Turquoise necklace with Silver Leaf Pendant

To make the pendant, I employed a technique called “metal clay”. I used finely-ground pure silver mixed with a binder so that the material could be sculpted, then kiln-fired to burn off the binder, leaving only silver behind. Fine silver is as close as possible to 100% pure, as opposed to sterling silver, which is 7.75% copper and 92.5% silver.

Fine silver doesn't tarnish as much as sterling silver, but hand lotions and sunscreens will eventually have an effect on both. The best thing is to wash them frequently with hand soap and water and buff gently with a towel. I don't recommend using paste silver polish because all the patina will be removed. Instead,  use a silver polishing product such as Sunshine Cloth.