Mirzapur

An area of pavement by the side of the main road in Mirzapur, Ahmedabad is the workspace for a community of metalworkers - the birdcage makers.

Here they make and sell all manner of cages large and small, sometimes with an unnaturally bright and colourful occupant too.

To make the cages lengths of thick gauge galvanised wire are cut and bent on a jig (pins and wooden blocks positioned on a flat plank of timber) to form the verticals of the cage.

One end of the lengths is hooked and threaded through pre drilled holes in a pressed stainless steel dish, the other ends are held together on a small circular ring.

A medium gauge wire is wound around in a continuous spiral and is held in place on the verticles by a fine gauge wire which twists its way along the length of the vertical.

The cage is topped with a spun cone, sometimes combined with a pressed dish. A loop is added to hang the cage.

The tools are minimal; a pair of side cutters and a pair of pliers, hammer and punch.