About the Jewelry! - peridotdaisy.com

About the Jewelry

One of the things I love so much about making jewelry is knowing that someone is going to cherish it! My personal standards for quality are very high, and I spend a lot of time making sure each piece is just perfect for you. My business will never be about quantity, but instead intentional, quality, healing jewelry!

Before you go trodding through the info on this page, be sure to look at the FAQ menu to the right. You may quickly find your answer there if it’s a commonly frequently asked question…;)

Below are some other random FAQ that should help you learn a little more about Peridot Daisy Wire & Gemstone Jewelry and provide some answers should you be curious. Please contact me if you have any other questions!

I’d like to see more than the one photo of the jewelry shown on the website.

No problem! Please contact me and I will send you additional photos if I have them. Eventually the website will support multiple photos for each piece so you can get a better idea of what they look like.

I am giving the jewelry I ordered from you as a gift. Can you gift box it for me?

Of course! Unless you specify otherwise, all jewelry comes secured in its own tiny zipper bag and wrapped in a minimal amount of recycled tissue paper and hemp string with a hand-written tag :) This will be just fine to give as a gift, but sometimes a box is nicer! If you request gift boxing, I use the appropriate size Kraft (brown paper) jewelry box that is minimally yet tastefully hand-decorated.

My piece of jewelry doesn’t look quite exactly like the photo on your website. What’s up with that?

All the jewelry you get from Peridot Daisy is nearly completely hand-made from scratch! All earwires, hoops, loops, swirls, coils, chains, rings…I make it all mainly with a few simple pairs of pliers. No other fancy tools except a ring mandrel, a couple hammers, some dowel rods and a vice. So definitely expect some hand-made variations in your piece—consider it part of you getting a completely unique piece of jewelry!
Also, gemstones may not look exactly like the photos, either. Since I use genuine gemstones, rarely are they all exactly the same—in size, shape and color. I try to use what looks as close to the photo as possible, but still, there will almost always be some variation. Again, part of the jewelry’s originality!

I need a size not shown on the product page.

No problem! Just contact me. Many times if the sizes are limited it’s because the design might not work well with that size. We can definitely try to work something out!

My ears are sensitive to certain metals. What do you use for your earwires?

I only use solid Sterling silver for earwires. They are all handmade by me. Even when the rest of the earring is copper, I still use Sterling earwires and oxidize them so they closely match the color of the copper.

What other metals do you use in your jewelry?

I use Sterling silver and bare copper wire. Maybe someday I’ll try Gold wire :) For beads and bead caps, some are solid Sterling silver, silver-plated, copper, pewter or brass. All wire is uncoated and all beads are certified lead-free.

Copper looks cool, but everyone knows it turns skin green! Why would I want to wear it?

Okay, so here’s my schpiel on both copper and Sterling silver. Sorry, I just can’t contain myself when addressing this issue ;) But first…copper is IN. Copper is beautiful! Those two reasons there are enough to want to wear them!

All copper and Sterling silver wire used at Peridot Daisy is not tarnish-resistant. I prefer to use untreated metals to display the natural beauty of the finished piece and give you the benefit of any healing properties of the metal. Over time, the surface of the metal will form a “patina,” which is the naturally-occurring process when these metals come in contact with oxygen, water and moisture from your skin.

For copper, it starts as a light brown matte finish. With excessive wear and exposure to moisture, copper may turn almost black, and sometimes will leave a green haze on your skin. This is not a sign of poor quality—it’s simply a natural chemical reaction. At this point (and probably earlier) it’s definitely time to give your jewelry a light polishing with a soft cloth to remove any built-up tarnish.

Sterling silver is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. The copper is added to the silver to make it more durable, and this addition makes Sterling silver tarnish slowly over time, much slower than copper.

Both copper and Sterling silver can be easily polished by hand to keep the patina at bay if you prefer a shiny look to your jewelry. Keeping it dry when wearing and stored in a plastic zipper bag away from oxygen will help as well. Some people like the matte and aged look of the patina and enjoy the process of watching their jewelry transform into antiquated heirlooms!

Okay, that’s all good and stuff, but your copper jewelry doesn’t look like bare, shiny copper…

That’s because I go ahead and speed up the oxidation process for you ahead of time :) By doing this, then polishing it, you’re less likely to get the green haze effect! I can customize the brightness of it, so you can always let me know if you want your copper shinier or darker than the photo for sale. Same with Sterling silver.

So can I get a piece of copper jewelry that has not been oxidized at all?

Sure! It will naturally start to oxidize on its own right away. If you polish it after each time you wear it and store it in a zipper bag, it will oxidize a little more slowly. And please note it will probably give you the green haze if you get it wet at all while wearing it! It’s actually somewhat interesting (at least to me!) to see the phases of color it goes through over time as it oxidizes. It stays at a sort of red-orange for quite a while, which is very pretty, before it will start to turn a mocha-brown and lose its luster.

What kind of beads do you use?

All of my beads are genuine semi-precious gemstones. I do have a few precious gemstones (Ruby, Emerald), but typically I will only use semi-precious unless precious stones are requested for a custom piece. I try to buy the best quality gemstones, sourced ethically. Most of the gemstones are in their natural state, and a few are dyed to enhance their natural color. On the rare occasion I have used glass beads for custom pieces but I don’t keep them in stock. I do not use any man-made glass crystals or beads. This ensures that all beads are lead-free.

The gemstones in my jewelry are getting chipped easily. Why is that?

Gemstones vary in their hardness, which is measured in what’s called the Moh’s hardness scale. For example, most people know that diamonds are the hardest mineral out there; it measures a 10 on the Moh’s scale, which is the highest. Talc (yep, like talc in powder) measures a 1. It just crumbles in your hand. All of my gemstones measure 4 and up, typically being around 7-8.
Try to take care not to wear your jewelry when you’re doing manual labor, doing dishes, etc… That should help keep you from bumping the stone around too much! If it does happen to accidentally break, just contact me!

What are all the references at the bottom of the jewelry pages? The ones about gemstone and metal properties…

There’s good reason why people are always so attracted to gemstones and metals—other than their beauty, they’ve been used for healing throughout history. It’s said that many times a person is attracted to gemstones that contain healing properties they need. That’s why I include little blurbs about each type of stone and also the metal in each listing! I gathered the information from various books and a few website sources. Most of the information I list refers to emotional healing and balancing the stones provide, however most stones’ healing properties are extensive in the areas of emotions, the physical body and also the spiritual self. If you’re curious, do some Googling! It’s fascinating and it’s one of the main reasons why I love working with the gemstones. I feel very privileged to create and pass on something beautiful AND healing!