Unique Jewellery finds - It`s all about Nuts

Yes you guessed it right . This post is about jewellery that`s nutty and off beat and that`s why I call it a unique find .
  In my quest for learning new things , especially about jewellery , ( as lately  that`s what interests me the most  ) I came across a novel material that was made into jewellery . And I had to share it with other enthusiasts ....................so here it is !

Can you guess the material used in this one ?

here  have another look , maybe that will help

Does the shape of beads remind you of something  ? ..........no ..... still no guesses ?

Ok Ok .... I won`t trouble you any  more
.........
here`s the complete story

 A few weeks ago , I came across an interesting craftsman from Haryana , who has been in the family of Master carvers since the last 6 generations. After a mutually satisfactory purchase, I in my usual curiosity asked him a lot of questions and stumbled across this unique material that he has carved into beads .
 This is what Chander Kant Bondwal  the mastercraftsman had to share

 " I come from a family of wood carvers. My family has been in this craft for generations . I specialize in carving animal and floral designs in sandalwood and earlier my ancestors were skilled craftsmen in carving ivory. Each piece I carve takes a week to a few months depending upon the size of the piece and the intricacy of carving.
 But since the ban on ivory and now on sandalwood , I use rosewood for the base material
Some of my pieces are  turned into jewellery and since the scale of the piece does not exceed more than 3 to 5 centimeters , it takes a few weeks to carve each pendant . "

He then proudly showed me the National Award winning necklace set for which he was honoured by the then President of India . I was amazed at the intricacy and even more so when he told me it was made from carved Almond shells .

  Shells of Almonds are carved and the inner almond gently scraped and extracted away carefully without breaking the shell or damaging the carving. And imagine he had to make several attempts and at least twenty such beads , before he got the perfect sizes to make this set !

 I marvelled at his  innovative thinking and at the patience he had in creating this masterpiece !
For , to me , it definately is  a Unique Jewellery Find ! , I came way happy to have met him and to be be inspired by such a wonderful artist . Hope his creativity rubs off a little on me too ...

 He can be contacted at dodibondwal@gmail.com

Do drop in a line about how you found this blog post

bye for now till I return with some more interesting materials that are used in making jewellery.

motidana