We took dichroic glass back to Venice after we encountered Jerry Sandberg and saw the beauty in this new decoration. Fortunately, Jerry Sandberg had begun working on dichroic for artist in the early 1970s. He was working at a vacuum-coating laboratory in southern California in the solar cell industry when he saw an artist digging…
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…
Recently we got a question from a customer who asked if all our Venetian Beads are annealed. She had heard that annealing makes the beads stronger. What is annealing? The word comes from the metallurgy and materials science where it has long been recognized it increases the metals ductility and makes it more workable to heat…
People often ask us how we find new suppliers. When we began in 1993, we thought we were really preparing for this new career. We took a class in importing from a local junior college. Now we could write the book “What they don’t tell you about importing”. We contacted the Italian representatives in the…
In this world of copycats, we are often afraid to post too much data on how our beads are made. Even in Venice, the moment a new bead appears in the windows of the stores in San Marco Square, everyone begins speculating on how they were made and tries to copy. For our blown beads, it’s…
Jan 30, 2013: Venice is buzzing with preparations for the end of Carnival. It began officially on the 26th of January 2013 and ends on the 12th of February 2013. The Grand Theater has been build in Piazza San Marco, the “Marie” (like the beauty queen) has been chosen, the “best costumes” have been judged…
The Snow was a present for me as I absolutely love this magnificant city under a white blanket of snow. It began early in the day and continued until late afternoon. At first it was not sticking and we were trying to make pictures of the flakes, afraid it would not stay. Enjoy these and we’ll post…
We previewed these faceted Murano glass twist beads in a post on Facebook a few months back and they have finally arrived! Available in both multi-colored with 24kt gold foil accents as well as in single, transparent colors. The approximate size is 21.5mm across and 7mm thick. Google
It sounds terribly romantic to travel to Venice and mostly like in your vision (and wishfully, in mine) have a glass of Veneto wine while we gaze at an array of dazzling Venetian Beads. Reality Check! The new beads you see arriving at Venetian Bead Shop don’t have that romantic origin. For us, it begins…
It’s official name is the Ponte dell’Accademia and in addition to being one of the most photographed bridges, it is also a very useful crossing along the Grand Canal. It connects Dorosoduro Sestiere to San Marco Sestiere and makes a great shortcut into the historic center. The yellow building in the background is the Palazzo…