Safed Chalwan is a kind of white translucent enamel used for encrusting gems and precious stones for making jewels. This enamel is used at the reverse side of the jewels in order to contrast the color of the gems (usually

ruby A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called ...

or jade) with a stark white background.

Technique of enameling

In this technique of enameling, an opaque white outlined

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...

is fired and leveled with the stone to be embedded. On cooling down the enamel develops a hard coating around and the stone is set in it.

References

Jewellery making Jewellery of India {{Art-material-stub