How to store handmade jewelry so the cord lasts
A hand-knotted bracelet fails in one of three ways: the cord frays, the knot loosens, or the metal tarnishes. Storage affects all three, and most storage advice is written for metal jewelry rather than cord.
Do not hang it
Hanging a bracelet from a hook is the standard advice for necklaces and the wrong advice for cord. The cord takes the shape it is stored in, and a hook is a tight curve. After a few months, the bracelet hangs with a kink in it and the knot sits slightly prised open.
Lay bracelets flat, or roll them loosely into a soft pouch. If you must hang, use a wide rounded hook and only for short periods.
Keep the air moving
Sealed bags are good for silver, which tarnishes from sulfur in the air. They are bad for cord, leather, wood, and seeds, which need to dry out. If a piece comes home damp and goes into a ziplock, it stays damp.
The compromise is a cloth pouch or a lined box with a loose lid. Silver pieces get a small anti-tarnish strip; everything else gets air.
Separate by hardness
Store soft stones away from hard ones. A fluorite bracelet loose in a drawer with a steel watch will pick up scratches, and a drawer that gets shaken around does more damage than a wrist ever does.
Small cloth bags solve this for a few dollars. The alternative is a compartment box with soft lining.
Wood and seeds
Sandalwood, ebony, and Bodhi seeds are the pieces that need the most care. They crack in dry air, warp in wet air, and lose their scent if sealed away forever.
Keep them out of direct sun and away from radiators. A closed box in a normal room is fine. Do not oil them.
Silver and plated metal
Sterling silver tarnishes whether you wear it or not. Airtight storage plus an anti-tarnish strip slows it to almost nothing.
Plated metal is different. Rhodium and gold plating wear through with friction, so the enemy is rubbing rather than air. Keep plated pieces separate and do not stack them in a bag.
The one habit that matters
Put the piece away on the day you take it off. The jewelry that gets damaged is the jewelry left on a bathroom counter for a week, next to a hair dryer and a bottle of perfume.
A small tray or a single drawer, used consistently, does more for your pieces than any particular box.
When to restring
Cord has a lifespan. If the weave looks fuzzy at the point where it rubs, or the knot has started to slip, restring it before it fails. A restring costs little. Losing a bracelet you have worn for two years costs more.
Proyoo pieces are knotted from natural cord. If a cord wears out, contact us rather than replacing the piece.
