SILVER WORK

SILVER WORK  

The silverwork of Churu and Sardarshahar comprises of artistically made table-top accessories and many other products. e.g. photo-frames, mirror-frames, jewelry boxes, bowls, ashtrays techniques like repoussage and stamping are most prevalent in these areas.

AREA: 

The place Churu is named after the headquarters (which is said to have been founded by and named after a jat called Churu in about 1620 AD) and is bounded by Ganganagar district, on the east by Sikar and Jhunjhunu districts and Hissar district, on the south by Nagaur district, and on the west by Bikaner . Churu is well connected with these districts, by railway and road. There are many Rajasthan state government buses as well as private buses running between these towns. Even jeeps are a popular means of transport.

LOCATION
Churu is situated in the middle portion of the northeast of Rajasthan between 27°24” to 29°00” latitude and 73°40” to 75°41” longitude.

CLIMATE
The district has dry desert climate with large variation in temperatures, and has a scanty rainfall. The winter season is from November to March and is followed by the summer from April to June.

RELIGION AND CUSTOM
The craftsmen are Hindus by religion and Jangirs are carpenters (Badhai) by caste. They worship the Hindu gods and goddess like Vishwakarma, Rama, Krishna, Durga, Kali and Laxmi.

FESTIVALS
The craftsperson celebrate all the Hindu festivals like Diwali, Holi, Ram Navmi and Teej.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Caste system and male supremacy are the major factors influencing their family. They marry within their own caste i.e. a Jangir to another Jangir. Only the men in the house practiced the craft. They study as much and as long as they wish to. The men marry between the age of 20–25 years.The women do the household work. Their education is discontinued once they complete the 8th-10th standard, and they are married between the age of 16-18 years.

THE CRAFT

The craft of silver work is being practiced at Sardarshahar for the last 200 years oriented towards the export market of India.


THE CRAFTSMEN
The craftsmen belonged to the community of Jangir or Suthars. They initially were the ones who worked as carpenters but their ancestors migrated from their profession to this profession of silver-work,because of more profit and less of manual work.The craftsmen work in their own factories where they produce products in bulk on order.

WAY OF LIFE
The craftsmen work at their own will. There are no fixed timings of their work; it depends on the order they get. So there is no time constraint. The number of products is the emphasis, rather than the number of hour of work. They were busy most of the time working in the work place, rest of the time they devoted to domestic duties. Even the boys of the family assist in their work and very often help in extending family business.

BELIEFS, RITUALS AND FESTIVALS
Diwali, Holi, Lohri and Vishwakarma Jayanti were their main festivals. They practice all Hindu rituals and beliefs. Girls are married at an early age of 14-17 years.

EDUCATION
Most of the craftsmen did their schooling till 8th to 10th standard and left their studies. They join their family business at an early age.

INCOME
The income of the craftsmen depended on the order they get. The price varies from Rs. 50 to Rs. 10000 per piece. For heavier pieces workmanship is weight wise, as for the smaller pieces the workmanship is work-wise i.e. the number of hours. The biggest piece that they made was a silver backrest of a chair worth Rs. 10000 and it took them six days
to finish this work.

ASPIRATIONS
They want to make more money and expand their horizon, with context to facilities and luxuries.

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
They have concrete houses, which consists of the work place and small factory equipped with all the jewelry making machines. They have no showrooms to display or sell their products.

RAW MATERIALS

Dies

SILVER AND LAC
The ordering party gives the silver, the quantity depends on the design and the size of the product to be made. Lac is made by craftsmen, it constitutes of red Mitti, mustard oil, Beija (resin that looks like turmeric).

TOOLS

The tools are pliers, cutters, saw, files, punches, hammers, dies etc. They make most of the tools themselves.









REPOUSSAGE

In Churu and Sardarshahar silver work mainly involves the craft of Repoussage. Repoussage is a method of exploiting the plasticity of a metal -sheet in order to shape it with punches and hammers etc to form a relief.









PROCESS
The metal to be worked upon is cut a little larger than the final dimensions needed. The silver block is first made into a sheet form according to the required thickness (gauge). For this it is passed through the rolling mill after the annealing of the silver. Then it is cut according to the required measurement. The Lac is melted and arranged on the wooden block
on which the silver has to be worked upon. Then silver is pressed on to the Lac and a small amount of Lac is pressed over the edges to hold the silver piece in place. Care is taken that Lac does not fall over the surface which has to be worked upon. Now the molten Lac is allowed to solidify at the room temperature.

TRANSFERRING THE DESIGN
For tracing the design on to the silver it has to be traced by using one sided carbon paper or the photocopy of the original design (Khaka) - which is stuck on to the silver and then worked upon accordingly. The work is done directly on the front side with a tracer punch in conjunction with a chasing hammer. While doing repoussage or chasing, the
tools are held in the left hand between the thumb and the four fingers. The side of the hand and the ladyfinger is rested on the metal to give leverage which makes the tool remain steady. The hammer is held in the right hand and the wrist action, light rhythmic, rapid blows are applied on the punch. The punch leans slightly away from the craftsman. The work should not move in jerks which would give/create distinct lines. Lac holding the metal is removed by heating the Lac which, on melting leaves the metal. The rest of the Lac stuck to the metal is removed by rubbing it with turpentine cloth, and by heating. The finished repoussed and chased forms are cut off by using chisels, cutters etc. The edges are filed and then the cleaning in done by picking the piece. The other parts are joined/soldered to the piece and the products are finished.

STAMPING
Stamping is done by using die-stamping machines. Dies are used for making products. Die has a positive and a negative side. Both are attached to the machine work end and the silver piece is kept between them. By rotating the handle the positive end is forced on the negative end hence resulting in formation of the desired form and shape.

PRODUCTS

Photo-frames, cups, plates, spoons, boxes for jewellery, ash-tray, decorative products, Payals, mirror stand and all sorts of vessels. The work done on them was repoussage work and maximum work was done by the machines.

MOTIFS

It seems that florals and animals is an all time favourite. A few designs consists of architecture which is again combined with floral and animal motif.
And last but not the least are the geometric patterns. There has been not variations in the design for the past four generations.There has been variation in terms of the technique i.e. machines are used now to make the same product which were earlier handcrafted.

MARKET
Customers are the exporters who sell these products outside India or even in the different cities of India. Main mode of transporting these products is by
trucks or by the client’s own vehicles. They do not have any showrooms where they can do direct selling to the customers.







PRICE

Price range depends on the weight of the piece and the time taken to make the product. The bigger pieces are paid according to the weight and the smaller once are paid by the work-time. Fluctuation
in the silver rate also affects the price of the products.






PACKAGING

First the products are packed using paper and plastic sheets individually to prevent any kind of damage. Then they are put in wooden boxes and
sent to the customer.