Filigree workshop

Opposite the Conception church, there were workshops being conducted for the underprivileged children. Teaching them the nuances of the delicate artwork. The teacher welcomed us inside and explained the procedure to us.
The art may be said to consist of curling, twisting and plaiting fine pliable threads of metal, and uniting them at their points of contact with each other by means of flux such as borax, with the help of the blowtorch. When granulated motifs are desired, small beads are made traditionally by using precious metal wire cut up in small pieces and mixed with flux and placed in the small holes of a pitted block of charcoal and are then melted with a blowtorch, after which the bits of wire curl up and take a natural spherical like shape to end up in minuscule grains. The more delicate work is generally protected by framework of stouter wire.Read more