Resin-based Warangka & Hilt

[shadejoy]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

I feel that resin might be acceptable if the purpose was purely to provide a storage facility for the keris, equally, resin hilts & scabbards might be acceptable in a non-traditional setting, or a very low economic level setting, as dress used for a keris in its function as an item of formal dress.

For example I have seen both a blade made of cardboard & a blade made of a tin can used as items of formal dress in a poor village setting in Central Jawa.

However, no traditional Javanese person could ever accept resin as an acceptable substitute for the traditional materials.

I would never even consider applying the insult of resin dress to any keris.

But as long as nobody else ever saw it, as long as it was kept in a singep, in a locked drawer, in a locked cabinet, in a locked room, I guess it might provide a suitable storage facility.

What I have in mind is not to create entire warangka from resin. Only the core. The attached picture might clarify my intention. The warangka is from gold with natural stones/gems encrusted. This warangka and all other golden warangkas outthere including silver warangka, I believe, are still commonly using wood as the core. So the wooden core (cellulose material) would need to be replaced eventually from recurring oil stain. I thought ..resin might be the answer to that. Keep the gold and silver material as the outer part but use resin as the core for better, longer life of warangka and the blade.

I feel like I made everybody idea that I was going to make cheap warangka. Definitely not. Just thinking about getting a more luxurious new dress. Essentially the project's aim is to improve esthetic (full gold or silver warangka) with better functionality (using core material that is better withstand oil staining and degradation).