Lac Bangles - Jaipur, Rajasthan
Lac craft was initiated in a few villages and were used to decorate homes, over the course of time this craft developed and formed a large scale industry. At present many small organizations practices this craft and each organization has added their own individual creativity to the craft. Lac Bangles are mostly adorned by the women folk of the world. The process of making Lac bangles includes very less technology and hard work and as it needs a very less space it can be set up anywhere in rural areas. The average size of a bangle starts from 2-2, 2-4, 2-6, 2-8, 2-10, 2-12, 2-14, and 2-16. The making of Lac is a tiresome process, which involves a lot of steps to produce the shellacs. Collecting and cultivating the resin produced by the insects send it for refinement and then they are sold in local markets.
The crafts men buy the lac shellacs from the wholesale markets in large quantity. The lac shellacs are melted in a vessel and when it is in a semi molten state the mixture is stirred and attached on the end of a wooden stick. Then the lac attached to the wooden stick is gradually heated with coal that is kept in the coal burner. When the lac starts heating and softening it is pressed against a metal plate (Silla) simultaneously in intervals with a flat wooden tool locally known as Hatta. After the lac is adequately warm and soft, the coloured lac of a desired colour is heated and melted and then it is evenly rubbed along the Lac to achieve the colour. And after applying the colour the craftsmen rolls out the lac till a required length and thickness from the wooden stick with the help of the flat wooden stick, and then the craftsmen cuts out the rolled out lac with scissors. After which the lac is again rolled out in equal length and is cut out from the plain lac stick. Then the craftsman takes one lac coil and slightly heats it to forms a pear shape and keeps it aside, the same process is followed with the other lac coil. Then the both shaped lac coils are placed opposite to each other and both their ends are inserted through each other and subsequently pulled creating a knot that forms a different pattern on the lac. After the knot both the ends are heated over the coal burner and joined with each other and is firmly pressed and the attachment is ensured. Lastly the craftsmen’s inserts the completed Lac bangle into the Wooden Mandrel to give it a proper size and shape. Bangles are gracefully created and finished with utmost attention on each precise detail. Few craftsmen’s keeps their bangle simple while others embellish the bangle in various designs by adding stones, colors etc to the bangles.
