Fashion vintage style alloy hollow butterfly earrings dangle drop

Any Chinese will tell you that the best silver earrings and silver necklaces in the country are those made by the Miao people. It's truly so. The staggering sets of silver jewelry a Miao girl wear from top to toe would make a stunner for anyone seeing for the first time. The designs are intricate, unique, and rare to find in the modern world. But, like any other handicrafts in the world, hollow butterfly earrings, necklaces, as well as charms take great effort, or even pain to make, as every single piece has to be finished only by hand. 

Take making a pair of butterfly style earrings for instance. First, the craftsman melts the silver bullion. The bullions are put in a pot, and heated by fire from an oil lamp. The silversmith blows the fire toward the bullions through a bronze pipe. When the bullions become fluid, it is left to cool and hammered into silver sheets or cut into silver threads for next step. 

The next step is designing, which requires a deep understanding of the Miao culture. As the ethnic minority didn't have a writing system, their history was recorded on what they are most good at making: silver jewelry. The tradition is kept till this day. The design of butterfly bears deep significance in Miao culture. The people believe that butterflies gave birth to ancestors. And from there they begin to thrive for generations to come. 

Next comes the most difficult part in the whole process: the actually making of the silver butterfly earrings. The craftsman outlines the butterflies on the silver sheets, then cuts, drills, molds, as well as grinds bit by bit, from the design of body to the smallest details of the feathers. It may sound fairly easy, but in fact, it is extremely difficult to make the earrings lifelike. The craftsman has to sit for hours at a time, and force his eyes focuses on the details. Some of the lines are as thin as human hair. And many times, a wrong move could destroy days of painstaking work. 

It's a task only for the masters when the silver earrings are made, the protective coating is applied. To do so, workers bath the ready-to-sell pieces in liquid made by secret recipe, and then fire them. The process allows the silver earrings to be bright and shining for many years to come. On average, it takes up to 10 days for a master to finish a pair such as this one. 

Yet, to reach such perfection, it has to take him devotion for lifetime. Training had to begin as early as when he was still a boy. And before he becomes a master, he has to stay in apprenticeship to perfect his skills for as many as 10 years. Today, as we buy a Miao silver necklace or a pair of Miao silver earrings, think the care and the heart put into the making, and it will allow you appreciate your pieces ever more.