Making of a bangle

Good quality white jade of reasonable size is often made into jade bangles as the profit is higher. To cut into a jade bangle, it is important that the jade has no defects like cracks and impurities as these blemishes will significantly lower the quality of the bangle produced, and hence its price.

A good quality white jade bangle with traces of the skin

 The jade artist often gambles for a piece of jade boulder with the outer skin intact. He then cuts open the boulder and inspects its quality in terms of colour, texture, density and mutton-fat characteristics. If the boulder turns out to be of exceptional quality, he will reap huge profit from the raw boulder that he has earlier acquired. Otherwise all his investment will go down the drain.





He then marks out the inner and outer diameter of the shape of the bangle and cut the shape.


Cutting the boulder into half

Raw jade boulder

 

 

With the inner circle of the jade material removed, then bit by bit he removes the material to get the shape of the jade bangle. After many rounds of processing, the jade bangle will eventually take its final shape. If the jangle is further processed by a master, its value can increase by another 60%.

 

 

The jade bangle below has a price tag of over 3 million as there are final touches done by a grand master on the bangle. With his signature engraved on the inner side of the bangle, the price will be more than double its original value.