Dumbara rata kalala runner
Three weeks on a pit loom in Thalagune, in a pattern held only in the weaver's head.
$340
Ratnapura blue sapphire ring
$480
One stone, out of gravel that has been worked by hand for two thousand years.
Materials & dimensions
- Ceylon blue sapphire, approx. 1.4ct
- Recycled sterling silver
2 × 0.9 × 2 cm · 40 g
Care
Sapphire is nine on the Mohs scale and will scratch almost anything it is stored next to, so give it its own pouch for the sake of everything else. Warm soapy water and a soft brush. Have the claws checked every couple of years.
Shipping & duties
Free standard shipping
Express $35.10
North America · 40 g · includes $6 for fragile packing
Import duties and taxes are set by United States, not by us. They are not included above, and your carrier collects them on delivery.
The story
Ratnapura means city of gems. The alluvial gravel under the paddy fields — illama, locally — has been worked since antiquity by men going down hand-dug shafts propped with rubber logs and sending baskets up on a rope. It is not mechanised, and the reason is not sentiment: the deposits are pockets, and a machine that moves enough ground to be worth running destroys more stone than it finds.
This is a Ceylon blue sapphire, a little under a carat and a half, cut as an oval. Ceylon blue is typically lighter and brighter than Burmese or Australian material, and the thing to look for is evenness — sapphire often grows in bands of colour, and a stone that shows no zoning face-up has been oriented correctly by whoever cut it.
Set in six claws so the maximum amount of light can get underneath, in recycled silver. Ranjith sets his own stones, which is unusual; most cutters hand off to a setter and most setters never see a rough stone.
Ranjith Perera
Ratnapura, Sabaragamuwa Province · working since 1988
