Tibetan dZi and other Himalayan Beads

Above: Round Pumtek with six stripe decoration.

The following passage explains (according to the unknown author) how modern day Pumtek are being made in the Hpayargyi Village which is in the Myingyan district of Burma (Myanmar).

"There are said to be nine stages to the making of a single [Pumtek] bead. First the right type of fossilized stone must be found. This stone must be free of blemishes that occur when white ants build their nests on a piece of wood or have chewed at it. When the right stone has been found then it is cut up into smaller pieces by hand and then put out to dry for seasoning. These cut pieces then are shaped into long beads, flat square beads, oblongs and spheres on the bead-making machine. Once this has been done a hole must be drilled. This is done with a very thin diamond tipped hand drill which is turned and twisted with an instrument shaped somewhere between a violin's bow and a weapon bow. The drill is held by the thread of this instrument which is then pulled to and fro just as a violinist would. It surely needs a sure hand with a lot of skill and practice. The hole is drilled only half way up the bead and then drilling continues from the opposite end, for the two holes to meet in the middle. Any miscalculation would mean two holes that did not meet in the middle or the bead would break or the diamond tip lost. Then the next is the finishing process. The beads are again ground on the roller of the machine after the roller has been painted over with a mixture of melted sealing wax, colouring powder and fine-ground fossil wood powder. Then the beads are washed clean of hand grease and sun dried. In the next stage the bead is held between a pair of tweezers and painted over. The base coat of paint is white with other colours like black and brown to be painted over later. The black paint is a mixture of copper sulphate crystal (Blue vitriol), sulphur, yellow orpiment and human mother's milk. These are all blended together and heated over coals and the heat has to be just right. It is said that animal milk cannot be used successfully to make the paint and that it has to be human milk. After painting the desired colour the last and final stage is to heat the beads again to get a shine on them."