A new jewellery story opened up below my office building on Water Street in Gastown. It is called Chic Winds and they sell some interesting pieces of jewellery. One of the more interesting designs they are showcasing is Liu Li jewellery.
An ancient form of glass making from China's Kingdom of Yue, circa 462BC. There is an ancient and complex technique for creating a mold that can only be used once. Expensive, naturally colored glass material is turned into a paste under fire, it has to stay inside the mold for 9 days to gradually cool down. During this period it is very difficult to control the movement of the liquid paste and therefore identical replicas are near impossible to create. Each piece once cooled is then put through a polishing process so that the final artwork can take upwards of 20 days of meticulous craftsmanship to complete. Because of the difficulties and the delicate nature of these techniques, the success rate for classic style Liu Li is less than 70%. No wonder in ancient times that Liu Li belonged exclusively to China's royalties.
But today, it belongs to me; one more happy single-hood present to myself.
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