Traditional crafts still flourish in the oasis, particularly pottery and basket-making. Embroidery had been declining, but has now revived owing to tourists' liking for dresses, shawls and waistcoats. Most of the work is done at home by women and marketed through informal co-operatives in handicrafts shops. The price has already been set so there's no point in bargaining (unless you're in direct negotiation with the owner of something for sale). Many women now earn significant sums for this work, belying the stereotype of passive, dependent Siwan womanhood. Other products made mostly by the women include black robes with orange or red piping; intricately embroidered wedding clothes spangled with antique coins; and all kinds of woven baskets , often brightly tasselled. They also mould pottery and fire it at home in bread-ovens: robust cooking and storage pots, delicate oil lamps, and a kind of baptismal crucible called the shamadan en sebaa.

 

Unlike the gold-loving Egyptians, the Siwans have traditionally preferred silver jewellery , which likewise served as bullion assets for a people mistrustful of banks and paper money. The designs are uniquely Siwan, influenced by Berber rather than Egyptian jewellery. Local silversmiths once produced most of it, but in modern times it has largely come from Khan el-Khalili; the last Siwan master craftsman died in 1952. Broad silver bracelets and oval rings wrought with geometric designs are the most popular items with visitors, while Al-Salhat, with its six pendants hung from silver and coral beads, is the easiest type of necklace to identify. You'll also recognize the tiyalaqan, a mass of chains tipped with bells, suspended from huge crescents; and an ornament for the head, consisting of silver hoops and bells suspended from matching chunks of bullion, called a qasas. Finally, there's the aghraw, a silver collar from which girls hang a decorative disk or adrim, which is removed on their wedding day.