I went to Agra in India to visit the Taj Mahal a few years ago. While I was there I visited a showroom called Marble Cottage where the same techniques used to decorate the Taj Mahal with semi precious stones are used to decorate table tops and various ornaments. I bought the little box shown in the picture, its inlaid with Carnelian, Malachite, Agate, Lapis, Turquoise and Mother of Pearl (it may only be tiny compared to the table tops etc shown in the pictures but my goodness it was certainly expensive enough, some of the larger pieces run to thousands of dollars and took months to create). I love it anyway, it always feels AMAZING to hold :D I didnt take any video of the workmen, only still photos - which dont really show the skill involved. The marble is first painted over with a red clay slip (slush) and allowed to dry. The pattern is marked out and then carved out. Thin pieces of semi precious stones are then shaped using hand driven stone grainding machines (some of the pieces shaped are ony millimetres wide - the skill is incredible). The carved pieces are then glued into the carved out pattern and allowed to dry. Finally the whole piece is washed and polished. Today I found this video online that shows how it is all done. Dont get upset that there are children shown working, these children are being trained to become skilled workmen - something that will enable them to sustain families and children as they grow. https://youtube/watch?v=_y-ZmD_z6oU
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 14:53:17 +0000
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