The history of Lac is mentioned in the ancient texts like Mahabharata and Shiv Purana, as the city of Jaipur was founded as the new capital of Kachhwaha in 1727 when Amer Court was brought here by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh - II.
As Jai Singh was a beauty lover and patron of arts, he invented craftsmanship and artisans from every corner of India and abroad he wanted to develop this new city as a center for trade and commerce.
Many artisans came to do their business and there was also a bangle making community called Manihar this word is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Mani', which means pearl or a semi precious gem.
Mani community is spread across Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh in North and Central India the earliest production of Lac has said to have taken place in Uttar Pradesh where the Manihars collected resin from trees.
The process of making these bangles starts by collecting lacquer from the trees India has the largest production of lac in the world and it produces around 60 - 70% of the total requirement of Lac.
The insect named Keria Lakka forms a dark red colored resin called Lac these resin are formed on the branches of trees which are scrapped and removed then the lac is separated by the process with the long sticks of lac.
The produced in the end is called Shalak Lakh or Chapra; these artisans get lacquer in the form of small flat discs which are called chapadi or tikli in the local language it is mainly two colors dark red brown and orange.
These chapadis are the major component of lac bangles to make lacquer soft, a resin called Bajra is added to it another component in this process is stone powder called gia powder.
To this mixture, first the artisans heat the chapadi and resin bajra in a large pan a little water is also added to the mixture for humidity this mixture is heated to melt lacquer then gia powder is added to it this process continues until lacquer is formed.
After this the mixture is removed from the stove and kneaded well it rolls are made after kneading then the entire roll is wrapped on a wooden stick called the handle artisans use this handle to heat the lacquer on coal.
By this process the lacquer becomes softer and can be given any shape from the handle, the lacquer roll is rotated from time to time until it becomes longer even colored lac blocks are used by mixing the available colors in the market.
These bangles have different types and designs how long will it take to make a bangle depends entirely on the bangle and the decoration on it on an average it takes six to seven hours to make twelve bangles.
Some of the colored bangles are simple while some are ornate there is also an addition of small valuable stones and pieces of glasses for achieving a fine decoration a needle is used to decorate the bangles.
Cold lac bangles have arrived in the market which has affected the overall sale of lac bangles marble sawdust and epoxy are added in the cold lacquer this not only breaks the bangles quickly but also creates various designs traditional artisans do not use cold lacquer many consider cold lacquer as an impure lacquer.
