Why the gold on our silver is not plating, and what that costs in hours.
The window between 900 and 1063
Gold melts at 1063°C. Sterling silver softens well below that. Traditional fire-gilding happens in the gap between those two numbers: a thick leaf of 24K gold is laid onto the silver and brought to roughly 900°C — hot enough for the two metals to bond into one another, not hot enough for the gold to run off the surface and pool.
There is no machine for this. The heat is judged by eye, at the torch, one area at a time. Too cool and the gold sits on top and lifts later. Too hot and the detail underneath is gone, along with the gold.
Bonded in, not laid on
Electroplating deposits a film of gold measured in fractions of a micron. It looks identical on day one. It wears through at the edges — the high points of a carving, the inside of a band, anywhere a finger returns to — and once it is through, it cannot be repaired without stripping the piece.
Fire-gilding is different: the gold is bonded into the silver rather than laid on it. There is no boundary for wear to find.
This is why we do not use the word "plated" anywhere on this site. It would be the wrong word for what is actually on these pieces.
Then it is all cut again, by hand, under magnification
Gilding is not the last step. Once the gold is on, every line has to be re-cut so the two metals stay in their own territory — gold in the flame, silver in the field, and a clean edge between them.
That work is done under a 40× microscope, with a graver, one stroke at a time. Firing and re-cutting are repeated area by area — the smaller the area, the harder the work. On a piece like the Garuda Vishvavajra the gold has to follow lotus petals and flame scroll across four arms without filling a single undercut or crossing onto a stone. That is where the days go: not the firing, the re-cutting afterwards.
Oxidation is not tarnish
The dark recesses on our pieces are deliberate. Silver left bright reads flat — every surface returns the same light and the carving disappears. We oxidise the low ground almost to black and bring the raised planes back by hand, so that depth is visible from across a room.
Graver strokes are left where they fell. A sacred object that looks factory-new looks like a souvenir; these are meant to look like they have been carried.
The stones go in last
It would be far easier to set the stones first and carve around them. We do it the other way: the carving is finished, and only then is each stone seated by hand into a cut that already exists. It is the harder order of work, and the only one that lets the setting follow the carving instead of the carving bending around the setting.
On the Garuda Vishvavajra that means sixteen garnets, one in every makara head. On the Tibetan Stupa Locket, ten turquoise around the base, one seat at a time.
What this does not do
Fire-gilding is tough, but it is still gold on silver, not solid gold. Deep gouges against stone or tile will mark it, as they would mark anything. Natural stones remain the delicate part of every piece — see our Care Guide.
Every piece is S925 sterling silver, hand-carved, and designed and made in China.