Cire Perdue craft is a technique employed in arts and craft that dealt with metal casting. Many ancient and river valley civilizations used this process for molding sculptures of brass and bronze. It yielded real good results. Classical roman and Greek empires to south Asian countries all thought highly of this technique. When talking about south Asia, we can not forget its contribution in the tribal art and craft practices in India. A very unique and praiseworthy work of art called the dhokra craft still prevalent in India owes its origin to the Cire Perdue technique.

Cire Perdue was a technique practiced by the ancient and technically advanced Indus valley civilization. The river Indus flowed with its virgin beauty over a vast area of India. People had commendable erudition even in and around the time of 3500 B.C., that is, almost more than 5500 years from now in the field of metal casting. The history books enlighten the readers about a very well known and talked about figurine of a bronze made dancing girl. Her long hands are beautifully covered with bangles and she stands with élan with one of her hands dangling insouciantly, while the other kept artistically on her waist. It is a timeless example of metal casting using the method of Cire Perdue.

Apart from these, there are other bronze figures of animals like buffalo, dogs and bulls which depict their knowledge in this field. From the sites of Harappa civilization many other metal sculptures like that of copper and alloys like brass were recovered. The ornaments excavated from the various states of India say about the Hellenistic style of art. A confluence of Indian and Greek arts show that the Indian were in a position to savor different metal casting art forms very well. Even the well known kingdoms patronized such art and this is the reason why Indian artisans got the impetus to put their best in their work.

Every corner of India is filled with savant tribal groups that know how to channelize this zeal and produce spates of unique items. Dhokra art is indebted to those ancient civilizations and art patronizing kings who allowed Cire Perdue to flourish and give rise to many other different art forms. The dhokra artisans and craftsmen value this classical import and still work with full zeal to open up new vistas in tribal arts and crafts everyday.

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Dhokra art, which uses the primitive technique of wax molding called the Cire Perdue method, is one of the most elaborate and ancient crafts to produce jewelries and ornaments. The dhokra ornaments adorned the neckline, arms, wrists and hands of both men and women equally in India during 3500 B.C. when ancient civilizations flourished. Not only lords and wealthy women, but such ornaments were worn by the middle and trade class people of the Indus valley civilizations. The people took special interest in this art form.

The dhokra ornaments has to be prepared with skilled hands and patient mind. The process of molding is very lengthy and quite time consuming. The craftsmen have to give special attention that majority of their work of designing the ornaments do not get wasted away during the process of molding. Due to this process of molding no two dhokra ornaments will look similar. They will just not resemble each other completely. Here lies the exclusiveness of dhokra ornaments.

The tribal communities of India consist of traditional metal craftsmen who excel in the field of sculpture and ornament making. As time passes they find out new designs and ideas worth incorporating in the field of dhokra art. This is a tradition which they have carried from influential kingdoms of the medieval ages like the Chola kingdom down in the southern region of peninsular India. This was one of the kingdoms that patronized art and craft massively during their period of rule. The gorgeous temples that were constructed had idols of gods and goddesses wearing such ornaments apart from valuable metal jewelries. The people of India from those times and even before that thought of holding this rich heritage.

Still not much India practices or is aware of this dhokra ornaments, but the portion aware are excellent in producing master pieces. There are quite a number of state awards and accolades that are distributed to acknowledge the dexterous hands of those workers who tirelessly work and innovate in order to give the best. Ornaments have always been one of the priciest possessions of human race and when it is something like dhokra , then you can rest assure that they have traversed a long distance while the sands of time had been flowing incessantly without a moment of pause. Dhokra ornaments are something with which someone who values time and art would love to associate.

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The dhokra craft making is a practice prevalent for years among many tribes in India. This tribal craft making process is quite exclusive to the eastern zone of India. The small and big tribes of India literally have magic in their hands; they create wonder with a piece of brass.

From simple motifs to most beautiful animal forms, they just bring life in their craft. The dhokra artisan craft basically consists of turning brass in flexible and agile looking thin coils and then twisting and turning it to their whims and fancies to produce beautiful tribal crafts.

Now this dhokra craft making process when merges with another old tribal art, it produces magic in various earthly forms. The old tribal process that was previously mentioned is the Cire Perdue technique; better know as the “lost wax casting”.

The name Cire Perdue has a French origin. This technique also finds use in industry so commonly known as “investment casting” in industry. This technique involves the casting of brass and bronze from the sculpture of an artist.

The process may have a different approach in different foundries but there is one standard approach when it comes to small sculptures made up of bronze. For this technique, it is not necessary to use only wax. There are other substances with the help of which the purpose of casting may be achieved.

Tallow, tar, resin and textile are some of the other materials with which Cire Perdue technique is achieved. In this case they are better known as “lost mold”. This word lost is used because the substance with which molding is done is later discarded as soon as the casting is done.

The process consists of first making an original mold by the artisan. It consists of two layers, the harder outer layer and the inner softer layer made of rubber, polyurethane or fiberglass. After the end of this mold making the molten wax is poured in it till an even thickness is achieved. The hollow copy of wax is now removed.

Now a heated rod is used to remove those marks from where parting lines or flashings that had originated. Now this copy is sprued with another structure so that paths are created for the air and molten wax to flow out. Now into slurry made of silica, this copy is dipped. A shell like structure is formed which is now allowed to dry.

Now this shell is placed on a kiln to get hardened. It is then cooled and again heated to remove last moisture droplets. Next it is hammered or blasted with sand. Now this casting would resemble the original copy completely.
So this is the cire perdue technique used in dkokra craft making.

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Dhokra art is a special art of India. It is nourished and maintained by the small and big tribes spread all over India. This art plays with the physical characteristics of the alloy brass to be molded and bent by simple duress. In India there are many other tribal art and tribal crafts that trudge hard to attain superiority as that gained by dhokra crafts.

There is no denying to this fact that all these brassware handicrafts are demure and beautiful in their own spheres but none close to the dhokra craft. The dhokra artisans and craftsmen have been successful in maintain the glory which the art enjoyed during its zenith. We will quickly examine some of the factors that set dhokra art quite apart from any other traditional brassware art.

Primitive origin

The dhokra art is a very old technique of craftmaking. It is perhaps the oldest craftmaking that focused for the first time on metal other than iron for arts and crafts. Ancient civilizations in India understood the importance of the Cire Perdue technique of metal casting.

Based on this logical concept of casting metals, developed this valuable form of art called dhokra artisan craft. In various eastern Indian provinces and influential civilizations like the Indus valley civilization this form of art carved its own place. The impressions and curvatures lost nothing even after getting lost in the burden of soil and time.

After so many years when archaeologists excavated items and sculptures used in a period 5500 years back from now show its glory and grandeur haughtily. You may wonder how bold and well designed must have they been to stand the tests of time.

Such an art has to be valued and so even the tribal masses of interior India, who are bereft of official education are not ignorant to this craft. They have not turned a blind eye to this art and resolve to preserve it in their tribal arts and crafts.

Colossal body of folk tales

No other form of crafts using brass or bronze vivifies the folktales and stories of valor and wars of a long time land. The dhokra art relates those gleeful stories, tales of ancient rulers, the brave conquistadors, their recreant followers who left them in hours of exigency and fled for their own lives, tales of those women who renounced everything to walk in the path of true wisdom and values.

It’s a rich inkling to the kind of religion practiced in early ages and their rites and rituals because some of the sculptures depict gods and goddesses and natural deities who had control over cosmic powers. So you can get a perfect picture of those days. Based on these stories, dhokra art has been successful in maintaining its glory.

So the above two factors differentiate the quality and value of dhokra arts from other traditional brassware. A piece of dhokra is something you can stare for time unknown and find yourself gliding into the world of mighty empires and cultural kingdoms.

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In west Bengal, a culturally inclined state in the eastern region of India, the traditional metal smiths are popularly referred to as Dokra kamars or the Dhokra kamar tribes. The technique of casting metal using the lost wax procedure which they follow to create beautiful pieces of art is called Dokra craft or Dhokra metal craft. As you can well guess, the name Dokra art has been derived from the name of the tribe.

What is the method of Dokra craft?

At first, the Dokra artist will start making the preparation of the wax image and the casting furnace. In order to give rise to the lump that is necessary, he has to mix together the resin or the dhuna and the wax with oil in correct proportions. Then the Dokra craftsman has to meditate with full concentration and visualize or envisage the image he has to make vividly.

When he is confident that he has envisaged the image thoroughly, he will try to create a model of the image in his mind in the lump of wax he has prepared. Once the wax image is complete, the artisan will try to purify the wax image with the 5 powdered pigments or pancho Varna.

Usually the wax model sports various component parts and joints and the Dokra craftsman has to reinforce those joints with nails or copper rods/wires. Then he will cover the wax model in a mold of clay.

After sculpting such a wax model which is a mimesis of the image the artisan has in his mind, and after covering it in clay mold, the Dokra craftsman will make a hole in the mold and pour down molten metal inside that hole. Then he has to dry the whole object either in a furnace or in the sun, apply a second thin layer or a coat of very fine clay and dry it once more.

The molten metal will flow down the wax channels and the wax will melt in the heat and disappear. Hence the name lost wax technique. When the object is wholly dry, the Dokra artist will break the clay mold to reveal the object and after some final smoothing and polishing and addition of expressive features and embellishments, the piece of Dokra craft is ready for use or sale.

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