TIPS AND TRICKS

by Warren Feld
blog.landofodds.com

Occasional insights into beading, jewelry making, and business…

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What The Heck Is “Bali Silver”?

From time to time certain styles of decoration and certain techniques of metal fabrication tend to get associated with the specific cultures or groups that created them. A long time ago, people of the Hindu faith were expelled from most of the islands of Indonesia and sent to the island of Bali, also a part of Indonesia. The Hindu people represented the artistic and intellectual classes at the time, and they brought with them rich craft and artistic traditions.

Their master silversmiths created a very beautiful and what I would call an overly-decorative style to their pieces. They also frequently relied on their inventive technique in silver fabrication called granulation. They worked in sterling silver. They would take their finished pieces, and either oxidize them, which darkens or blackens the silver, or they would electroplate their pieces in bright karat golds. This is called “vermeil”.

I like to think of Bali Silver as a style, because it has been widely copied and imitated, and all the copies and imitations are labeled Bali Silver, as well. In Bali itself, each piece is handmade. This is called fabrication. Jewelry design and Bead supply companies contract with different silversmiths on the island to come up with unusual designs and thus make their lines special and unique. If left to themselves, the local silversmiths can get sloppy in their work, so it’s important that these companies have some strict and consistent quality monitoring of the work. Without this quality control, the stones pop out of their settings and the decorative elements like granulation pop off as well.

Many countries, most notably India and Turkey, have copied the Bali pieces. But instead of hand-making (fabricating) them, they cast them. In the casting, it’s amazing how well they can reproduce the intricate details. The casting also allows them to keep making the same piece over and over again, so you end up with many beads or findings that look exactly alike – same size, same detailing. No imperfections. This is not true with fabrication, which results in a lot of variability. In the casting process, a lot of silver is lost, so these pieces typically are not “sterling”, that is 92.5% silver, and usually aren’t labeled as such. And of course, anything cast cannot absorb the tremendous forces jewelry components are subjected to when the jewelry moves as worn. So cast pieces tend to crumble and break when confronted with excess force, where fabricated pieces do not.

The Bali Style is copied in all types of metal materials. You will easily find the same bead in sterling silver, pewter, brass and metalized plastic. They all look alike – it’s really hard to tell the differences.