Indian Jewelry

The jewelry of India knows no bounds in its offerings to the modern world. This is because India must be one of the most prolific countries when it comes to making jewelry, whether it be the simple enjoyable ones or the highly delicate ones that are intricate in its designs. There are just many types of Indian jewelry that even the young could find what they want among its offering of beads and shells in interwoven colorful threads. One of the most highly regarded Indian jewelry nowadays is the kundan jewelry. source

Kundan jewelry is made of gold that is highly refined and is known as kundan in India. Indian jewelers also have another meaning of the word. For them, kundan is not only the gold that is made into a jewel but also the type of setting on which they set the precious stones. Kundan jewelry is not made of real solid gold. Its center part is made of lac or a natural resin made from hardened tree sap. The jewelry pieces that makes the whole kundan jewelry, which are usually justified into hollow separate halves, are usually handled by separate jewelers or assistant jewelers for its shaping before they are fitted together through soldering. Holes are then bored into the separate halves of the kundan jewelry, once they are fitted together to make the pattern designed by the jeweler. These holes are where the stones are set. Any engraving is done before the hollows of the kundan jewelry are then inserted with lac. Because the lac could still be seen through the holes in front, the highly refined kundan gold is poured on the setting to cover the lac and only then is the stone pushed right into the still pliable kundan.