12:56 PM PST, 6/17/2012
Tibetan & Nepalese jewelers are very skilled; their skill has been passed down from their forefathers. There are two ethnic groups who make jewelry in Nepal. They are sunars and shakyas. Jewelers(Shakyas) from Kathmandu valley were well-known for many centuries. These jewelers worked in Lhasa for many years and settled down there. Their craftsmanship became very popular as they made Tibetan jewelry. Due to the political situation in the 1950s, most of the jewelers move back to Kathmandu.
They use traditional techniques, working with few hand tools. Tree resin is used for gluing the stones. Some special kinds of clay are used to give an antique finish. For jewelry cleaning they use a kind of tree fruit which works as soap. This is a very old method that originated when manufactured soap was not available