Metal is an important part of the crafts of the India. From rituals to articles of basic necessity, metal occupies an important part. Working with metals is looked upon with sacredness.
Out of the many techniques of sheet metal which has been perfected in India is the deep repousse work. Here a flat piece of metal, or the rounded part of a vessel on which the repousse work has to done, is filled with lac and the basic pattern is drawn. After this the outline is beaten into the lac with hammer strokes and the area which has to be depressed is beaten down. The lac is then heated and melted. The right side is now embedded in lac and the process reversed. The sections to be raised in the finished design are now beaten outwards.
This process is repeated three or four times until the deep repouse work pattern emerges, quite often nearly three-quarters of an inch in height.
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