2023 is off to a great start!

Click the image to read an article about my reenacting life in the Toronto Star.

I was extremely honoured to be covered by the Toronto Star recently. The journalistic team who worked with us was so thorough and enthusiastic and I am delighted with the article. I was also recently interviewed on Newstalk 1010 and you can stream that short interview here. A big thank you to Craig Renaud, Christian Cameron and Keight MacLean for participating in the process with me! Craig has been running the blanket coat project with support from our reenacting organization Hoplologia and we are still taking donations if you want to help support clothing the unhoused in Toronto.

The coverage and interest mostly comes from my online video content which I have been making for the last year and a half, primarily for Tiktok, under the tag @captainswordface but if you follow my Instagram @handmaderevolution_to you will have seen some of it in my reels as well.

Since I know TikTok isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I am working on getting a lot of that content up on my youtube channel, where I hope to expand into longer videos over the next little while. Making video content is definitely a lot of work but I’ve come to enjoy it and I look forward to seeing where I can take it in the future! If you have ideas for long form content that you’d like to see on my Youtube I’d love to hear them! Please subscribe to my channel if you can, since that will help me get closer to potential monetization in the future.

As always, a big thank you for your ongoing support and I hope to bring you lots more pretty things and fun content in the coming months!

Jewellery cleaning and maintenance

Sterling silver and amethyst earrings showing serious tarnish on the right hand earring.

Sterling silver tarnishes over time. This is due to a chemical reaction that takes place with the copper that sterling is alloyed with, and the air. Pure silver is too soft to make into jewellery. Sterling is 92.5 percent pure silver and the remaining amount is copper and usually zinc.

This means that over time, the silver will get a dark residue on the surface called tarnish. There are a few ways to deal with this.

One is to buy an anti-tarnish jewellery case or to keep the piece locked away in a small airtight container, like a tiny ziplock bag, or a box within a larger ziplock bag. It will still tarnish but it will take a much longer time. Pieces don’t usually tarnish while you are wearing them because your skin will rub any residue off.

There is a rare situation when people’s skin chemically reacts with silver to tarnish it immediately when they put it on, and I would recommend that these people wear gold or refractive metals like titanium instead of silver, since there isn’t really any way of keeping this chemical reaction from taking place. I went to school with someone who had this issue, and she had the hardest time working with silver because it would tarnish the moment she touched it with her hands.

Another way to prevent tarnish is to have your piece rhodium plated by a jeweller. The plating will slow the tarnish process by a lot. It isn’t possible to do this with every piece, but many silver pieces can be plated with rhodium for a fee, or if you are ordering something custom made you could ask for rhodium plating when it is being constructed. Plating is a very thin layer of metal and will wear off over time, so this works best on earrings and necklaces that aren’t in constant contact with the skin like rings, or pieces that won’t be worn every day.

Once your piece is tarnished there are a few ways to clean it. One option is to buy a silver cleaning dip. This is a chemical solution you can put the whole piece of jewellery into for a few minutes and it will come out tarnish-free. This is especially good for cleaning chains because it gets into the spaces on the inside of the links. Follow the instructions on the container, and wash with soap and water after you remove the piece. You can buy this online, or if you are in Toronto it is sold at Arton Beads. Since this is an immersion product, it should not be used on any piece that has a porous or soft gemstone such as amber, pearl, lapis, turquoise, malachite or opal. You can always research a gemstone to see if it is safe before you dip.

For harder gemstones, like garnet, peridot, amethyst, diamond, sapphire, etc, immersion is fine, but be sure to check first. There may be an issue with some emeralds so I would use caution in that case as well.

Rub-on chemical silver cleaners are fine to use as well, but again, be very careful around gemstones, using the same metric as you would for the silver dip.

Don’t use baking soda or toothpaste, as those will dull the polish of your silver, even if they do remove the tarnish.

Another option is a silver polish cloth, which can be easily ordered online. You can rub your silver pieces with a polish cloth, and it will remove some surface tarnish. These are less effective than chemical cleaners, so it is recommended that you use them more frequently, for maintenance. They are safe to use in pieces with pearls etc, so that is a plus, but they aren’t much use for chains.

For pieces that have soft stones in them, such as those mentioned above, and fine detail that is hard to reach when using a polish cloth, I recommend storing them in a tarnish resistant container, and when they do get tarnished, ask a jeweller to clean them for you. Most jewellers will do this for a small fee.

For gold jewellery, tarnish should not be an issue, but there can be a build-up of dirt over time around gems and in recessed areas, especially with rings.

The best way to clean them at home is to plug the sink so they will not accidentally fall down the drain, and then use a soft toothbrush and warm water with some gentle hand soap to clean the piece. You can use the toothbrush to get into the low areas and underneath the claws of the gem, if there is one, and inside the ring, if there are any recesses. Once you have cleaned it you can rinse it and dry it gently with a soft cloth. This should be safe for any piece as long as you are using a gentle soap without strong scents. Be careful when you are drying the piece not to use a terry cloth towel, because it can get hooked on claws and losen them. Something with a closed weave like a t shirt or dishcloth is better.

Strong chemical scents may damage pearls or opals. If the piece has a gemstone, I also recommend shaking the piece by your ear before you clean it. If you hear rattling, the stone may be loose and I would recommend talking to a jeweller about getting the stone tightened before you clean to prevent the stone from being knocked out.

Jewellery that is worn frequently, especially rings, will also get surface scratches over time from regular wear and tear. For the most part, these can be polished out by a jeweller. So if you would like your piece returned to that new, shiny look it had when you first got it, talk to a local jeweller about polishing. In this case, they will be using professional techniques to remove surface scratches rather than removing tarnish, which is a chemical process.

If you have any questions about jewellery cleaning, or would like to have some pieces cleaned or polished, feel free to contact me at info@handmaderevolution.org

Leather care

Due to the pandemic, you may be stuck at home, bored and lacking in things to do right now.

If so, it’s a great time to take care of your leather. If you have modern or historical leathers, they all need love to last the longest and look their best. Leather lasts longest when it is regularly oiled with the right sort of oil or conditioner and kept clean of dirt and especially the salt that can build up on shoes in the winter.

For shoes, I often use Kiwi mink oil. You can usually get it at your local drug store or order it online. It’s a bit stinky, but it’s great for conditioning leather. I recommend it for shoes, and other things that won’t be touching your clothes a lot, because it tends to leave a residue. If you’re not squeamish you can just put it on your fingers and rub it into the leather, but you can also rub it on a cloth first and rub it in that way.

I put it on my soft leather shoes periodically throughout the winter. Make sure you clean any salt residue off first with a little vinegar and water on a paper towel. Let it dry and then rub the mink oil in. Then you can leave it to set for a few hours and they are ready to wear. It will darken the colour of your leather a fair bit so if that is a concern, use one of the other suggestions I will mention below. Mink oil helps leather be water-resistant as well as keeping it supple and prolonging its use. This method is also good for leather bags you might use for camping, especially if they are hand made in vegetable-tanned leather, but I wouldn’t use it on a modern purse. For that I would use an appropriately coloured show cream, as I will discuss below, or a neutral conditioner.

For shoes that are leather and have a modern finish, such as dress shoes, or docs, I recommend any drug store leather polish. You can buy a leather cleaner from the store or you can just use the vinegar method I mentioned above. Always clean the leather before applying the polish.

Once the shoes are dry, use a cloth to apply the polish to the shoes. After you have covered the shoe, let sit for 10 minutes and then rub any excess off with a soft, clean cloth. You can do this a couple of times for extra shine. The polish will also condition the leather and help it last longer. You can get black, brown or neutral polish with relative ease. You can also order coloured shoe cream online if you would like to colour match a leather that is green or red etc. Moneysworth and Best is a good brand. Lincoln Stain wax is also not bad, and more affordable, but it sometimes leaves a waxy residue in low areas and is only available to order within the USA. You can also get a neutral coloured leather conditioner by Fiebings. Rub it in, and then rub off any excess.

Do not use mineral oil on leather, as it will dry it out.

For most belts you buy in a store, drugstore leather polish will work well. Make sure the belt is real leather before using polish of any sort on it. If you use black leather polish on a belt, make sure to rub it thoroughly with a clean soft clean cloth afterwards, until you are sure that the residue has been removed, otherwise it might stain your clothes.

For a belt that I have made or a belt that is hand-dyed, you can still use drug store polish if the colour matches, or any of the conditioners I mentioned above except mink oil. Mink oil will make your belt too greasy.

You can also recondition the back of the belt by laying it flat on a surface and rubbing beeswax into the leather in long even strokes. You can go over it as many times as you want. This will help keep the back from getting furry from wear. You can also support the belt in your hand and rub beeswax along the edges in order to smooth them down. Try not to fold the belt horizontally while you do this, support it with your non-dominant hand. You will get a groove in your beeswax block as you go, and you will probably get some beeswax on the face of the belt which is fine. Once you are finished with the edges, just take a clean cotton cloth and gently rub the face of the belt, and that will smooth the beeswax out and help condition the surface as well.

None of these suggestions are recommended for suede leather. I don’t have much experience with it, so I don’t want to give advice in that area.

Hope this is helpful and feel free to email me at info@handmaderevolution.org if you have any questions. A wide selection of my leather belts including medieval and modern are listed on my etsy page.