Jade Working
Jadeite rates between 6-7 on the Mohs scale of hardness, therefore making it extremely tough and time consuming to work because it was necessary to use minerals of equal or harder value. Abrasive powders made of these minerals were often used to carve into the material. Some of the main techniques used were pecking, drilling, sawing, carving, engraving and grinding. String sawing was a technique likely developed by Costa Rican lapidaries, in the northeastern region. This technique was done by sawing with a cord and a powdered abrasive. It was used to create curved slits openings, and by drilling a hole in the middle of a piece you could thread the cord through and create a hole. The final process was polishing.
Presumed patterns:
- High-intensity: this pattern of jade working characterizes the jade objects that took the most time to complete, sometimes years. They were more time consuming in addition to being more elaborately decorated, with deeper incisions.
- Low-intensity: this pattern was less time consuming and could be made of softer materials, greenstones that looked like jadeite. They were less valuable because they were made from local materials. It was socially motivated by the high-intensity pattern.
Read more about this topic: Costa Rican Jade Tradition
Famous quotes containing the words jade and/or working:
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—Chinese proverb.
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—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)