Titanium care & colour
The short version
Cleaning
Warm water, a drop of mild soap, dry with a soft cloth. That’s it. Never a polishing cloth — it takes colour off.
The colour
Made of light, not paint. There’s no coating sitting on top, so there’s nothing to chip, peel or wash off.
Water
Sea, pool, rain, sweat, sun — titanium doesn’t mind any of it. You can swim in it.
Skin
Grade 1 pure titanium, the kind used in medical implants. Hypoallergenic and gentle on sensitive skin.
Storing it
In its box, one piece per compartment, not touching other jewellery.
Cleaning
If a piece looks duller than it did, the colour hasn’t gone anywhere. A thin film — skin oils, sunscreen, soap residue — has settled over it and is scattering the light. Wash it off and the colour comes back exactly as it was.
- Warm water with a drop of mild washing-up liquid.
- Let the piece sit in it for a minute or two.
- Work gently with your fingers — or a soft toothbrush around carved detail.
- Rinse in clean water.
- Dry completely with a soft cloth.
For anything stubborn, a non-abrasive glass cleaner sprayed onto a cloth works well. Film can be removed; abrasion can’t — so no polishing cloths, toothpaste, baking soda or metal polish.
The colour
Titanium naturally grows a thin, transparent oxide layer on its surface. In the studio, a controlled electrical current in an electrolyte bath makes that layer thicker — only tens of nanometres, far too thin to see or feel.
Light reflects off the top of that layer and off the metal beneath it. The two reflections meet slightly out of step: some colours cancel out, others survive. What survives is the colour you see — the same physics as a soap bubble, or a film of oil on wet asphalt. Nothing has been added to the metal.
Thickness follows voltage. Low settings give bronze and gold, then violet, then the deep Atlantic blues, then lighter blues, greens and rose. There’s no dye to pick from a chart — just a voltage, a bath and a piece of metal, and the colour arrives when the layer reaches the right thickness.
Two things follow from that. The colour can’t chip or peel, because there’s no coating to come away. And it moves as you move: tilt the piece and light passes through the layer at a different angle, so blue leans towards violet at the edges and gold catches green. That isn’t a trick of the photograph. It’s most of the reason this material is worth working with.
Handmade
Voltage is a target, not a guarantee. The electrolyte bath changes as it ages, and the hand-prepared surface underneath is never identical twice. Each piece is aimed at a colour and lands close to it — with real variation from one to the next.
The surface varies even more. Every texture is made by hand, so the way light runs across your piece belongs only to it.
What you receive will be recognisably the piece you chose. Not a photographic copy — and it isn’t meant to be.
“I can make that blue again, but never this exact piece. Yours is one of a kind.”
— Marcelina
The material
Hard, and very light
Harder than gold or silver and demanding to work by hand — yet about 45% lighter than steel. The Charco del Viento pendant is 4.7 cm long and weighs 3.28 g: big enough to be seen, light enough to forget by mid-morning.
Grade 1 pure titanium
The purest commercial grade — the kind used in medical implants. It won’t turn skin green, and it won’t go black in a swimming pool.
Hypoallergenic
Grade 1 titanium is hypoallergenic and gentle on sensitive skin. Necklace chains and clasps are 316L surgical steel, which suits most sensitive skin too. Very sensitive skin? Ask us first.
Sea, sun and sweat-proof
Titanium doesn’t rust or corrode. Salt water, pool chlorine, sweat, rain and UV leave it exactly as it was.
Questions
Does titanium tarnish?
Does titanium tarnish?
Not the way silver and copper do. There’s no dark layer to polish off, no anti-tarnish strips, no routine. Left in a drawer for ten years, it comes out as it went in.
But “doesn’t tarnish” isn’t quite “never looks different”. The colour lives in a layer only tens of nanometres thick. Anything that physically takes surface away takes colour with it, and anything that leaves a film over it dulls it until it’s washed. Nothing about the piece degrades by itself — how it looks in ten years comes down to how it’s handled, which is the part you control.
What can actually harm the colour?
What can actually harm the colour?
The metal shrugs off almost anything. The colour is a far thinner layer, so two things are worth avoiding:
- Abrasion — jewellery polishing cloths (they carry compound meant for silver and gold), toothpaste, baking soda, metal polish, scouring pads, grit, and harder metal rubbing against it.
- Strong household chemicals — descalers, oven cleaner, rust remover, silver “dip” cleaners, and soaking in neat bleach.
Everyday life doesn’t count: sea, pool, sweat, soap and perfume are all fine. There’s no need for an ultrasonic cleaner either — soap and water is all it ever needs.
My piece looks faded — has the colour worn off?
My piece looks faded — has the colour worn off?
Almost certainly not. A dull, greyish look is nearly always a film of skin oil, sunscreen, cosmetics or soap residue scattering the light. Wash it as described above and the colour returns exactly as it was.
Colour that has been rubbed away — by a polishing cloth, say — is a different thing, and it doesn’t come back. That’s why the one firm rule on this page is: nothing abrasive, ever.
Everyday habits that help
Everyday habits that help
- Put jewellery on last, after perfume, lotion, hairspray and sunscreen. None of them harm titanium, but they leave a film. A hairpin meets more hairspray than anything else you own — give it a wipe after a day of it.
- Take it off for hard work — the gym, gardening, DIY, washing up. This matters most for anything worn on the hand or wrist.
- Wipe it with a soft dry cloth when you take it off — cotton, microfibre or a lens cloth. This alone prevents most of the dulling people mistake for fading.
- Keep pieces apart. Titanium against titanium, or against a steel clasp, is still metal against metal.
Will it scratch?
Will it scratch?
That depends on where it’s worn.
Pendants, earrings, hairpins and brooches see very little friction once they’re on. Worn normally and kept in their box between wears, they hold their finish for years.
Bracelets, cuffs and rings lead a harder life — worktops, car door handles, bag straps, other metal. Over a year or more of regular wear the colour softens first at the edges and contact points, and the surface picks up fine scratches, the way the corners of a well-loved leather wallet go pale before the rest. That isn’t a fault; it’s titanium worn the way it’s meant to be, and plenty of people love the result. To keep a piece closer to how it arrived, take it off for the gym, washing up and manual work.
If a scratch bothers you, please don’t try to buff it out. Any abrasive that reaches the scratch also removes the colour around it, and makes the mark more obvious rather than less.
How should I store it and travel with it?
How should I store it and travel with it?
In the box it arrived in — at home and on the road. It’s made to protect the finish and to go where the piece goes, so there’s no separate pouch to lose.
The one rule: one piece per compartment. Most damage to jewellery happens loose in a bag with keys and other jewellery, not on a neck or a wrist.
How do I adjust a bracelet or cuff?
How do I adjust a bracelet or cuff?
Open bracelets and cuffs are made to be adjusted to your wrist by hand, without tools.
- Bend the whole shape gradually, with slow pressure spread along it.
- Never lever one end or squeeze at a single point — a sharp bend puts all the stress in one place.
- Work in small steps: adjust, try it on, adjust again.
- Aim to get there in a few careful movements rather than dozens of small corrections. Repeated bending in the same spot fatigues any metal.
Is it suitable for children?
Is it suitable for children?
Jewellery isn’t a toy and isn’t designed for children. Some pieces have carved edges, points or small components.
Anything else about a particular piece? Write to us, or find Marcelina on Instagram.
Wear it in the sea.
None of this is meant to make anyone nervous about wearing a piece. Titanium was chosen for this studio because it holds up to a life actually lived in it, salt water included. Wear it in the sea. Wear it in the rain. The record of that showing up in the metal, eventually, is part of what makes it yours.