Copper Care

Copper is a living metal. It changes while you wear it.

That isn't a flaw to manage. It's the character of the thing, and it's what we get asked about more than anything else in the shop. So here are straight answers, the same ones we'd give you across the table.

Every copper piece we make is handforged from 99.9% recycled copper by The Swanky Dale, right here in Ball Ground, Georgia. Small batch, never mass-produced, and no two exactly alike.

Does copper tarnish?

Yes. All copper does, and yours will.

Left to the air, copper deepens from bright penny to warm bronze, and given years it can edge toward green. That's patina. It isn't damage, it isn't a defect, and it certainly isn't cheap metal. It's the surface doing what copper has always done.

Some love the patina. Some would rather keep things bright. Your choice, and neither one is wrong.

Will copper turn my skin green?

It might, and it's nothing to worry about.

The green comes from copper meeting the natural acids, salts, and oils on your skin. It washes off with soap and water and it stains nothing permanently.

Whether it happens at all comes down to your body chemistry, not the quality of the piece. Some folks never see it. Others see it every August, because heat and humidity make it more likely, and so do lotion, sunscreen, and perfume.

If it bothers you, wipe the piece down when you take it off, or brush a thin coat of clear nail polish on the inside where it meets your skin. Reapply when it wears away.

How do I clean my copper?

Gently, and with less than you'd think.

A soft toothbrush, a drop of Dawn dish soap, and warm water. Scrub lightly, rinse thoroughly, and dry completely before you put it away. That's it. You don't need a special product and you don't need anything harsh.

The drying matters more than the scrubbing does. Water left sitting on copper is what starts the next round of tarnish, so finish with a soft dry cloth every time.

Please skip steel wool, scouring pads, and chemical dips. They scratch the surface and flatten the hammer marks we put there on purpose.

Two things this doesn't apply to. The Southern Moss Cuff, and anything with a stone or shell on it. Both are just below.

What about the Southern Moss Cuff?

This one is different, and it's worth reading before you reach for the soap.

The Southern Moss Cuff's green isn't ordinary tarnish. It's a patina we apply by hand and then seal, and that seal is the only thing holding it there. Scrub it, soap it, or put any cleaner or polish to it and the seal comes off first, the patina right behind it. Neither goes back on. You'd be left with a plain copper cuff, and we couldn't restore it for you.

So: a soft dry cloth, and nothing else. No soap, no water, no polish, no jewelry dip.

If your cuff looks dull, it's almost always dust or skin oil sitting on the seal. The dry cloth takes care of it.

What if my piece has a stone or a shell on it?

Then leave the toothbrush in the drawer. The rule is simple: if it isn't bare metal, don't soak it.

Some natural materials don't just dull, they're damaged outright. Abalone and shell are sensitive to acids and can lose their iridescence for good. Azurite, pearl, and amber shouldn't meet water at all. Harder stones like jasper, tiger's eye, and moonstone hold up to a damp cloth just fine, but none of them gain a thing from a soak.

There's a second reason, too. Water finds its way into a wire wrap far more easily than it finds its way out. Nothing we make is glued — every stone is wire-wrapped or set on a forged stem, which is exactly why our settings don't fail the way glued ones do — but those same wraps hold moisture where no cloth can reach, and it quietly tarnishes the metal beneath the stone.

Use a soft dry cloth on the metal and keep it off the stone. Every stone we carry is listed by name with its own instructions in the Caring for Your Jewelry section of our FAQs — if you're not sure which you have, that's the place to look.

Anything different about hair sticks and hair pins?

Only one thing, and it's about your hair rather than the copper.

Hand-forged texture holds onto whatever you wash it with, down in the grooves where you can't see it. So when you clean a plain copper hair stick or French pin, rinse it longer than feels necessary and dry it completely. Dawn and warm water rinse clean and won't touch your hair color, which is exactly why we use them and why we'd steer you away from the vinegar-and-lemon tricks you'll find elsewhere on the internet.

Hair sticks with a stone on them follow the stone rule above. Dry cloth only.

How do I keep it from tarnishing in the first place?

Tarnish needs air and moisture, so give it less of both.

• Store your pieces in a closed pouch or a zip-top bag rather than open on a dish. An anti-tarnish strip tucked in helps.
• Keep them somewhere dry. A steamy bathroom is the hardest place in the house on copper.
• Put jewelry on last, after perfume, hairspray, and lotion.
• Give it a quick wipe with a dry cloth when you take it off. Ten seconds buys you months.

Can I wear it in the shower, the pool, or the ocean?

We'd rather you didn't.

Soap and shampoo leave a film, chlorine is hard on copper, and salt water speeds everything up. None of it will ruin a piece, but all of it dulls the finish faster than ordinary wearing ever would. Take your copper off before you shower, swim, wash dishes, or clean house.

Is copper safe if I have sensitive skin or ears?

For most people, yes.

Nickel is behind the large majority of metal reactions, and pure copper has no nickel in it at all. That's why folks who can't wear inexpensive costume jewelry are often perfectly comfortable in copper.

Copper isn't entirely inert, though, and a small number of people are genuinely sensitive to it. If copper has given you trouble before, it will again.

For earrings, check the listing. Ear wires aren't always the same metal as the piece hanging from them — a good many of ours are niobium, which is about as gentle as jewelry metal gets.

Do you seal or lacquer your copper?

Depends on the piece, and it changes how you care for it.

Bright copper is raw. Bangles, hoops, hair sticks, bar earrings — all left unsealed so they can patina honestly. Bring them back to bright whenever you like. The finish is yours to decide for the life of the piece.

The Southern Moss Cuff is sealed. Its patina is applied on purpose and the seal locks it in. That's the design, not a coating hiding anything, and it's why that one cuff never meets water.

Can I adjust the fit of a bangle or a cuff?

A cuff, yes. Copper is soft enough to shape with your hands. Hold it either side of the opening and ease it wider or narrower in small movements, working the whole curve rather than bending one spot.

Just don't flex the same point over and over. Copper hardens as you work it, and a spot bent again and again will eventually crack. Shape it once to fit you, then leave it be.

A closed bangle can't be resized, so order by size. Our Copper Bangle Set comes in S, M, and L/XL.

What does "99.9% recycled copper" really mean?

That the copper we forge came from reclaimed stock instead of freshly mined ore.

Copper loses nothing in recycling. The metal is identical in quality to virgin copper, at a fraction of what it costs the ground it came from. Every piece is hammered out by hand here in Ball Ground. No casting, no production line, and no two the same.

Still have a question?

Email us at hello@belleandsouthern.com and a real person will answer — usually within a day or two. Care notes for every other material we carry live in our FAQs, and you can see what's in stock in the Nothing but Copper collection.