The making(s) of a 'fine' gold chain

My trip to India was a great success.. And what I mean by success is; creating relationships, having fun and working hard. All of which I did and all of which were great.

My work in India is multi-dimensional, while it is stimulating to my creative side, I also produce a lot while I am there. I do buying, I design and I make jewelry with my two teachers.

One of my teachers is Balan and he lives in a remote part of N. Kerala. He is an amazing man with a wonderful family. He is 66 years old and works 12 hours a day hunched over a fire to make beautiful gold jewelry. One of my objectives is to learn from him, but another is to make jewelry with him, pay him fairly for his painstakingly hard work and hopefully help contribute to the well being of his beautiful family.

Here he is making a 20k gold chain from scratch, over a fire, using a blowpipe torch and coconut shells. This is the ancient way of making jewelry, it is a dying art. I have 3 available. Please email me if you are interested in a handmade 20k gold chain. 2) 17" chains and 1) 16" chain


making wire


putting tiny solder chips on the chain before soldering


soldering the chain


polishing and flattening a custom chain we made


beautiful gold chains

Keralan jungle

Whoa.. It's been a while. I just got back to Mysore from a lovely week spent in Kerala working with Balan the goldsmith. He made me 7 beautiful handmade (from scratch) chains. I have already sold 3 of them, but if you are interested. Let me know, I can give you the details and save one for you.

Kerala is a magical land, tropical, hot, laid back. The family I work with is so sweet and kind, they do everything from their home. Balan works outside on his veranda, his wife and two adult daughters work around the home, Granny sits and keeps herself busy playing with all the children who come by. It's quiet, it's a slow paced life, but also very simple. I love it. I love being there and realizing my crazy life in the US is not the only way to be. They eat from their land, cashews, mango, jackfruit, tamarind. They work hard and love each other. It's amazing.

Balan has been teaching me Indian goldsmithing for two years now. I have spent about one month with him over that time learning from him and custom ordering pieces, paying him a fair wage for his hard work. Every day, he works 11 hours making very little money.

Here are some photos from the visit. I will post more in the next few days.

Chains, unfinished, just out of the fire
rings (made in Mysore with Kumar) star ruby
Balan polishing chains with a seed from his tree
me polishing chains with a seed from his tree
me holding a fresh cashew which we smoldering in a fire of palm fronds and then ate..