Gems and Jewellery Workshop from Galle

When it comes to Gems and Jewellery, Sri Lanka has a long standing association with the subject due to its precious and natural gemstones. There are two main traditions of jewellery making – the Kandyan Tradition and the Galle Tradition. The Kandyan tradition is characterized by its intricate metal work while the Galle Tradition by its precious stones. This specific workshop will be a demonstration of how to make jewellery according to Galle traditions.

Includes:

• Services of an English speaking guide
• Mineral water bottle per person

Excludes:

• Expenses of personal nature
• Gratuities

The Experience:

The demonstration consists of how to make custom jewellery using precious metals, namely Gold or Silver. As a part of this exciting educative process, you get to actively participate in melting these metals, gauging, hammering, soldering, designing, embedding gems, smoothing and polishing. You will be thoroughly educated with the traditional techniques that these generational jewellery makers use as well as the equipment that is used in the practice.

An exciting experience of touching and examining rough and polished gems from the local mines will give you an idea of the methods used while this particular experience consists of precious and semi precious stones. You will be educated as to how you can identify the difference between genuine and fake gem stones. The demo also consists of teaching you how to recognize if the jewellery item is made from the exact same precious metal content or not.

Kindly note that you have the option of purchasing the jewellery that you work on which will amount to the value of the material and precious stones that you make use of. Also note that the value of the jewellery is not added to the value of this experience.