Sterling silver was our first love. In fact, it was right there in our original name: CITRUS Silver.

We have been working with sterling silver since CITRUS began in 2007 because, for us, it strikes a pretty remarkable balance between beauty, durability, strength, function and value. It allows us to make jewelry that's meant to be worn every day and, with a little care, kept for a very long time.

What is sterling silver?

Pure silver is quite soft, so sterling silver combines 92.5% pure silver with a small amount of other metal to give it additional strength and durability. That's where the familiar 925 designation comes from.

It's strong enough for everyday jewelry but remains wonderfully workable at the bench. It can be stamped, carved, etched, sanded and polished, which makes it particularly well suited to the kind of jewelry we make at CITRUS.

Yes, sterling silver tarnishes

And that's okay.

One of the things I actually love about silver is its natural tendency to develop a patina. As the surface reacts with its environment, silver can darken and take on a beautiful, almost antique appearance.

We sometimes hear jewelry described as "waterproof," but that's not a claim we make at CITRUS. Jewelry is affected by how and where it's worn, and things like moisture, chlorine, cosmetics, lotions and chemicals can all affect its surface over time.

So, will sterling silver tarnish? Yes.

Is that normal? Also yes.

Can it be cleaned? Absolutely.

That's one of the beautiful things about silver.

A forever metal

Silver is sometimes described as a forever metal, and it's easy to understand why.

You can carve it, stamp it, sand it, polish it and allow its surface to change over time, but underneath it all, it's still silver through and through.

That matters to us because we've never thought jewelry should be disposable. A well-loved silver piece will show signs of being worn. It may need cleaning. It may develop scratches or patina. Years from now, it can be polished again.

There's something rather nice about that.

Caring for silver also creates a small ritual around owning it. When something is maintained, cleaned and looked after over time, it has the opportunity to become more valuable to us, not necessarily because the metal itself has changed, but because of everything we've attached to it along the way.

Even our mistakes get another chance

Karen, the original founder of CITRUS, taught me something else about silver that we still practise at the workbench today: it can be recycled.

Hand stamping means that occasionally a letter doesn't land quite where we intended. We make mistakes. We also end up with discontinued pendants and pieces that can't be sold.

They don't automatically become waste.

We have a recycle bin in the studio where many of those mis-stamped sterling silver pendants wait to be melted down and made into something new.

Eventually, a mistake at our bench can become a new pendant carrying someone's name, date, word or story.

We think that's a pretty good second life.

Caring for your sterling silver

Sterling silver doesn't need to remain perfectly shiny to be beautiful, but if that's the look you prefer, regular care will help keep it that way.

Avoid prolonged exposure to chlorine, chemicals, lotions and other products that can affect the surface of your jewelry, and store your pieces somewhere dry when you're not wearing them. A good silver polishing cloth can remove everyday tarnish and restore much of the original shine.

For more detailed instructions, visit our Silver Cleaning Guide.

And if you have a question about a CITRUS piece you already own, please contact us. Whether you're wondering about tarnish, cleaning, repairs or simply how to look after a piece you've had for years, we're always happy to help.

Handcrafted in Toronto. Made in Canada since 2007.