The islands of Murano are all about the glass. In the furnaces, their is a caste-like system with the Maestro at the top of the heap. Everyone revolves around his commands. This is the tradition passed down through generations of glass blowers in Murano. This is the view tourist see when they go to Murano. But there are any number of very important other jobs in the production of glass, including the cold workers, the torch makers. And for our bead makers, the men who produce the tools we use in the production of glass beads. Until a few years ago, most of these were produced by hand and getting two exact was an imposibility. One of the most famous of these Murano steel men, was Dona. Now his son carries on the family business, using CNC machines and CADCAM. Clearly, today we can get tools made much faster. Here’s a few pictures we made while working on new shapes, which requires a visit to the tool maker. From the vast assortment available can you believe we needed to have a new one made?
 |  |
| Selecting Heart Moulds | There are also tools for the furnace |
 |  |
| More Shapes & a block of Aventurina | A candy store for the bead maker |
 |  |
| How Many Heart Shapes? | The Machine Shop |
 |  |
| A Wall of Tools to Choose | We’ve Chosen, Next Step Samples! |
We will have several new shapes arriving in about 4-6 weeks. The tools are being produced now and then we must have the beads made.
We leave you with a scene of Murano in the late afternoon, the streets deserted as we finish our work waiting on the vaporetto and enjoying the marvelous colors of the skies over Murano..
Google
