WHAT IS .925 STERLING SILVER? .925 Sterling silver is the highest quality silver which is 925 parts out of 1000 parts pure silver. Silver in its pure form will not tarnish, but is too soft for use in jewelry and giftware. Copper, a stronger metal, is added to strengthen the silver. Mexico has some of the highest quality silver available worldwide. We boast our jewelry is at least .925 quality or higher. HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR SILVER Pure Silver, a precious and malleable metal, is usually alloyed with copper to enhance its durability and prevent damage to the metal. Typically, sterling silver consists of 92.5 percent silver and 7.5 percent copper. Over time oxidation reactions will occur, especially with sulfur and oxygen, causing silver to become tarnished. Care should be taken to prevent this tarnishing, and many commercial products are available that will easily remove tarnish buildup that silver naturally acquires. When cared for properly, your fine quality silver will last a lifetime. Simply wearing your jewelry helps prevent, or at least slow, the oxidation process keeping your jewelry looking new. To minimize scratches, silver jewelry can be stored in cloth pouches, small ziplock bags, or in separate compartments in your jewelry box. We recommend that you clean the piece with a polishing cloth or with fine jewelry cleaner. It is also acceptable to clean silver with a paste made with baking soda and a little warm water, using a soft toothbrush to clean stones. Some commercial cleaners can damage certain gemstones such as turquoise, malachite, and pearls. WHAT IS ALPACA SILVER? Alpaca Silver- is a blend of 3 metals, (nickel, zinc, and copper). The piece is then coated with sterling silver. This blend makes the wire stronger then .925 silver. It holds its white silver luster just as well as Sterling, and cleans just as easy. HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR ALPACA JEWELRY Simply wearing your jewelry helps prevent, or at least slow, the oxidation process keeping your jewelry looking new. We recommend that you clean the piece with a polishing cloth or with fine jewelry cleaner. It is also acceptable to clean alpaca silver with a paste made with baking soda and a little warm water, using a soft toothbrush to clean stones. WHAT IS A SYNTHETIC STONE? Synthetic stones actually are not stones at all. They are man made replicas created from plastic. It is difficult to tell the difference between synthetic and natural gemstones unless you are an expert. We have seen synthetic stones in turquoise, malachite, amber, sugalite, tiger's eye and much more. One good test is to hold the stone to your cheek. Stone will be cold to the touch while plastic is generally warm. We have seen many pieces of jewelry online that claim their product is real stone, when in actuality it is not. Synthetic stones possess no healing properties that natural gemstones do. Rest assured dlair.com would always tell you the truth about the items you purchase. If the stone is synthetic or enhanced we will let you know. HOW ARE THE SILVER STATUES MADE? ELECTROFORMING PROCESS FOR SILVER STATUES · The sculptor creates a new work or piece by modeling by wax, plaster, wood or other rigid material. · Then they make a mold of silicon to pour the pieces, those pieces are made of a mix of base of resins. · When the pieces are made in to the model, artisans detail each piece by hand. · The finely detailed pieces are inspected and they are painted with an electro conductive copper based paint in order to conduct electricity. · Later they copper plate the pieces in an electrolytic bath. This bath of copper is the base for the silver layer. · The pieces are then silver plated in a similar bath, 10 to 15% of the total weight of the piece is pure silver. All pieces are marked with silver .999 because the silver that coats the piece is pure .999 silver. · The pieces are shined by hand, and the oxide work is used for emphasize of each detail. · Finally they apply a cover of lacquer to prevent oxidation or tarnish. Upkeep only requires cleaning with a soft cloth lightly moistened with water.