Kundan Meenakari Jewellery - Jaipur
The tools that are used for making kundan meenakari jewellery are:
• Gold: Gold is a precious transition metal, which is the least reactive chemical element. It is yellow-brown in color that is used for jewelleries and also one of the most valuable metal all over the world.
• Diamond: A precious stone used for decorative purpose, mainly in ornaments. It is one of the most valued gemstone. Extremely hard crystalline form of carbon that is usually colorless.
• Silver: A precious shiny white metal used for jewellery making. Used as a thin film to hold the diamond in place.
• Lac: A natural resin secreted by the lac insect, used for making varnish and also used for making jewelleries.
• Enamel: A glossy substance applied on the surface of metal for the decorative purpose. It is mainly used for coloring in meenakari jewels.
• Kiln: An oven or a furnace used for baking.
• Metal Mesh: While firing the glass in the kiln, mesh is kept under the glass.
• Coal: It is a natural mineral consisting of fossil fuel. It is either in dark brown or black in color, which is highly flammable and it used in furnace for baking and setting the gold foil on-to the diamond.
• Mortar or Pestal: This is used for powdering the glass to fill it into the kundan. Once this powdered glass is heated, it takes the shape of the jewellery with a shiny effect.
• Plato Snip Shears: This is used for cutting the thin golden strips to form skeleton framework of the jewellery.
• Takala: Needle like tool used for applying the color.
• Salai: It is used in the process of etching.
• Tweezers: Tweezers are used for holding the diamond bits and they are also used in bending the golden strips to desired shape.
• Rolling Mill: This machine is used for making the thin gold strips from the hard golden substance.
• Flame Torch: It is used in soldering the golden skeletal framework.
• Equaling Needle File: These needle files are used to shape the tiny metal bits used in jewellery making.
• Hammer: This tool is used in hammering the solid gold form into thin gold strip.
• MM Slide Gauge: It is a substitute of scale that helps in measuring the small parts of the jewellery.
• Pin Vise: Pin vise is used in twisting or bending the silver film while fixing the diamond to it.
• Prong Pusher: This is the tool that is used while setting the diamond in the proper position.
• Pen - Pencil: It is used for drawing the design on the gold foil in making the meenakari jewellery work.
