Silver Ornaments Crafting in Laayoune

The silversmith begins by melting silver in a crucible over the fire and pouring the molten metal into an ingot mold. The ingot is then placed on an anvil, called zabra, and hammered to form the desired oament. To craft a wrist bracelet, the craftsman shapes one side of the metal plate into a curved form using a special tool and a hammer. This curved side becomes the outer part of the oament. Using a tool called lmarshem, the silversmith decorates the bracelet and fills the grooves with a coloured resin known as asanjo, typically in red or black. Finally, the craftsman uses a file to remove any excess material and refine the oament into its desired shape. Crafting the anklet, a culturally significant piece of jewellery in the Sahrawi community, involves specialised techniques. The silversmith fills a mold with sand, imprinting the shape of the desired jewellery. Silver is melted in a crucible and poured into the void inside the mold through a special cavity. Once the metal cools, the craftsman opens the mold, extracts the anklet, engraves it, and files away any excess material to achieve the desired colour, lustre, and texture.