Anne V Massey
Forget-me-Knot Brooch
Forget-me-Knot Brooch
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This is a bold, sculptural brooch. Its elegant organic form is a contemporary spin on a classic design. Give the Forget-me-Knot brooch as a gift for a special occasion – a birthday, an anniversary, Valentine's Day, a major life milestone; or to celebrate tying the knot in style.
- Choose from two colour options – gold plated on the inner surface with 24 carat yellow gold, or straightforward silver.
- Hand-hammered from Sterling silver by the process of anticlastic raising. It is formed from a single piece of silver sheet, including the fastening.
- The brooch measures about 3.5cm x 5cm.
- Made at my Hove workspace.
The fact that the Forget-me-Knot brooch is made from sheet metal by anticlastic raising makes it much lighter than its appearance might lead you to believe. The hammered texture, glittering edges and subtle finish complement the sinuous lines and add to the drama of the piece. Either colour-way can be teamed with a jacket or coat to glamorous effect.
This brooch belongs to the same collection as my Forget-me-Knot pendant and studs. It can be kept looking fresh by this simple method which avoids harsh chemicals.
Because they are handmade, no two brooches will be exactly alike.
Free gift wrapping can be selected at the checkout. Postage is free. I send all my orders within the UK out by Royal Mail Special Delivery, a tracked service. I aim to send in stock items within 5 working days; items made to order take 2-4 weeks. Upon despatch I will email you with the tracking number. For customers outside the UK, I will pay the postage but the buyer will be responsible for any fees, duties or taxes which may be levied for delivery. I am currently not posting to countries in the EU due to the complexity of the new rules.
If there is anything else you would like to know about this piece or any of my jewellery, please contact me at info@annevmassey.com.
Care information
Care information
Pieces which are gold plated all over (gold vermeil) may need cleaning from time to time; although gold does not tarnish, the silver underneath may. All my work is best cleaned by methods which do not involve rubbing, which causes the jewellery to lose its semi-matte finish and gradually makes it become shiny. My favourite involves using readily available household items - hot water and bicarbonate of soda with aluminium foil in a heatproof glass or ceramic bowl. Even better, it's sustainable! You can re-use old foil - repeatedly! - but it needs to be clean. You can clean more than one piece of jewellery at a time, but as this is an electrochemical process each piece needs to be in contact with the foil. It doesn't matter which way up the foil is. The hotter the water, the faster the reaction goes. Enough bicarb should be used to cover each piece. This won’t damage the gold plating on wholly- or part-plated pieces, but hot water should not be used on pieces which incorporate stones; some stones can be damaged or even destroyed by thermal shock. There are many versions of this technique available on the internet, and also many sites which have information about stones and their vulnerability/resistance to thermal shock.
The first two images show a pendant before and after cleaning by this method. 
The next series of images shows a more heavily tarnished brooch. The images are taken at 20 minute intervals. As you can see, the brooch never becomes as clean and bright as the example above.
This technique works best if the piece is not too heavily tarnished.
Storing your jewellery properly can help retard or prevent tarnishing. Direct sunlight, humidity, chlorine and hairspray all accelerate tarnishing. Storing the jewellery in a box in a dry room (not the bathroom, for example) will help keep it looking bright and fresh. The jewellery should not be worn to a swimming pool, and hairspray should be applied before putting jewellery on. Salt (including from perspiration) can also react with silver, so it should not be worn for swimming in the sea.
If you don’t mind losing the surface “bloom”, you can use a commercially available cleaner such as Goddard’s foaming paste, or even toothpaste, with a soft toothbrush.
Much of this information is taken from Masamitsu Inaba's article Tarnishing of Silver: A Short Review in the Victoria and Albert Museum's Conservation Journal, January 1996 Issue 18. Many thanks.
