Below
are the details of the marble inlay work items-how the price is determined, various
color combinations, types of stones and marble used, design etc which will help
you in knowing about the inlay work
Marble Inlay
Is a traditional art form with just a few master
experts left, Marble
Inlay is a delicate process that involves carefully cutting and
engraving marble shapes by hand. Slices of coloured stones (precious
and semi-precious) are then delicately laid into the marble with
adhesive. Mainly semi-precious stones are used and these are LAPISLAZULI, MALACHITE,CORAL,CORNELIAN,
ETC to name a few.
Mainly two craftsmen work on an item-one
who shapes the stones and turn their slices into flowers, leaves and buds and
second who engraves the marble and fixes the shaped stones in the grooves made
for these shaped stones. But before the work starts on an item there is master
craftsman who designs on a piece of paper and creates new and beautiful
designs. Nowadays there is hardly anyone who can creates new flowers, leaves
and buds which we have as we have been lucky to have my father who has in the
past created many designs.
.
PRICES
How is the cost of the
marble inlay items determined
Prices
of each and every item is given along with the shipping cost with each product.
Here we are just giving the factors
which determines the prices of the inlay items. Prices of inlay
items don’t depend on the size but depend on the following factors.
1)QUANTITY OF STONES: More stones in an article means more prices and less
stones means less price. If the size of two articles is same then
the one having more stones will be more in price compared with the one
having fewer stones; provided that the quality of workmanship is same
and the semi- precious stones used for inlay are also same.
2) QUALITY OF WORKMANSHIP: Quality
of workmanship depends on -
a) Size of
the stones :The
smaller the size of the stones used for inlay, the higher the quality. In Small
size of inlay work the flowers, leaves, buds are small in size compared to the
big work. Most of the items on our website belongs to this category except few
table tops.
Inlay Work with bigger size of stones is easier to do
and hence it is cheaper. The work with BIGGER STONES (see an example) is known as IMARTI
WORK-meaning done in Mughal monuments in Agra, Delhi and in other parts of the
Mughal empire. Other examples of work with bigger stones are Marble inlay table top WIOC-311128, Black Marble inlay
table-top-BIOC-48135 This
type of work we normally do in some big table tops especially in black table
tops.Black table tops with big inlay are normally cheaper than table tops with
small inlay. This bigger inlay work is suitable for Medallions, border tiles, Floor
decoration, or for any other surface which requires large scale inlay.
b) Intricacy in the workmanship: joining of many pieces of stones
together to create the flowers, leaves or buds increases the
intricacy in the workmanship. So the flowers, leaves and buds with more joints take
more time to make. Therefore the items having such workmanship are more in
price compared to items having less intricate work.
c) Fitting of the stones in marble-This is very
important aspect of inlay work. In a bad work there are gaps between marble and
stones. This shows glue in the item. All the hard work in designing and
shaping of the stones will go to waste if the stones are not fitted
properly. Though the little glue is inevitable even in the highest quality as
this hand work.
3)TYPES OF
STONES USED: Malachite, Lapis lazuli, Coral, Turquoise, Cornelian
are costlier than other stones. If these stones are used predominantly in inlay
work; then the prices are more in
comparison to items which have cheaper stones..
Thus the prices depends on the
above three factors. If in any 2 given items 1&2 are same then the price
will depend on 3. If 1&3 are same then 2 would determine the price. If
2&3 are same then 1 determines the price.
Therefore if somebody wants to gets the cost
reduced then it is possible to reduce the quantity of stones in that item
without compromising on the quality
COLOR COMBINATION OF
VARIOUS MARBLE INLAY ITEMS
Various colour combinations for the marble inlay items
are given below:-
1.Multiple colour
combination --where we use many semi-precious stones lapis Lazuli
(blue), Malachite (green), Cornelian (orange), Paua shell (colourful
shining),mother of pearl (white shining).Coral (red).
2. One colour:
-- lapis lazuli,
Malachite, Cornelian, papa shell is used mainly with little use of other stones.
3. Combination of Two stones: Examples
of two colour combinations are given below. Besides these there are also other
possibilities.
A) Lapis & Malachite (blue & green),
b) Lapis
&Paua shell. (Blue& shining)
c) Lapis &
Cornelian (blue & orange)
d) Malachite
& Cornelian (green & orange),
E) Malachite
&Paua shell, (green & shining)
f) Cornelian
& Paua Shell (orange & shining),
EXCEPT A FEW EXCEPTIONS ANY DESIGN
CAN BE MADE IN DIFFERENT COLOR COMBINATIONS STATED ABOVE WHICH MEANS IF A
PERSON DOESN’T LIKE A COLOR COMBINATION OF ANY DESIGN IT CAN BE CHANGED TO
OTHER COLOR COMBINATION OF THEIR CHOICE.
WE CAN ALSO SHOW
YOU THE COLOR COMBINATION BEFORE WE START MAKING THE ACTUAL ITEM.
HOW TO JUDGE
THE QUALITY OF INLAY WORK.
1. DESIGN-- When judging
the quality of inlay work the first and foremost factor is the beautiful
design. Beautiful design is created by a master craftsman on a piece of paper.
Beautiful design creation is not an easy job. The artist who can draw beautiful and
new flowers, leaves, buds and arrange them in the beautiful manner is in
position to create a beautiful design.
2. DISTRIBUTION OF COLORS IN AN ITEM- A very important factor in creating a beautiful
piece of art. What colour of flower go where is very important to create the
desired effect.
3. SELECTION OF THE BEST SEMI-PRECIOUS STONES--Selection of good quality of stones is very important.
Let’s take an example of Lapis lazuli where deeper blue colour with no or very
little white inclusions is considered to be the best. Too many of white
inclusions in a part of flower or leaves will not produce the desired result.
Though there are exceptions for eg in Italian designs table tops Lapis lazuli
with white inclusions is used freely.
4. SHAPING OF THE STONES.
6. THE QUALITY OF INLAY OF STONES IN MARBLE i.e. the Fitting of stones in marble is very important
for an item. If the fitting of stones is good there is no glue seen between
marble and stones and if there is loose fitting then white glue is seen as you
can see in this marble
inlay pendent.
7. POLISHING
Most of the marble inlay items will have basically
these three types of arrangement for covering the surface and this arrangement
factor determines the cost of the items.
The designs
are made by using different layout---
1. Full of work--The whole surface is covered with inlay work.
Normally the design is geometrical pattern in this layout but it can be floral
also.
2. Combination of center design with
border design------In this there is a border design in
combination with a center design. The border can be of any width from 1.5"
to 5" or more i.e. 4 cms to 12 cms. The width of the border design depends
on the size of the table top.
3. Border design only---In this there is only a border design on
the edge of the table top. The rest of the innerspace is plain.
The border can be of any width from 1.5" to 5" or more i.e. 4 cms to
12 cms or more. The width of the border design depends on the size of the table
top.
SEMI-PRECIOUS STONES
AND OTHER STONES USED IN THE INLAY WORK
1.
LAPISLAZULI
(Afghanistan), ----------------BLUE
2.
MALACHITE
(South Africa), ---------------GREEN
3.
TURQUOISE
(Iran), --------------------------SKY BLUE
4.
CORAL
(Italy),------------------------------------RED
5.
CORNELIAN
(India), ---------------------------ORANGE
6.
PAUA SHELL
(New Zealand) -----------------COLORFUL SHINY
7.
JASPER---------------------------------------------RED
8.
AGATE----------------------------------------------ORANGE,RED
9.
JADE-------------------------------------------------GREEN