Authentic Making Process
Crafting traditional tribal brass jewellery and beadwork involves high-temperature non-ferrous metallurgy and meticulous chasing techniques:
1. Scrap Metal Formulation & Pit Hearth Melting:
Artisans collect scrap bell metal (Kansa, an alloy of 78% copper and 22% tin), brass, and copper. The metals are charged into graphite or refractory clay crucibles and placed into an in-ground pit furnace fueled by hardwood charcoal, brought to over 1000°C using manual foot-operated leather bellows.
2. Ingot Casting & Manual Anvil Forging:
The molten alloy is poured into open sand trenches to form solid metal ingots. While glowing red-hot, the metal is gripped with forged iron tongs and hammered vigorously on steel anvils by two smiths with heavy sledgehammers, flattening the ingot into dense sheets or drawing it out into thick circular rods.
3. Thermal Annealing Cycles (Agni Shodhan):
Cold hammering causes non-ferrous alloys to work-harden and become brittle. To restore ductility, the artisan subjects the metal to repeated annealing cycles—heating it to cherry-red heat in the furnace and rapidly quenching it in cold water. This recrystallizes the metal grain, allowing radical bending without cracking.
4. Chasing, Punching & Filigree Stamping (Kandai):
For decorated collar bands like the Hansuli, the forged metal blank is embedded firmly into a warm pitch block (Chapra, a mixture of tree resin, mustard oil, and brick dust) that provides solid yet yielding backing support. Using hardened steel chisels, punch dies, and texturing stamps, the artisan carves intricate chevrons, diamond hatching, and solar spirals with crisp mallet taps.
5. Tube Bending, Seaming & Brazing:
For hollow anklets (Painri), thin brass sheet is curved around iron mandrels into circular hollow tubes. Small cast bronze pellets are inserted into the hollow cavity before sealing. The seam is brazed permanently using borax flux and copper-zinc brazing solder over a focused charcoal blowpipe flame.
6. Lost-Wax Brass Bead Casting & Seed Stringing:
Miniature fluted beads, spacer discs, and deity amulets are cast using the lost-wax technique. The cast beads are cleaned, drilled, and strung together with dried Gunja seeds, hand-rolled terracotta beads, and braided waxed cotton cords using heavy steel bodkins.
7. Sour Tamarind Acid Pickling & Sand Buffing:
Finished jewelry pieces are boiled in a natural acidic solution of sour tamarind pulp and salt water to strip away firescale and oxidation residues. The metal is scrubbed vigorously with fine river sand and soapnut (Reetha) lather, dried in the sun, and buffed with cloth pads to reveal an authentic, warm golden-antique tribal finish.