What
Lac bangles, jewellery boxes, pens, pen stands, mirrors, ashtrays
Where
Meena Bazaar in Swabhumi, INOX foyer in City Centre
How much
Rs 10 to 250

If you?ve blown up most of your festive budget on designer wear and can?t really afford those gold bangles for your best friend?s wedding, lap up some lac ones instead. The ornate glass and bead-studded bangles, bracelets and kadas, with a lot of shimmer thrown in for good measure, are perfect substitutes for the real thing.

The Rajasthani-style hand accessories made of lac come in varying degrees of thickness and bright rich colours, to be mixed and matched with various ensembles. Tradition has it that married Rajasthani women cannot wear any metal bangles that are not lined with lac on the inside. The rule applies even in case of gold bangles.

The designs available today are traditional and contemporary at the same time and pair well with western wear too. Worth special mention are the chunky flat kadas in single colours and bathed in sequins that make a unique style statement.

If the lac lustre catches your fancy, a host of other knick-knacks are also available in the same material. Jewellery boxes to keep your bangles safe, ornate pens, pen stands, small mirrors in mirror-studded frames and quaint ashtrays in the shape of jootis exude tribal charm, typical of the desert state where the craft originated.

In Calcutta, lac ware is made in workshops clustered in Machhua. Here lac is first melted in unique wooden ovens with iron castings. The molten lac is then poured in casts, cut into desired shapes and sizes when it solidifies and then stuck on to brass, aluminium or iron frames to make the objects.

The sheen of the final product is achieved by vigorous polishing. After the first round of polish, the semi-finished product is heated up a little to soften the lac so as to stick in the glass, bead and other shiny little things. It is again heated up before applying the final polish, after which it is ready for the racks.

The products are breakable and one must be careful not to apply too much pressure on anything made of lac. Therefore, in case of bangles and bracelets, it is advisable not to buy too small a size, for if you try to squeeze it on with too much force, it might bend.

Heat melts lac, so one should always store lac products in a cool, dry place. Bangles are best kept in a vertical position and not horizontally in bangle racks or boxes as they might become misshapen over time.

so, it is best to keep each lac item separately, away from each other, or sometimes they stick together due to mild heating, whereupon it is not possible to separate them without ruining the shape.