Molten metal being poured into a small ingot mould
The forge
Ingot to wire to sheet, in about the order you would guess and none of the speed.
Miao Silversmith Workshop in Guizhou
A full Miao festival headdress can carry several kilograms of silver, and a family will spend years assembling one. It is a bank account, a genealogy and a statement of intent, worn on the head.
- Duration
- One day, roughly 09:30 to 18:00
- Party
- Private, or a small group by arrangement
- From
- Enquire for pricing
- Best months
- April to June, September to November
A chasing hammer and punches on a pitch bowl
Chasing
Hundreds of small hammer strikes, each one deliberate, none of them undoable.
What it is for
Not decoration. A record of who a family is and what it has managed.
The silver is not ornament in the way that word usually works. A headdress records a family — what it has accumulated, over how long, and what it intends to signal at the point a daughter marries.
Which means the weight is the message. Several kilograms of worked silver represents years of a household’s surplus, converted into something wearable and displayed once or twice a year in front of everyone whose opinion counts.
At the forge you get the physical version of that argument. Casting, drawing, raising, chasing — every stage is slow, none of it is reversible, and after a day of it the headdress in the corner reads very differently.
Fine silver chain and small tools on a workbench
A hammer resting on a scarred wooden block
Detail of a chased silver panel
The day
- Work at a family forge that supplies festival silver
- Draw wire and raise sheet from a cast ingot
- Chase a small piece of your own and take it home
- Understand what the ornaments record and why the weight matters
- Eat with the smith's family between sessions
Included
- Private host and interpreter for the full day
- Forge session, materials and your finished piece
- Lunch with the family
- Private vehicle and driver
- Not included: Accommodation
- Not included: Flights and intercity transport
- Not included: Any additional silver you commission or buy
- Not included: Personal spending
Questions
What will I actually make?
A small chased piece — usually a pendant or a simple band. It will be recognisably handmade, which is the point.
Is silver included or do I pay for the metal?
The metal for your own piece is included. If you commission something larger or buy finished work, that is between you and the smith, and we will tell you what is fair.
Is the forge dangerous?
There is heat and there are hammers, so it is supervised throughout and children need to be old enough to follow instructions — around twelve.
Does this overlap with wax-dye itineraries?
No. This is metalwork, at a forge, and deliberately sits apart from the dye and pipe-reed circuits that other operators run.
Will there be other guests?
Only if you want them. The day is normally private to your party; we also run it as a small group when travellers ask to share, and we will tell you which applies to your dates.