Old Rings

One of the things that bothers me the most is when I buy something for the way it looks and then it breaks down in a few weeks and doesn't look that way anymore. This happens, mostly to my jewelry (I've learned how to buy quality shirts, pants and coats and things like socks and tights are easily replacable) and it angers me because it is very difficult to purchase something that looks the same that won't meet the same fate in another week. I've been told by may people that instead of buying cheap jewelry that looses it's silvery look in a matter of days and becomes a coppery color (which actually, I discovered, isn't copper at all, but is probably something else, uber cheap like zinc or even metal-like plastic) and even a gross dark greenish color after a while.

The metal, or whatever it is, is fine, but discolored and has prevented me from wearing my favorite rings for a long time. Here they are, in a very sad condition:

(A close up of the damage on the back of my heart ring)

(See how rusty it looks? Especially on the lower swirls on the side and the dark metal beneath that. Ugh.)

(This one's harder to see, but the tips of everything and the top rim of the heart are coppery-looking too.)

(This is the worst one. Yuk, you can't even tell what it used to look like.)

I actually purchased a bottle of Liquid Silver Plating formula from Medallion Care to try to re-plate the damaged areas on these rings, only to discover that these rings aren't made of any of the metals the liquid solution is supposed to bond with. :( So I'm thinking of buying a Silver Leaf Paint Pen (a pen that paints a metallic silver paint, with actual silver in it, onto any material) to repair them instead. Wish me luck!