Step-by-Step Instructions on How to Make Pakistani Jewelry
Pakistan's jewelry industry employs roughly one million Pakistanis, and is prolific enough to make Pakistan the world's seventh largest importer of gold. Famous for large, heavy chokers and wrist-cuffs made of gold with embedded and dangling precious stones, the elaborate nature of Pakistani jewelry makes expert knowledge of design, metalworking and stone-setting necessary if you want to make it. However, a simple costume version can be made with less expensive and easily manipulated materials.
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Things You'll Need
- 1 cup of salt
- 2 cups of flour
- ¾ cup of lukewarm water
- Decorative stones
- Pictures of Pakistani jewelry
- Fishing wire
- Oven
- Jewelry clasps (optional)
- Paint
- Varnish
Instructions
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Look up pictures of Pakistani jewelry for reference. Search for books in your local library, or just type "Pakistani jewelry" into a search engine and save your favorite pictures. Choose a simple design for your first attempt.
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Sketch out what you want to make first. Again, start simple; instead of a choker with a dozen dangling ornaments, start with one of the ornaments, or maybe a pair of earrings, in a basic shape such as a circle or a square. Gather any stones you want to use to decorate your piece.
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Mix the salt, flour and lukewarm water in a bowl to make salt dough. Knead the salt dough until it is pliable enough to form into shapes. Add more flour and salt (two parts flour to one part salt) if the dough is too sticky; add more water if the dough is not pliable.
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Work the dough into whatever shape you've chosen for your jewelry. Press the stones into the dough where you want them, pushing so they make an indentation and stick in place. If you make a mistake, remove the stone, knead the dough back to smoothness, and push the stone back in again. If you want the stones to dangle, poke holes in the dough with the fishing wire where you want the stones to hang from, but don't attach the wire or stones once you've made the holes. You will put them in later.
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Poke holes in the dough where you want to attach the clasp (for a necklace) or hook (for earrings). You can buy jewelry clasps and hooks at any hobby store, or from an online jewelry store if you have no hobby shop nearby. Do not attach them yet.
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Bake your jewelry for one hour at 100 degrees Celsius/212 degrees Fahrenheit in a pan on greaseproof paper. Move the jewelry directly onto the rack, lower the temperature as much as possible, and continue baking for two more hours. Check the dough by tapping it gently with a knife; if it makes a clear sound, the clay is dry. If not, keep baking at the lowest possible temperature for another hour and check again.
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If you are satisfied with the result, paint and varnish your jewelry. Attach any necessary hooks and/or clasps. For dangling stones, push fishing wire through the holes you made, but don't twist the ends of the wire closed yet. Wrap the wire around the stone(s) as you would wrap a package, in an X to hold the stone in place. Twist the wire shut. Trim any excess wire.
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Tips & Warnings
You can dye the salt dough with food coloring before baking instead of painting it, though it's hard to control what shade you'll get through the kneading and baking process.
Instead of stones, you can use whatever you want to decorate your jewelry, such as bits of mirror or beads. Be careful not to use anything that will melt or catch on fire in the oven, though.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
