Salt Lamps: How Are They Made?

Friday, November 07, 2008

How Are Salt Lamps Made?

Our travels through Europe and the Middle East eventually took us to the foothills of the mighty Himalayas in Pakistan. This part of our self guided tour had us traveling for a while in the footsteps of Alexander the Great. His much lengthier 22,000 mile journey ended in this region, before he and his army returned to Greece, hailed as a brave hero by some and a cruel conqueror by others.

It was on his travels here that his horses fortuitously licked the ground and Alexander investigated their unusual behavior. As a result Alexander found the richest deposit of what has now become the most common of spices… Salt.

Other blogs will discuss the process by which the Salt itself was formed. Suffice it to say for this blog, that the Salt was, scientists say, formed over 250 million years ago when the earth was being formed and the continents were formed by colliding and receding land masses.

At one time, Salt was considered so rare, that it was used as a means of compensation for Roman soldiers. The word and concept of “salary” comes from the same word as Salt and the process in which soldiers were paid with blocks of salt. When its preservative properties were discovered it revolutionized the meat industry, allowing it to be safer to eat for longer periods of time..

Salt is part of not only our daily diet but is spread throughout our language and our culture...

Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error. Andrew Jackson

You are the Salt of the Earth Matthew 5:13

Taking it with a grain of Salt

Rubbing Salt in the wounds

Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.

It was a less militaristic adventure than Alexander’s that took us to the same valley where Alexander made his discovery, where we found not just table spices but Crystal Salt with the broadest range of colors and natural striations that we could have imagined.

From off White to Light Pink, from Peach to deep shades of Orange and even to Crimson Red the color of Salt is due in large part to the mineral composition. And in different parts of a vein in the Salt mines, you can see the layers of colors more beautiful than humans could create with a full palette of oil paints. The great variance in colors helps make salt lamp creations a unique piece of Natural Art, and there is no better example of Mother Nature’s Handicraft.

An added bonus to the colorations is that Himalayan Salt is unlike any other Salt we have ever encountered as it glimmers when hand chipped and glistens when lit from within. Many Himalayan Salt Lamp companies pressure wash the lamps after they have been carved. This creates an almost plastic like finish to the water absorbent Salt Crystal. You might notice that the best looking salt lamp creations have a small amount of what appears as powdered Salt on the lamp’s surface. When illuminated you will be amazed at how this “residue” sparkles like diamonds!

From deep below the base of the Himalayas one of the largest and most beautiful mountain ranges in the World, in mines that lead 800 feet below the surface in mile long man made caves, the long process of gathering the Salt that will eventually end up in your home or office, many thousands of miles away begins.

The Salt used for salt lamp creations typically comes from the mines in Khewra and the Gola Valley.This region has been known for its high quality Salt since the times of Alexander the Great and the number of commercial and industrial products now produced from these mines is far too long to list. It has gone from a form of trade to a major source of revenue for the Pakistani government, who controls all of the mines.

Working in the Salt mines is considered a good job with decent wages, despite the hardships endured working below the surface for long hours without seeing the light of day. There are strict controls that have removed children and explosives from the equation, making working in the mines safer for all. However, the labor is done in a primitive fashion even though modern techniques are used elsewhere in the world. Here it is still done in a similar way to how Gold and Coal and other Minerals were mined in the USA before the Industrial Revolution.

Natural Salt Crystal is removed from the walls of the mines in pieces that may way up to 1000 pounds each and are broken down before being put on to a “rail-track” to be pulled to the surface.

Once the Salt has been taken out of the mines it is then analyzed to ascertain its’ best use. Some is used for Seasonings, some for Industrial applications and what is rejected for those uses, to our thinking the prized pieces, with the greatest color variations, are selected for salt lamp creations.
This select collection of Salt blocks is then transported by heavy load bearing trucks to facilities near the Coastal region of Pakistan for further cutting and processing.

The art of selecting the Salt for each project requires a keen eye. Companies in the salt lamp creations business employ several “Graders” whose job it is to sort through the salt and decide which pieces will be used in natural shape lamps and which will be used for specialty carved lamps. Determining the structural integrity of a large slab of Salt enables the Graders to separate those pieces that are best suited to hand chipping and those that are strong enough to withstand the process of machine carving to make Spheres, Fire Bowls and other geometric shapes.

Once that separation has taken place the next step is to break down the large Salt slabs into smaller chunks, weighing 10-40 pounds each. This hand chiseling is the first step in producing Salt Lamps and makes the Salt much more manageable.

The pieces are then graded again, this time by color and luminescent quality. Many people prefer lighter colored lamps as they glow the brightest when illuminated. Others prefer darker lamps that are more difficult to light but have a more unusual appearance.

Once the color selection has been completed, these smaller slabs of Salt are assigned to artisans, based on their experience and specialty. The more intricate the Salt Lamp, the more experienced a worker must be before being assigned the task of creating a specific shape.

A hole/cavity is drilled into the uncut slabs, defining what will eventually be the base of the individual Salt Lamp or top of a Salt Tea Light. The hole is drilled at this stage because once the Salt Lamp has been brought down to the weight of the final lamp it is too difficult to do the coring, as many Salt Lamps would be cracked and lost in the process.Each drilled cavity is checked again for structural integrity and cracked lamps are rejected. The size is checked to make sure that our a light assembly will fit properly, enabling the Salt Lamp to be lit from within, or to be sure that the Salt Tea Light will hold its candle properly.

Only then can the salt lamp creations artistic portion of the process begin.

An experienced craftsman shows the artisans on his team what parts of each individual slab should be carved away in order to leave the most beautiful and glistening Salt Lamp. This process, like carving Diamonds, requires patience and an experienced eye that can, by looking at rough Salt, see the gem within.

Using chipping tools, the Natural shaped Salt Lamps are created most quickly…the Fire Bowl, Sphere and other complex Geometric Salt Lamp shapes, which are chipped, then hand carved then machine smoothed and again hand polished. Many people work on a single lamp throughout the process.

Once the lamp has been “carved”, it is put through a Quality control process again, making sure the base of the lamp is flat and that the lamp stands properly. Each Salt Lamp is checked, measured and weighed and then separated once again based on a particular importers’ size and weight specifications.

The lamps are given a quick wash and then dried and then Natural shapes are steel brushed to bring out the crystalline look that makes them sparkle and shine. Geometrics are smoothed and Polished and checked for symmetry.

In a separate facility, hardwood bases have been cut, beveled, stained and polished to become the stand upon which the salt lamp creations will be mounted. The bases are brought together with the salt lamps and then attached with Stain Resistant fasteners, carefully aligning the holes in each for proper fit and balance.

High quality Natural Salt Tea Lights have a final pencil width hole drilled in the bottom to enable you to pop out the used tea light candle and easily replace it. Rubber furniture protectors are added to finish the process.

Packaging then begins. Some importers choose to go with the bare minimum on product quality and packaging. Those lamps are usually bulk ordered to be shipped simply wrapped in plastic bags and boxed for transoceanic shipment. Top quality suppliers have special packaging requirements and salt lamp creations are shrink wrapped, bubble wrapped and then placed in beautiful full color packaging before being packed into master cartons for transport.

The process of making a single salt lamp takes many hours and sometimes days. The handiwork that goes into these salt lamp creations is an important part of what makes them so unique and collectible.

Other blogs are dedicated to discussions of the health benefits or placebo effect experienced by salt lamp owners. We will leave that debate for others to participate in. We think that salt lamp creations are beautiful, and appreciating the process by which they are made will hopefully make them even more precious to you!