Things people ask

Every listing names its own materials in full, so the answer for the piece you are actually looking at is on its own page. What I will say here is that I buy the best materials I can get, and I do not swap in something cheaper on the quiet because it would not be noticed.

The ear hooks are sterling silver — gold-plated sterling silver where the pair is gold. They are far below the weight at which UK law requires a hallmark, which is 7.78 grams for silver, so they are legitimately exempt. The hallmarking page explains this properly.

It is not plating. A thick layer of real gold is bonded under heat and pressure to a brass core — by the usual standard at least a twentieth of the item’s weight, which is many times what plating lays down. It wears far better and lasts years longer.

Where a piece is gold-filled, the findings come from Cooksongold, the Birmingham bullion dealer, so the stock is traceable and consistent batch to batch. Every listing says plainly which it is: gold-filled, gold-plated and solid gold are three different things at three different prices, and I will not blur them.

The hooks themselves are sterling silver or gold-plated sterling silver, which most people wear comfortably. The small findings above them — jump rings and wire — are plated alloy, and each listing says so. If you react to anything but surgical steel, write to me before ordering rather than after.

In-stock pieces leave within 2–3 working days. Made-to-order pieces take up to 5 working days, since they are strung after you choose. Delivery time is on top — see the delivery page.

Where a piece is one of one, yes — that is the pair you will receive. Where several are made to the same design, yours will be very close but not identical: stone colour, felt dye and the cut of a printed fabric all vary. That is the point of handmade, and it is why nothing here looks machine-stamped.

Sometimes. Felt and fabric pieces can usually be made again, though a printed cotton cut a second time will fall differently, so the flowers will not land in the same places. One-of-a-kind jewellery cannot be remade — those stones were a single parcel and it is finished. Ask, and I will tell you honestly which it is.

Yes. The designer lets you lay out a strand yourself, and for anything beyond it just write to me. Bridal parties and matching sets are very welcome, and worth asking about early.

No, and this is the one exception worth knowing before you order. A birthstone choker strung with your initial, or a strand you laid out yourself in the designer, is made to you and cannot be sold to anyone else. Once it is made, it is yours.

Everything else in the shop can be returned within 14 days. And if a personalised piece arrives faulty, damaged or not what you asked for, that is still mine to put right — personalisation does not change that. The returns page sets it out in full.

Take jewellery off before swimming, bathing and sleeping, and keep it away from perfume, hairspray and hand cream — plating dislikes all three. Store pieces apart so faceted beads cannot scratch softer stones. Felt is spot-clean only and will not survive a machine.

Everything arrives already wrapped well enough to give as it is. Add a note at checkout and I will include a handwritten card, and leave the price out of the parcel.

Some pieces are carried by independent shops around Oxfordshire and beyond — see stockists.

Write to hello@tengology.com. For returns, see the returns page.