Bali Silver
Bali is a small island in the string of islands that make up Indonesia. From the air, it looks like a tropical fish. It has been voted the most enchanting travel and holiday destination in the world due to the wide variety of attractions, the physical beauty of the island, and the year-round comfortable climate. Bali is also known for its highly developed arts including dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalwork, and music.
In Bali, certain communities specialize in the art of metalwork that dates back thousands of years. The techniques get passed down through succeeding generations. Although the Balinese have traditionally worn gold jewelry, in the 1970’s they began to make silver beads for export. Extremely reasonable prices assured their success and quickly gave them a global reputation for intricate designs in granulation and wire work, hence, the name Bali silver!
Working with silver is an extremely labor-intensive process. It requires tremendous skill and a large amount of patience. An unsteady hand can ruin a design instantly. A moment too long under the torch can cause an intricate pattern to crumble. The artisans who create Bali silver use very simple tools, but with them achieve works of art. They begin with pellets of pure silver that are mined in Indonesia. The silver is mixed with a small amount of borax to help the metals melt when heated with a torch and to burn off impurities. A small amount of copper is added to make the silver stronger. The result is 92.5% pure silver or “sterling silver.”
Liquified silver is poured into molds to create sheets or wire. Square molds are used to make sheets and round molds are used to make wire. After the molds solidify, the artisans feed the square blocks through progressively thinner slits in the same machine, continually adjusting the rollers, until they have acheived thin sheets of silver called plate. The round bars are fed through progressively smaller ridges in a rolling machine (similar to a pasta maker) and then pulled by hand through round holes in a metal stencil.
Once the silver is made into plate and wire, it is cut into various shapes and sizes and used to form beads. Some designs are created by cutting holes in metal plate (with a tool called a plong), soldering wires, and applying granulation. Other designs are made by placing silver plate between metal caps (pronounced “chops”) that come in male and female halves to mold the silver as it is sandwiched between them and hammered. To make filigree designs, artisans solder wire together in iron bowls. The curve of the bowl determines the curve of the finished piece. To hold the design together, they use a paste made from red beans called sego telik.
After Bali silver beads are formed, they are cleaned with insides of a tamarind fruit, and dipped in another solution which turns them black. The beads are then polished leaving the deep grooves filled with dark color (called antiquing) and the high points shiny. The number of designs created using this method is staggering. Literally thousands of Bali silver bead designs exist. I have chosen a few to use in my designs at Beaded Royalty and have shown them below.
