ABSTRACT
Glass bracelets are made in the following way. The furnace (bha_thi), partially sunk in the ground with a wood fire underneath, contains a large crucible which, being of smaller diameter than the furnace, allows the flame to ascend and heat the trays stranged around. There are six openings into the furnace, and opposite each a workman sits, while the implements at hand are a ‘saláká,’ or iron-pointed rod, with which the molten material is extracted, and a spear-shaped piece of iron, called ‘málá’, with which the glass is fashioned into a circular band. At this stage the material is again heated, and, with a thin iron rod (patkar), the band is transformed into a narrow ring, which, being placed on an earthen cone (sarkandí, or sánchá), the proper size is given to the bracelet.
