Meenakari Work and My Collection

MEENAKARI WORK

This is one thing that I love in any form. Show pieces, jewellery or just plain wall hangings. Coming from a marwadi family, meenakari has always been around me and I do have a few things as a part of my heritage. πŸ™‚ Here are details and some pieces that I own –

What is Meenakari work ?

Enamelling or Meenakari work is the art of colourings or decorating a metal surface by attaching or fusing pieces of different mineral substances, over it. Enamelling is considered the most alluring and technical of all metal decorations. In the past enamelling was only done on gold, but presently it is done other metals like silver, copper etc.The art of decorating metal with enameling or Meenakari was alien to India and was introduced by the Mughals.

The 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 colour is then poured into the grooves and each colour is fired individually. The heat of the furnace melts the colour and the coloured liquid gets spread equally into the groove. This process is repeated with each colour. As each colour is individually fired, colours, which are most heat resistant, are applied first, as they are re-fired with each additional colour. As a rule, white is the first colour applied and red the last. After the last colour has been fired, the object is cooled and burnished or polished with agate. The depth of the grooves filled with different colours determines the play of light. This is the top view of a fruit bowl, I picked from Jaipur for some 700-800 rupees.

meenakari fruit bowl

Both Silver and Gold can be used as a base for meenakari. A limited number of colours, like gold, blue, green and yellow, stick to silver, whereas all available colours 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 centre of meenakari. Traditional Mughal colours like red, green and white, dominate the art of enamelling from Jaipur. The rich, ruby red colour used here is highly sought after. Nathdwara, Bikaner and Udaipur are also famous for their silver meenakari. Pratapgarh is known for glass enamelling. Delhi and Banars are also important centres for meenakari.

Meenakari In Crafts
Usually meenakri work is used in crafts with brass and copper as base. You will come across things like bells, trays and fruit baskets with colourful meena ka kaam on it.

Meenakari in Jewellery
This is the actual purpose of meenakari work. Usually it’s done on the underside of kundan jewellery to make it long lasting and also so that it can be used two ways. Apart from that, you will also come across individual mina pieces. The best part is that these can be made to order. You select the pattern and the colour combination and it can be done.

For example, I got a gold hair pin ( Jomol, please pay attention :toothygrin: ) done as per my requirements. It is gold with meenakri work on it. Love the orange blue green combo.

meenakari hair pin

We all have seen how popular meenakai jhumkas are . Almost everyone seems to have one and it has been highly popular in movies as well. Think Jodha Akbar.Most of the jewellery was meena and kundan.
Some of the gold and meena jewellery I have. (Jomol, everytime I type gold I think of you πŸ˜€ )

If I could I would flaunt my entire collection, but I am an angel and I don’t want you to go green so I will restrict to three πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€

meenakari bangles

meenakari pendant

 

meenakari earings
You see how colourful it is, the main reason I love it.
Meenakari, although is very sturdy and great for daily use, needs it own share of maintenance and all. Keep these in mind.

1. Gold based meenakari – you can wear and forget about. Great for daily wear. Although the meena loses shine over the years its okay since you can get the meena changed. Like in the above picture, the four bangles were of the same pattern. I got two changed to another design .

2. Silver Based Meenakari – It is a little tricky maintaining this because silver tends to lose shine and the entire piece starts looking old. While cleaning the silver be gentle and don’t use harsh stuff for silver, because ultimately meena will also be affected.

3. Meenakari Crafts – Usually these have brass and copper as base. Use cleaners available for these purposes specifically, like Brasso or Min Cream. Don’t expect it to last beyond three four years. They will lose their shine and nothing can be done about it.

So tell us how do you like your meenakari, and what all you plan to buy . πŸ™‚

IMBB RECOMMENDS

47 thoughts on “Meenakari Work and My Collection

  1. Hawwwww!!!!! Naina’s flaunting so much!!! And still you say: “If I could I would flaunt my entire collection, but I am an angel and I don’t want you to go green so I will restrict to three”….!!!!!

    Hawwwww!!!!! :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank:

  2. I dont have any meenakari gold me wanttttttttttttttttt.. :green: :green: :green: :green: :green: :green: :green: :green: :green: :green: :green: :green: :green:

  3. naina… :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank:
    me 2 have minakari pendant and earring set….will do a flaut post soonnnnnnnnnn :tongue: :tongue: :tongue: :tongue: :tongue:

  4. Hey Naina….love your collection. :inlove:
    My bua ka ladka does all this meenakari work in his shop :))
    I but lots of silver meenakari ornaments from his shop in Ahmedabad. :zombiekiller:

  5. I dont ahve a single meenakarii thing Niana.. i wnattttt :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: the hair pin… so prettyyy :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot:

    1. nooooo .. i don want MAC .. me very happy … paise bach jate hain πŸ˜› πŸ˜› πŸ˜› πŸ˜›
      me upset about F21, Aldo, CK and all πŸ˜› πŸ˜› πŸ˜› πŸ˜›

  6. Hey Naina,

    Titan Raga collection had enamelled watched they are sooooooooo pretty πŸ˜€

    I loved the fruit bowl :inlove:

    1. yesss….. i loved one particular white n pink .. some lotus design and all .. but they get lost on my mard type wrists .. so me happy with my big dials only πŸ˜› πŸ˜› πŸ˜› πŸ˜›

  7. nice collection πŸ™‚

    l’ll out of context naina just wanted you know if Veg peel pack you had reviewed…gave you any burning sensation for 1st few mins after application ? i just bought it and on application for 1st 1 mins or so it gave me a tingling burning sensation and cooled afterwards but didnt show any redness on removal .. it is normal ?

    1. not actually burn .. but the garnules are a lil harsh naa .. so they irriated me for sometime .. is perfectly normal .. haann .. i had a lil burning around my nose but then it went away ..
      btw, how you liking it ?? koi difference first use ke baad .. ??

      1. not much l’ll whitishness ..infact i got scared of using it.. would use again after a few days and let you know .. seems nice as of now πŸ™‚

  8. GOLDDDDD HAIR PAIN :hunterwali: :hunterwali: :hunterwali: :hunterwali: :hunterwali: :hunterwali: :hunterwali: :hunterwali: :hunterwali: Naina….and you say I am a gold hoarder………… :hunterwali: :hunterwali: :hunterwali: :hunterwali:

    1. hehehhee .. no actually , one panditiji said that i shud wear gold on my head , like shubh and lucky types .. so mumma got it made for me .. kuch acha toh hua nahiin .. but me got gold pin so me not complaining πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€

  9. Beautiful bangles and beautiful necklace Naina…………..muje koi ek de de….apni marzi se daan de de :whistle: :whistle: :whistle: :whistle: :whistle: :whistle: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot:

    1. tumko main bahut sara puchhi dungi :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi: :puchhi:

  10. hey naina….lovely drool drool drool…
    dont own any…mom never let me invest in meenakari gold:( :sidefrown: :sidefrown: :sidefrown: :sidefrown:
    will invest now… :smirk: :smirk: :smirk: :smirk: :smirk:

  11. oh my!!!!!!!!!! i feel so :green: :green: :green: :green: i love meenakari, though i dont own anything in that. :weep: i lovvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeee ur earrings. :dog: :dog:

  12. Hi! I m residing in Bangalore and gr8 fan of meenakari. Need info on how can i learn it staying in bangalore

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