In the making of Venetian (Murano Glass) Beads, we are limited by the colors which Effetre makes but long ago the Venetians discovered they could add other metals to change the colors. You can see from this chart the effects of gold, white gold and silver.
Gold Foil: The gold warms the color with the richness of the gold showing through, even in the darker transparent colors.White Gold: The white gold gives a more muted tone, but like the silver allows the transparent color to take front stage.Silver Foil: The silver foil leaf adds a crisp new look to the canes and relects the light more. Even using these metals, the amount of transparent glass (the depth of the glass over the metal) and the size of the bead affect how these colors appear. When we use a small “anima” (the core of the bead. In Italian this means soul.) the metal coverage is smaller giving less of a change to the color. We can only use the metals with transparent glass as the other two types of glass: Opalino (soft colors with a slightly opalesence appearance) and Pastello (opaque glass) are too dark to see the metals. On these types of glass the metals used are always exterior. Below is a view of the Effetre Color Chart, which we use daily to design and order beads.
