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Corals
are the product of tiny living
beings which settled in enormous
colonies in the depths of warm
seas long before our time. The
polyps, surrounded by a fleshy
skin, excrete a carbonic substance
from which the corals grow like
trees and branches. These can
attain a height of sixteen inches
(40 cm), though the actual branches
seldom exceed one and a half
inches (4 cm). At the forks,
they are somewhat thicker. It
is from these parts that the
precious raw material for jewellery
items, large coral beads or
carvings is obtained.
Traditionally,
the fragile little coral trees
were brought up from the depths
with trawl nets. However, since
first-class corals have now
become rather rare, divers are
now deployed, in a less destructive
process which involves their
going down and harvesting the
sensitive coral branches. After
that, the branches are cleaned,
sorted and processed by means
of saws, knives, files or drills.
Coral is not usually ground
or cut on a wheel. |
