The T'boli Craft of Brass Casting

Gifts and Graces is proud to be supporting the T'bolis of Lake Sebu, South Cotabato. G&G Executive Director Greg Perez first met one of the tribe's leaders Nadeth Ofong at the Social Enterprise Management Training Program of Fundacion Codespa and University of Asia and the Pacific where she and Nadeth were fellow scholars.

We are happy to be part of the effort to share their story, contribute to their livelihood and share their heritage. Last month, Nadeth shared with us their special method of brass casting. While we don't divulge all the details here, we wanted to share part of the story behind the making of the T'boli's beautiful brass items.

1. Prepare the materials

• Yellow brass from scrap material sourced from junk shops
• Beeswax
• Charcoal
• Clay soil with rice hulls
• Cooking/melting pot

2. Prepare the beeswax by melting it, rolling it, and designing it. Note that this is where the intricate designs come in.

3. Prepare the mold by pounding the clay soil with rice hulls, covering the mold with this mixture, melting the wax, leaving the mold out to dry in the sun, and drying it over fire

4. Next, melt the brass in a traditional blower, pour the melted brass into the mold, then allow to cool in a water bath.

5. Break the mold and voila you have your brass bell!

6. Cut and clean the bells. The final stage is cleaning the bells with calamansi

Here are some of the beautiful items made from brass. A brass man, brass bells in regular design and man and women designs, the brass bell with beads from The Learning Center to make our bell charm, and brass pendants which we use with woven retaso for a special line of clutches

Not in the collage is a set of four brass napkin rings in an elegant T'nalak box, bangles, and jewelry made from braided cloth strips and a brass ring. But we can share these in another blog post. 

Here's a photo of Nadeth with her daughter Bon with Fernando Regalado and Jhun Jhun Gementiza of G&G and Mike Panghilason of Heidi's Crafts (weavers of the clutch in the photo) at our Partner's Dinner this year held at the Herald Suites.

Finally, here is a link to further reading on the T'bolis and a link to an online article on loqal.ph

http://lakesebuphilippines.blogspot.com/p/tiboli-tribe.html

http://loqal.ph/home-and-living/2010/08/09/t%E2%80%99boli-women-weave-history-culture-in-t%E2%80%99nalak-cloth/

If you'd like more information or you'd like to order and support this cause, we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at info@giftsandgraces.com or marketing@giftsandgraces.com