtle.

Finally, our Racing Horse Necklace and the Rose Gold Snaffle Friendship Bracelet - very different pieces, but we love the friendship bracelets for their everyday usefulness, and the race horse is a brilliant gifting piece. 

So, what would your favourites be?

Read more