Silver-Making

How I made my ring.

By Evan Strauss

While we were in Bali, my mom, my aunt, my soon-to-be uncle, and I went to a silver-making class. A silver-making class is a traditional practice in Bali with deep cultural roots and is mostly done in or near Ubud, because Ubud is Bali’s hub for arts and culture, even though Bali doesn’t have significant silver deposits.

First, we chose designs. My mom chose hammered circle earrings, my soon-to-be uncle made a matching pair of my mom’s for my aunt, and my aunt made a ring. Then I found the ring I had been looking for for over a year—and even better, I got to make it myself.

Second, we went over to a work table with a foot pump, blowtorch, and ceramic bowl with little silver pellets. To melt the pellets, we had to use the blowtorch by pumping the foot pump over and over again. After it was all liquid, we poured it into a cold metal mold that formed it into a solid silver bar.

Third, we went on the porch and hammered it until it was square and a tiny bit longer. Then we ran it through this machine that made it long and skinny. It was hand-powered, so we had to crank it. It took so long to run it through the machine, but when we were done, the people helped us cut it into portions for the four earrings and two rings.

Next, we took it inside to start shaping it. I had to wait because they were putting on the head of the snake. When I got it back, someone came over to help me, and he had a chisel sort of thing. How it worked was he would line it up in the right place, and then I would hit the back of the chisel twice. We did that over a hundred times—not kidding. For each scale, I had to hit the chisel four times. It took forever.

After we made the details, we took it over to a bar to shape it to the size of my finger and mold it into the right shape.

Lastly, the helpers shined it and added a black solution to make the scales visible, then polished it one more time before saying goodbye and heading home.

Personal Note:

Going to a silver-making class was a really cool experience that I wish I could do all over again.