Silver jewelry is one type of jewelry that has many fans. We can find various types of silver collections in almost all parts of Indonesia because silver always adored by everyone. Bali, who has known as island of the gods, has one area known for its silver handicraft production, namely Celuk Village, Sukawati Gianyar. People who lived in Celuk not only produce silver as jewelry, but also make it into art-valued crafts and decorations. At first, silver was not allowed to be used arbitrarily by Balinese people. Silver can only be used as jewelry for the royal family, as well as tools for religious ceremonies. The making is also detailed and complicated because it has to be based on certain symbols. Therefore, in ancient times, silver was highly respected. But nowadays, people can freely use silver as jewelry and decoration.
If we look from the manufacturing process, silver handicrafts can be divided into two types, namely, handmade and machinery silver.
This handmade silver craft consists of two types, which are divided into the materials used, namely Filigree and Solid Silver. Filigree silver or Trap silver is a very soft silver thread or wire which is twisted and pressed into a silver plate. This silver thread is used to make silver motifs or decorations. Filigree is not only used for making jewelry, but also for making various miniatures, decorations and other handicrafts. Meanwhile, Solid Silver is a silver plate or sheet of silver. Usually used as the main component for making jewelry and tableware such as trays, plates, bowl and so on.
Machinery silver crafting or made on the basis of machines is a more modern silver-making process. The process of making silver handicrafts with this machine is used for mass production. Although it can produce many items in a relatively short time, the quality of this mass produced silver is not as good as handmade silver. Besides that, the price of the silver machine is very expensive. Necklaces and chain bracelets are kind of silver which made by this machine technique.
WAYS OF MAKING :
- Handmade
- Smelting
Before used as jewelry, pure silver ore must be smelted first with alloys. This step is important in order to make silver jewelry becomes stronger, because the nature of pure silver is flexible, so it needs to be mixed with other hard metals. Silver smelting process produces a type of silver called Sterling silver with a ratio of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% alloy.
- Silver plate and wire manufacturing
After it is smelted and made into bars, the silver then shaped into a plate and become silver wire. This aims to make it easier for silversmith to form silver into jewelry.
- Making Jewelry
After being formed into wires and plates, the silversmith will make the silver into jewelry using certain tools and techniques.
- Brushing
After the making process is done, silver jewelry will be brushed by sandpaper which aims to smoothing the surface of the jewelry so it won’t injure the wearer.
- Washing
When the brushing process is done, the jewelry will be washed to remove the dust that sticks to the sidelines of the jewelry. After it washed out, the jewelry will be machine-dried.
- Rhodium-catalyzed
Dipped the dried jewelry in rhodium liquid to coat the outer surface of the silver in order to make it shinier and doesn’t rust easily.
- Polishing
The silver will be polished with a soft brush to make the silver surface smoother and shinier.
- Machinery
- Designing products with a 3D engine
Silversmith will create the jewelry design and then make jewelry replica by resin. A jewelry replica is made with same scale and detail as the design.
- Making Rubber Mold
The next is, we make a rubber mold based on the jewelry resin replica.
- Wax injection process
Rubber mold then filled with wax and chilled for hours. The frozen wax will form a wax jewelry replica that matches the details of the design.
- Casting Tree Making Process
One by one, the silver wax replicas will be made and resembled to form a casting tree, the number of jewelry we add to casting tree is depend on the size of the casting tube.
- Casting
Put the casting tree into a tube. Then pour it with clay. After the clay in the tube being hardened, the tube will be heated at a certain temperature to melt the wax replica inside. The melted replica leaves a cavity that forms the jewelry. Then, fill the cavity by molten silver, chilled it, and take out the jewelry.
- Brushing
After the making process is done, silver jewelry will be brushed by sandpaper which aims to smoothing the surface of the jewelry so it won’t injure the wearer.
- Washing
After brushing process is done, the jewelry will be washed to remove the dust that sticks to the sidelines of the jewelry. After it washed out, the jewelry will be machine-dried.
- Rhodium-catalyzed
Dipped the dried jewelry in rhodium liquid to coat the outer surface of the silver in order to make it shinier and doesn’t rust easily.
- Polishing
The silver will be polished with a soft brush to make the silver surface smoother and shinier
