TURKISH SILVER JEWELLERY
Turkey has a great jewellery tradition. All of the civilisations which have inhabited Anatolia had produced numerous objects for both religious and artistic purposes. People worked with metals, sometimes including precious and semi-precious stones.
Hittites, Urartians, Phrygians, Ionians, Lydians, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks and Ottomans all established their rule in Anatolia and created their own jewellery styles.
Today, the Turkish jewellery industry reflects a rich cultural heritage combined with modern innovative designs and technology.
The industry has a significant accumulation of knowledge, has its own production techniques and product designs. The Turkish jewellery industry includes some tecniques particular to Turkey. Some of these are filigree (telkari), niello (savat), and wickerwork (hasir).
WHAT IS "TELKARI" or SILVER FILIGREE?
"Telkari" is a Turkish special term. “Tel” in Turkish means wire and “Telkari” means the art of wireworks only to make silver or gold jewellery.
Silver wires shaped into jewellery or decorative ornaments are known as telkari.
Telkari is handmade from pure silver which is 92,5 percent silver ore. The silver is melted and poured into a mould to produce thin rods a millimetres in diameter which are then drawn into wires using a special steel plate pierced by holes for achieving purity, delicacy and refinement.
Once the wire is ready then the craftsman creates the design which is planned to be hand made. Then, the tiny silver circular pieces are welded together by other skilled craftsmen, a job requiring great skill and patience.
Various objects can be from floral lace other than jewellery, including tobacco boxes, coffee cup holders, cigarette holders, trays, bracelets, mirror frames and belts etc.
HOW TO CLEAN YOUR SILVER (TELKARI) JEWELRY
The ones with stones, try silver cleaning cloth wipers or regular erasors first, if not satisfied, you can insert your jewelry in 'liquid jewelry cleaner' solution for a minute.
Do not emerse the ones with Blue stones in liquid cleaner. Use cloth cleaner.
Enjoy your never out of style 'Telkari' jewelry!
