Costume jewelry is wonderfully versatile. A brooch, such as the 1960s Schreiner ruffle pin pictured above, can be used to adorn your bouquet or even a sash tied around your waist. Clip earrings can be worn as intended, or repurposed as embellishments on boutonnières or bridesmaids’ bouquets.

Vintage costume jewelry, however, does not always age well, especially if it was well-loved in its heyday. Water, hairspray, and natural oils from the skin corrode once-shiny metals, sometimes even creating a greenish-blue mold-like substance called verdigris. Fortunately, with a bit of elbow grease and a few simple ingredients found around your house, vintage costume jewelry can be cleaned and restored.

Materials You’ll Need:
• Water
• Toothpaste
• Baking soda
• Paper towels
• Cotton swabs
• Toothpicks
• Window cleaner (ammonia free)
• Micro-fiber cloth

Step 1
Wash your hands to avoid spreading natural oils. (For extra vigilance, opt for latex gloves.)

Step 2
Find a workspace with good lighting, where you’ll see every detail (or blemish) on your jewelry.

Step 3
Lay your chosen piece of jewelry on a few stacked paper towels and inspect it for areas that need TLC. There are probably only a few isolated areas that need special attention. However, if the whole piece needs polishing, start at one end and systematically move across the piece.

Step 4
When you’ve identified the area you’d like to work on, grab your baking soda and toothpaste. Apply an equal amount of each onto a dish and use a cotton swab to mix it all together. (The size of the batch you mix will depend on how big of an area you will be cleaning.) Remember, a little goes a long way. If you end up with too much, just dab some of it off your cotton swab onto the paper towel.

Step 5
Using the cotton swab, gently rub the mixture onto the areas of blemished metal. When the cotton swab end begins to get dirty, flip it over and use the other side, or get a new one. At this point, you should be able to notice a difference from before you started cleaning.

Step 6
After polishing to your satisfaction, use a slightly moistened paper towel to clean any residue off the piece. (If your piece has rhinestones, however, avoid touching them with the paper towel, as the fibers could cause a scratch.) If there are any stubborn areas of verdigris, gently scrub them with cotton swabs or tooth picks dipped in an ammonia-free glass cleaner.

Step 7
Finally, polish your piece of jewelry with a micro-fiber cloth. These cloths are soft enough to avoid scratching the jewelry and are able to pick up any missed particles. Contrary to what was once believed, rhinestones can be safely polished with ammonia-free glass cleaner. After cleaning, always make sure your pieces are completely dry; lingering moisture is the primary cause of metal decay.

That’s it! Don’t be discouraged if your jewelry doesn’t turn out looking perfect. Your cherished piece is likely very old, so it’s important to go into this process with realistic expectations. Your jewelry will surely look brighter and shinier than it did before — the lack of perfection is exactly what gives it a special vintage charm!

— Story by Jenna Whitehill

That’s why we wanted to make sure to share this event with our readers. The North Country SPCA is hosting their annual sale, and once again, we wanted to help spread the word.

Hope to see you there!

Proceeds from this second-annual sale will go toward funding the NCSPCA’s new shelter, located on a wooded 18-acre property on Route 9 east of Elizabethtown. The facility, which just broke ground on August 15 after two years of fundraising, will replace the organization’s overcrowded shelter in Westport. It will feature modern amenities such as walking trails, a large fenced-in play yard, “get acquainted” rooms, space for obedience training, and more. The Frances Miller Shelter, as it will be known, is expected to open its doors in February 2013.

The shelter still needs to fund final construction costs, so checking out the sale is a great way to help. We attended last year and found several lovely pieces that we plan to use in our photo shoots. Feel free to spread the word, and if you attend, let us know what you found!

What: An antique and tag sale to benefit shelter animals
Who: Hosted by the North Country SPCA (NCSPCA), the only animal shelter in Essex County
When: Saturday, August 25th from 9 to 5 p.m. (There is an Early Bird entrance fee of $20 between 9 and 10 a.m.; after that, it’s free!)
Where: Whallonsburg Grange. The Grange is located about five miles away from Essex, NY, on the corner of Route 22 and Whallons Bay Road.
For more information: http://www.ncspca.org

See you there!