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  Kundan jewellery is one of the oldest forms
of jewellery which is made in one of the
purest form of gold that is 24 carat
gold.Kundan is a traditional Indian
gemstone jewelry, a method of gem setting
in a jewellery piece, consisting of inserting
gold foil between the stones and it’s
mount, usually used to create elaborate
necklaces believed to have originate in
royal courts of Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is
the oldest form of jewellery made and
worn in India. Traditional kundan jewellery
has stones encrusted on one side and
colourful and intricate meenakari on the
reverse. This was done to enhance the look
of the piece. Kundan jewellery received
great patronage during the mugal era and
the most beautiful pieces were created in
those times.

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Jadau Jewellery is one of the most oldest form of
jewellery known in India.
Jadau Jewellery is also the only jewellery which is totally
Handmade and Handcrafted by old craftsmen of India.
The integrated designs in Jadau Jewellery are all inspired
from nature, like flowers, leaves, birds etc…
Jadau jewellery uses the purest form of Gold Foil in its
setting, i.e 24ct Gold, known as Kundan.
Jadau Jewellery first came into existance with the
mughals in India.
First the gold is beaten to make it soft and then it is
passed through a machine which is still being run
by humans, i.e no electricity or other power used in
running the machine.
The machine runs by one man rotating its wheel, as
a result the rollers in the center of the machine
start moving, this is where the actual process
starts.
The beaten soft 22ct Gold is passed through the
machine to make a flat sheet out of it(known as
patraa in hindi).
Then the obtained sheet is pressed and
compressed again and again till the person
gets the desired thickness and wideness of
the sheet.
After the gold sheet(patra) has been prepared, the next
step comes to shape the frame of the Jewellery.
Now it has to be decided that what has to be made?
A pendent, Earrings, Necklace….
After deciding what to make then shape is given to the
gold sheet and then shapes are being made by bending
and streching the the gold sheet, by hand and twissers.
All the shapes used in Jadau Jewellery are being prepared
by hand like leafs, flowers, birds etc.
Thus these shaped designs are known as side walls of the
pendant(jae in hindi)
The next step to making Jadau Jewellery is to
getting all things together, i.e. when the base
gold sheet (patra), is ready, side walls (jae)
are ready in desired design, they now have to
be soldered all together to get a shape of a
Jewellery.
With the help of gold only, gold sheet is
soldered with side walls by giving heat to it
with same old traditional methods of blowing
fire by a bended pipe from the lighter.
After soldering is been done now cleaning is
being done.
The cleaning of the Gold Base been made is
done by selective chemicals to remove the
blackness happened due to soldering.
Thus after cleaning with chemical, it is being
washed by water and left to dry.
A single piece of Kundan
jewelry is done by different
artisans. The chiterias do the
work of basic designing of the
jewelry, engraving work is
carried out be ghaarias, the
enameling work is done be the
enameler, the goldsmith looks
after the gold or kundan work
and finally stone setters do
work of just setting the
precious stone in the holes of
the jewelry. Different precious
stones which can be
incorporated in kundan jewelry
comprise of agate, garnet,
emerald, topaz, amethyst, jade,
rock crystal, spinel, uncut
diamonds, sapphires etc.
After Base is being made ready with 22Ct.
Gold, it is now given to the setter( Jadiya in
hindi), to set the stones
For setting stones first step is to fill the base
with Laakh,
Laakh is heated to the temperature till it
comes in semi liquid form, then poured into
the base, thus now laakh is left to set in the
base when it cool downs.
Now stones which are to be setted in the
Jewellery are being prepared respectively.
Diamonds are prepared with fixing silver foil
behind them, as the diamonds used in Jadau
Jewellery are flat diamonds(uncut diamonds,
(also knowan as Polki diamonds)).
The silver foil been fixed behind diamond is
known as Daank in hindi, the daank gives the
Diamond a extra sheer and shine. Which
compliments the jewellery when it is ready.
Similarly all the other colour stones being
used are fixed with using colour foil behind
them to give them extra sheer and shine.
JADAI
Now stones are fixed on laakh filled base
with applying some heat on top of the stone
with a burnt coal being applied.
After the stones get a bit of grip then the
turn comes of Kundan (24 Ct. Gold foil).
The kundan is now fixed on sides of stones
with the help of small pen like iron sticks
(known as Salaai in hindi)
Kundan is being inserted into the sides of
stones until it achieves a strong hold and
looks strong.
After Kundan being fully inserted into sides, now the turn
comes of making the kundan look neat by scrapping it from
sides.(known as chilai in hindi).
The scrapping can be simple like plain borders or also can be
very intregated with motives of flowers and birds on it.
After all this is done the Jadai process is now complete.
Thus now we have our Jadau Jewellery ready in our hand
after a long handwork efforts of different people.
KUNDAN MEENA JEWELLRY
FROM JAIPUR
 Kundan and jadau jewellery forms which incorporate the open cutting
of gems into 24 carat gold settings are exquisitely crafted by jaipur’s
jewellers into a range of old style necklaces, rings and
earrings.Enamelling or minakari work involves a laborious process
wherein the piece is fixed on a stick of lacquer and delicate floral
designs engraved on it.
 Part of the mugal jewellery heritage the kundan craft has uncut stones
set in open lacy work. The hollows in which the stones are set are
filled with pure gold. In jadau the techniques of both kundan and
enamelling are combined so that a piece of jewellery has equally
beautiful surfaces; kundan set in gems in front and exquisite enamel
work on the reverse.
 Priceless kundan jewellery is handcrafted in Jaipur wheras the best
jadau work is done both in Jaipur and in Varanasi.
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 Enameling is the art of colorings or decorating a metal surface by attaching or

fusing pieces of different mineral substances, over it. Enameling is considered the
most alluring and technical of all metal decorations. In the past enameling was
only done on gold, but presently it is done other metals like silver, copper etc The
art of decorating metal with technique of Meenakari requires a high degree of
skill and application. The piece of metal on which meenakari is to be done is fixed
on a lac stick. Delicate designs of flowers, birds, fish etc are etched or engraved on
it. This leads to the creation of walls or grooves, to hold color. Enamel dust of
required color is then poured into the grooves and each color is fired individually.
The heat of the furnace melts the color and the coloured liquid gets spread equally
into the groove.
 This process is repeated with each colour.As each color is individually
fired, colors, which are most heat resistant, are applied first, as they
are re-fired with each additional color. As a rule, white is the first color
applied, and red the last.After the last color has been fired, the object
is cooled and burnished or polished with agate. The depth of the
grooves filled with different colors determines the play of light.Both
Silver and Gold can be used as a base for meenakari. A limited number
of colors, like gold, blue, green and yellow, stick to silver, whereas all
available colors can be applied to gold, making it the preferred
medium of enamellers. The meenakar often works with a team of
craftsmen. As meenakari is generally done on the reverse side of
kundan jewellery, the meenakar has to work with the goldsmith, the
engraver or ghaaria, the designer or chitteria and jadiya who applies
the gems on the kundan or gold. The finished produced is a marvel of
the expertise of these different craftsmen and their techniques.Jaipur
is the main center of meenakari..
The Enamellings Process itself needs an entire team of specialist to all pool in
their various skills. First, the designer selects a design as per the client's
requirements and passes it to the goldsmith. The Goldsmith creates the gold
stencil and gives it back to the designer who outlines the pattern on the gold
surface and burnishes it, to make it stand out. Now the engraver comes into the
picture. His is the job which requires maximum skill and precision. Champlevé -
is a technique used by the engraver to lower those areas of the metal that will
take the enamel by carving them out. These lowered surfaces are hatched with
fine parallel lines to enable thorough fusion between color and metal, to add to
the visual delight as the hatchings enhance the play of light over the
transparent colors. The Meenakar or enameller is the next in line. He fills in the
enamel colors in the lowered surfaces, thereby evening the surface and fusing it
to the gold with repeated firings. Since the enamels are of varying hardness
and thus require different temperatures for fusing, they must be fired
separately - that from hardest highest temperature to softest lowest
temperature. Cooling is as important as heating: a flow at this stage could crack
the enamel or render it undesirably opaque.
The usual color sequence begins with white and runs through blue, green, black
and yellow before reaching red, rich ruby the signature color of Jaipur
enameling. It achieves an unmatched brilliance and clarity. "The purer the gold,
the richer the color," goes an old saying, and the red Meena of Jaipur is applied
only to a high karat gold.
Once the enameling has been completed the surfaces must be polished. The
kundan setter then asks the Patua or stringer, to thread the pieces with strings
and make them a ready-to-wear stunning piece of art!
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