KUNDAN

MEENA

JEWELLERY

By: N

eeru

Jai

n

Kundan jewellery is one of the oldest forms of jewellery which

is made in one of the purest form of gold that is 24 carat gold.Kundan is a traditional Indian gemstone jewelry, a method of gem setting in a

jewellery piece, consisting of inserting gold foil between the stones and it’s mount, usually

used to create elaborate necklaces believed to have originate in royal courts of

Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is the oldest form of jewellery made and worn in India. Traditional kundan jewellery has stones encrusted on one side and

colourful and intricate meenakari on the reverse. This was done to enhance the look of

the piece. Kundan jewellery received great patronage during

the mugal era and the most beautiful pieces were created in

those times.

KUNDAN

MEENA

JEWELLERY

Jadau Jewellery is one of the most oldest form of jewellery known in India.

Jadau Jewellery is also the only jewellery which is totally Handmade and Handcrafted by old craftsmen of India.

The integrated designs in Jadau Jewellery are all inspired from nature, like flowers, leaves, birds etc…

Jadau jewellery uses the purest form of Gold Foil in its setting, i.e 24ct Gold, known as Kundan.

Jadau Jewellery first came into existance with the mughals in India.

First the gold is beaten to make it soft and then it is passed through a machine which is still being run by humans, i.e no electricity or other power used in running the machine.

The machine runs by one man rotating its wheel, as a result the rollers in the center of the machine start moving, this is where the actual process starts.

The beaten soft 22ct Gold is passed through the machine to make a flat sheet out of it(known as patraa in hindi).

Then the obtained sheet is pressed and compressed again and again till the person gets the desired thickness and wideness of the sheet.

After the gold sheet(patra) has been prepared, the next step comes to shape the frame of the Jewellery.

Now it has to be decided that what has to be made?A pendent, Earrings, Necklace….After deciding what to make then shape is given to

the gold sheet and then shapes are being made by bending and streching the the gold sheet, by hand and twissers.

All the shapes used in Jadau Jewellery are being prepared by hand like leafs, flowers, birds etc.

Thus these shaped designs are known as side walls of the pendant(jae in hindi)

The next step to making Jadau Jewellery is to getting all things together, i.e. when the base gold sheet (patra), is ready, side walls (jae) are ready in desired design, they now have to be soldered all together to get a shape of a Jewellery.

With the help of gold only, gold sheet is soldered with side walls by giving heat to it with same old traditional methods of blowing fire by a bended pipe from the lighter.

After soldering is been done now cleaning is being done.

The cleaning of the Gold Base been made is done by selective chemicals to remove the blackness happened due to soldering.

Thus after cleaning with chemical, it is being washed by water and left to dry.

A single piece of Kundan jewelry is done by different artisans. The chiterias do the work of basic designing of the jewelry, engraving work is carried out be ghaarias, the enameling work is done be the enameler, the goldsmith looks after the gold or kundan work and finally stone setters do work of just setting the precious stone in the holes of the jewelry. Different precious stones which can be incorporated in kundan jewelry comprise of agate, garnet, emerald, topaz, amethyst, jade, rock crystal, spinel, uncut diamonds, sapphires etc.

After Base is being made ready with 22Ct. Gold, it is now given to the setter( Jadiya in hindi), to set the stones

For setting stones first step is to fill the base with Laakh,

Laakh is heated to the temperature till it comes in semi liquid form, then poured into the base, thus now laakh is left to set in the base when it cool downs.

Now stones which are to be setted in the Jewellery are being prepared respectively.

Diamonds are prepared with fixing silver foil behind them, as the diamonds used in Jadau Jewellery are flat diamonds(uncut diamonds, (also knowan as Polki diamonds)).

The silver foil been fixed behind diamond is known as Daank in hindi, the daank gives the Diamond a extra sheer and shine. Which compliments the jewellery when it is ready.

Similarly all the other colour stones being used are fixed with using colour foil behind them to give them extra sheer and shine.

JADAINow stones are fixed on laakh filled base

with applying some heat on top of the stone with a burnt coal being applied.

After the stones get a bit of grip then the turn comes of Kundan (24 Ct. Gold foil).

The kundan is now fixed on sides of stones with the help of small pen like iron sticks (known as Salaai in hindi)

Kundan is being inserted into the sides of stones until it achieves a strong hold and looks strong.

After Kundan being fully inserted into sides, now the turn comes of making the kundan look neat by scrapping it from sides.(known as chilai in hindi).

The scrapping can be simple like plain borders or also can be very intregated with motives of flowers and birds on it.

After all this is done the Jadai process is now complete.

Thus now we have our Jadau Jewellery ready in our hand after a long handwork efforts of different people.

KUNDAN MEENA JEWELLRY FROM JAIPUR

Kundan and jadau jewellery forms which incorporate the open cutting of gems into 24 carat gold settings are exquisitely crafted by jaipur’s jewellers into a range of old style necklaces, rings and earrings.Enamelling or minakari work involves a laborious process wherein the piece is fixed on a stick of lacquer and delicate floral designs engraved on it.

Part of the mugal jewellery heritage the kundan craft has uncut stones set in open lacy work. The hollows in which the stones are set are filled with pure gold. In jadau the techniques of both kundan and enamelling are combined so that a piece of jewellery has equally beautiful surfaces; kundan set in gems in front and exquisite enamel work on the reverse.

Priceless kundan jewellery is handcrafted in Jaipur wheras the best jadau work is done both in Jaipur and in Varanasi.

MEENAKARI

Enameling is the art of colorings or decorating a metal surface by attaching or fusing pieces of different mineral substances, over it. Enameling is considered the most alluring and technical of all metal decorations. In the past enameling

was only done on gold, but presently it is done other metals like silver, copper etc The art of decorating metal with technique of Meenakari requires a high degree of skill and application. The piece of metal on which meenakari is to be done is

fixed on a lac stick. Delicate designs of flowers, birds, fish etc are etched or engraved on it. This leads to the creation of walls or grooves, to hold color.

Enamel dust of required color is then poured into the grooves and each color is fired individually. The heat of the furnace melts the color and the coloured liquid

gets spread equally into the groove.

This process is repeated with each colour.As each color is individually fired, colors, which are most heat resistant, are

applied first, as they are re-fired with each additional color. As a rule, white is the first color applied, and red the last.After

the last color has been fired, the object is cooled and burnished or polished with agate. The depth of the grooves filled with different colors determines the play of light.Both

Silver and Gold can be used as a base for meenakari. A limited number of colors, like gold, blue, green and yellow, stick to silver, whereas all available colors can be applied to gold,

making it the preferred medium of enamellers. The meenakar often works with a team of craftsmen. As meenakari is

generally done on the reverse side of kundan jewellery, the meenakar has to work with the goldsmith, the engraver or

ghaaria, the designer or chitteria and jadiya who applies the gems on the kundan or gold. The finished produced is a

marvel of the expertise of these different craftsmen and their techniques.Jaipur is the main center of meenakari..

The Enamellings Process itself needs an entire team of specialist to all pool in their various skills. First, the designer selects a design as per the client's requirements and passes it to the goldsmith. The Goldsmith creates the gold stencil and gives it back to the designer who outlines the pattern on the gold surface and burnishes it, to make it stand out. Now the engraver comes into the picture. His is the job which requires maximum skill and precision. Champlevé - is a technique used by the engraver to lower those areas of the metal that will take the enamel by carving them out. These lowered surfaces are hatched with fine parallel lines to enable thorough fusion between color and metal, to add to the visual delight as the hatchings enhance the play of light over the transparent colors. The Meenakar or enameller is the next in line. He fills in the enamel colors in the lowered surfaces, thereby evening the surface and fusing it to the gold with repeated firings. Since the enamels are of varying hardness and thus require different temperatures for fusing, they must be fired separately - that from hardest highest temperature to softest lowest temperature. Cooling is as important as heating: a flow at this stage could crack the enamel or render it undesirably opaque.The usual color sequence begins with white and runs through blue, green, black and yellow before reaching red, rich ruby the signature color of Jaipur enameling. It achieves an unmatched brilliance and clarity. "The purer the gold, the richer the color," goes an old saying, and the red Meena of Jaipur is applied only to a high karat gold.Once the enameling has been completed the surfaces must be polished. The kundan setter then asks the Patua or stringer, to thread the pieces with strings and make them a ready-to-wear stunning piece of art!

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