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| The crafrtsmanship of coral is divided in two large
groups: smooth objects and engraved objects. The working
of smooth objects is aimed to realize spheres, kegs, little
necklace tubes, or oval and round elements, like cabochons
for rings and earrings. On the other hand, engraving is
mainly done by the “Masters”, and it is nothing
but carving out of coral womanly figures, flowers, little
statues. While doing this, the artist must obviously see,
read in the coral what is the hidden figure, and carve
it out with the burin. Great skills are necessary to do
this, as well as years of study and practice. Now let’s
have a look at the working of smooth objects. |
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Working steps
Coral washing
It is the first step of the working. Coral is put in sieves, with water and other
substances. The sieves, spinning, free the coral from the so called “vest”,
that is the outer and youngest part of the branch, the part that has not calcified
yet. These residues are eliminated, and the burin can reveal the beautiful
red coral, in its original colour |
Cutting
It is the most delicate phase of the whole working cycle.
The factory chief and very skilled workers are entrusted
with this special and delicate job. Coral cutting does
not present particular technical problems in itself,
but it is determinant for the final output of the
whole coral stock that is being worked. A good cutting
, made, eseguita a regola d'arte, gives the best result
from the raw matter. The cutter studies the piece, “sees” in
it what the final result can be (little pearl, cabochon,
drop, little rose), and on this basis the coral is cut. |
Piercing
The piercing is made on the coral picese that will become
necklace pearls. The little raw coral rolls – this
is how the material appears after the cutting – are
pierced with a traditional and old insrument, called “fuso”.
It is a small wooden arch, with a stretched string. The “fuso” is
attached to this string, and holds, at the end of the
forepart, a very thin and sharp needle. By exertig a
pressure with her hand on the arch, the piercer (mainly
piercin is done by ladies), makes the “fuso” spin
vortically, so that the needle pierces the piece end
to end, with the help of water drops, which reduce
the heat
spread during the piercing, preventing the piece from breaking. The skill of
the piercer is in piercing the piece centrally, both in the way in and – which
is more difficult – in the way out |
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“Rociatura”
This technical term indicates the step in which the coral rolls become spheres,
necklace pearls. The pierced roll, held by special supports, is put in
contact with a sanding wheel, which in the outer surface has half-round grooves
of different sizes. The coral roll, put in contact with these grooves, is consumed
by the spinning wheel, and it finally gets the classical round shape |
Polishing
Worked coral appears dull and presents microscopic lines on its surface, caused
by the sanding wheel. The following step, which is polishing, aims to cancel
these lines,and brighten the coral colour, making it shiny. Polishing was
traditionally made by putting the coral to polish into canvas bags, together
with small raw coral pieces, pumice stone and “pulimiento”,
substance the composition of which is kept secret. The canvas bag was then
sewed on the open side, and the result was a small kind of cushion, called “pupatella”.
A worker then used to rub the “pupatella” on a trapezoidal
wood table for six or seven hours, payng attention that there was always water
there, to prevent the heating.
All this manual procedure has today been replaced by the
use of sieves, in which are put the coral pieces to polish
together with the other elements that were put in the “pupatella”. |
Selection and stringing
This is a very delicate step, supervised by the “stringing mistress” Selection
is made in several: the selection of the spheres according to the diametr;
the colour selection, separating the different shades; the quality selection.
Only after such an accurate selection stringing can start.
The stringing is made on the basis of the suggestion made
by the commercial department, about the preference that
customers have on the length of the necklaces, dimensions,
aesthetical characteristics. After all the necklaces of
one kind and dimensions are stringed, they are collected
in groups held together by a “torcino”, that
is a typical cotton plait |
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