Rajasthan Metal Craft

Throughout time, wrought iron has been used to build ancient structures due to its lower carbon content, which makes it harder and stronger yet easier to weld. Examples of early ironwork date back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia as far back as around 3500 B.C. In India, the history of Rajasthan reveals that the kings and their nobles were patrons of art and craft, with a strong need to decorate their surroundings. Metal Craft started off as embellishments for the royal armour. The craft involves a complex process where the metal rods are heated with a blower until malleable and then bent into the desired shape. As the beauty of the product is dependent on the grace of the curvature given to the rods, this stage of the process is executed by skilled artisans alone. Each decorative element is then individually hammered until they are precisely alike and the components of the product are assembled through welding. The excess metal is ground and then finished with paint and given an antique finish or coated with zinc powder making it look like white metal.