I have a general question when making jewelry.  Do anybody use a lot of silver plated brass in their jewelry and does it fad fast or is their a better way to taking care of this to keep it from fading fast.  Also do anybody have a trick on keeping sterling silver from turning quickly.  Thanks

As I make jewelry with silver (925, fine silver or plated) I polish each element or head pin or wire with a jeweler's rouge treated cloth, then polish with a treated polishing cloth before using the element in the design. (Such cloths are inexpensive and last for years, available from many jewelry making supply companies.) You can store your finished pieces wrapped in anti-tarnish cloth (sold for silverware) and also store the finished items in air tight bags - like a zip-lock. The cloth is available by the yard in fabric stores.  You want to keep the air away from the silver metal. Air exposure is what oxidizes the silver with loss of the high shine. Now if you are pre-tarnishing the silver with a chemical (such as liver of sulpher) then the new tarnish is less obvious. You can bring back bright highlights by polishing with something like finest steel wool. Be sure to rinse well to remove any bits of steel which will rust. Don't rub or burnish too hard, you don't want to wear through the silver plate.

I find that silver-plated brass beads, etc., tarnish much more quickly than sterling silver items do. Also I buy much of my sterling silver from Artbeads.com which usually adds an anti-tarnish coating to their beads and findings so that their sterling silver holds up much better than sterling silver bought from other companies.

Carole Novak 

 I've been buying a lot of silver plated beads from www.GoodyBeads.com, and so far I haven't really had any trouble with them. When I'm not using the beads, I keep them stored in an air tight container just to be on the safe side, but all too often I end up leaving a handful out on my design table. So far those look just fine, and I'd say they've been in the "air" for maybe 3-4 months now. Also, when I complete a design I keep it in a plastic baggie just to be safe. I like to mix my silver plated with some sterling sometimes, and I don't want any of it to tarnish. So far so good. Hope that helps!

I want to thank everybody who responded to my question all of them are excellent answers and I will take of note of each one of them thanks.  This has helped me alot.

Hi. In regard to the "fading" , I don't know if this works as I have not tried it yet, but my sister said a friend told her that those little charcoal pouches that come in the boxes when you buy new shoes, will keep your jewelry from fading. Just toss one in the bag that you store your jewelry in and it prevents oxidation, which is what causes the jewelry to fade. Hope this helps.

Nadiyah

www.justmyjewels.info