There is no solder in a Nirona bell. That is the first thing anyone will tell you about them, and it is the thing that makes them difficult.
How they are made
The bellmakers work in sheet metal — traditionally scrap, often old drums and tins. The sheet is cut, folded into shape, and the seams are locked together mechanically: folded over one another and hammered flat so the joint holds itself shut. No welding, no solder.
The bell is then coated with copper and fired in a kiln. The heat fuses the copper over the whole surface, sealing the joints and giving the bell its colour and its voice.
Then it is tuned
This is the part people miss. A bell out of the kiln does not yet have its note. The maker works it with a hammer, striking and listening, striking and listening, until it rings where he wants it.
Bells are made in a range of sizes and each size carries its own note. They are usually sold in sets that are tuned to sound right together — so that a row of them hung in a doorway makes a chord rather than a noise.
Why they existed
Not for doorways. For livestock.
A herder grazing animals across open scrub needs to know where they are without seeing them, and whose they are when several herds mix. A distinctive note on your animals solves both problems at once. The bells are beautiful, but they were a tracking system first.
The craft today
Bellmaking in Nirona is carried on by a small number of families, and it has survived better than some of its neighbours because the objects sell — to visitors, to homes, and increasingly to designers who use them in interiors. Nirona is about forty minutes from Bhuj and the workshops are open to visitors. It is worth the drive to hear a bell being tuned.
Ours
The Nirona Bells coaster and steel bottle draw the bells and the cord they hang from. Our drawing, printed by machine — not a bell, and it does not make a sound.
If you want ones that do, buy them in Nirona. Eleven more crafts in the Kutch range, and boxed gift sets if you are buying for someone else.
Written in Bhuj, Gujarat.