Temple Jewellery - Kanyakumari, Tamilnadu
Temple jewellery making is a time-consuming process. Silver stripes are used to make temple jewellery. The first process is the extraction of silver stripes from silver. The silver sheet is cut to the shape of a pendant. Then the silver stripes are curled welded on the surface of precut silver sheet so as to make a floral design forming holes for fixing stones. The silver stripes placed upon the silver sheet are soldered to the sheet by heat. Flux paste is used for soldering.
Once the pendant is ready, the holes formed by the floral design are completely filled by the lacquer. After filling the lacquer, the pendant is placed in the middle of the rice husk fire for the melting process. The reason for filling the lacquer is to fix the stones. Then the edge of the pendant is smoothened by using a chisel. Later the pendant is polished and cleaned in a soap solution. The polishing process is carried out in a machine. Once the polishing of the pendant is done, then the pendant is electroplated in gold by the electrolysis process. The side and back portion of the ornament is electroplated in gold in order to achieve an impressive uniform gold look. Electroplating is the process of coating metal objects with a very thin layer of another metal, typically by applying a direct electric current. This partially dissolves the metals and creates a chemical bond between them. The coating applied by electroplating is usually around 0.0002 inches thick.
Plating is a permanent addition to the surface of the base metal. This means that plating will not be naturally separate. However, the plating can be worn off over months and years of use and wear. The ornamental part is polished and cleaned as thoroughly before the electroplating process starts in a gold plating. Gold plating will look uneven and smudged if the surface is dirty, oily, or damaged.
Once the electroplating process is completed, the ornament is taken for stone fixing. The wooden stick is taken, free at one end, and a flattened surface fixes the other. At the flattened surface end, the lacquer is kept and melted using fire. After thawing, the ornament is set to the wooden stick, and the stone fixing process starts.
Before starting the stone fixing process, the coloured shining paper is fixed on the ornament. After that, the stone is fixed above the coloured paper. Now the stone-studded jewel is ready for applying gold leaf. The delicate leaf is set on the exposed wax between the silver lines and the stones so that the entire exposed wax is sealed with gold leaf. The gold leaf is fixed on the wax with the use of a small preheated “Kathir”. The gold leaf is firmly fixed on the surface, and now the stones are seen in a particular design on the surface. Then the beads are attached to a hook prepared at the edge of the ornament.
