Made completely by hand in the ancient way. There are only a few people in the world who know how to make chains this way. They are extremely rare and very beautiful. Each link is 1mm x 1.5 mm.
I met Balan in 2008. He lives in South India just near the Arabian Sea. He was sitting outside on his veranda with a blowpipe melting gold and making chain. I was immediately mesmerized spent my entire time at the beach sitting on his veranda with him learning how to use a blow pipe.
These chains are first made from wire that we then wrap around a small dowel and then clip the tiny rings off the dowel. We then carefully connect each ring to one another and solder together with a blow pipe over a fire made of coconut oil and a wick. It is a tedious and very long process, each chain takes days of very very skilled labor. I have shared with you some photos of the process with my teacher Balan.
This chain is 44.5 cm or 17.5 inches with the clasp and 43 cm or 17 inches without the clasp
