Handmade beads are different, each one. You wonder why? So let me explain. Each bead starts as a rod, cane, of glass which is roughly 10mm in diameter. Now I know that American “lampworkers” use a smaller cane. In production beads, we simply don’t do this. So here is your cane of glass, add in some fire and a mandrel to drop the molten glass. Sounds simple? Well that is if the glass canes which we get from Moretti have been tempered properly, and don’t just plain explode when we put them in the fire. (That’s another story as well.) That’s just to make a solid color bead, which we can pretty much duplicate, except for size and shape which depends on how much molten glass you get on the mandrel. To add decoration, it becomes a more difficult task, requires longer to work and adds to the possibility that two beads are quite different. For example, Ca’d’oro or Oro Rotto, or Cracked Gold, all terms for the bead with what appears to be rolled in gold. In fact, we start with a gold foil, much the thickness and fragility of what used to be on the outside of chewing gum. It is fickle, will blow away at a whisper, has a fatal attraction to the glass like static electricity and jumps on the bead, exactly where it chooses. The continued working of the bead in the fire expands the glass and Allora! the gold cracks, just where and how it chooses. Then of course there are the other uncontrollable issues: the humidity, the air temperature, not to mention the bead maker’s mood, attention, state of mind, focus, and hopefully they are on the same page with our wishes and desires. So while we’d like to produce each bead in a very similar shape, size and decoration, in a perfect world, we do not live there. So your beads will always be different. I can understand this. I can’t make 2 exact cups of cappuccino on any given day, not for the lack of sophisticated espresso machines or desire. I can’t make 2 Nana Cakes that turn out the same.(The term we used for a pound cake which is famous on 2 continents and a recipe handed down from my mother.) Until I can do both of these, I think we’ll have to accept that beads are different but beautiful! But we will keep trying. :<)
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Author: VenetianBeadShop
What began as a fascination with the glass of Murano has become a way of life. Our webstore has all you will need to make jewelry, quality findings, stringing materials, Swarovski Crystals and a lot more, but our main focus is the Venetian Glass Bead. We have been an integral part in promoting Venetian glass beads throughout the world as well as helping to breathe new life into traditional Venetian techniques. A few years ago, we introduced our line of Venetian Dichroics to the US through as a result of years of efforts with our beadmakers in Murano. We continue to bring new and innovative ideas to this age old industry. Most recently, we developed the Furnace Glass along with our partner furnace in Venice. It's a blend of old glass making techniques to work with new fashion ideas.
We remain a family owned business located in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, CA, USA where we have been importing Venetian Glass and Murano Glass commercially since 1993. Our wholesale showroom has the largest collection of Venetian Beads on display anywhere.
Chihuly Glass Inspiration
When we are in need of inspiration for new bead designs or new jewelry, there are lots of places we turn. Of course, we use the Pantone colors and pour over the latest fashion magazines. But there are other great sources of inspiration that we fine in museums, gardens and in the works of one of America’s most famous glass artist, Dale Chihuly. His works are monumental in size, for example, the ceiling in the Hotel Bellagio in Las Vegas, or his installations in Venice, Japan and the impressive Glass Museum in Tacoma, Washington. Because of his fame, his works are installed in many public buildings, and locally in the Palo Medical Foundation in Mt View Ca. Each time I visit, I have to make new pictures as the colors never fail to brighten the day and the colors change with the light. For your enjoyment, here’s the link to a list on Chihuly’s website of public buildings where you can find his chandelier’s installed. If you live near one, visit and send us the picture, we’ll post it. Just seeing these amazingly colorful and bigger than life blown glass pieces will surely make you smile. And of course watch for an exhibit near you as well. If you’d like to see the slide show we put together from Chihuly’s exhibition in San Francisco at the De Young Museum in 2008, YOUTUBE: VenetianBeadShop Chihuly. For Chihuly’s website pictures click here or visit his site. The colors will inspire you to try new combinations in your jewelry.
Our Favorite Table Favors
Each year we make table decorations for Thanksgiving and Christmas and they are small gifts to remember the day. Some of our biggest kids (over 90) love them as well as the smaller ones who can’t wait to eat the treats. We got a head start this year as we used the same base from Thanksgiving for our Christmas. The process usually starts with a visit to the candy store and then arts and crafts stores with an open mind for ideas.Santa & Tree for IAF
We made 50 Santa and Christmas tree table favors for our friend’s Italian American Federation Christmas dinner. This took on a production line look as we lined up the candies and decorations. Fortunatel, we could eat our mistakes. Some years are more elaborate than others. Our most difficult undertaking was a couple of years ago when one of our Italian families spent Christmas with us and we were some 35 people at dinner. The table favor that year was a stocking, completely handmade and decorated along with their names written. It was the holder for the silverware and the name cards for dinner. Usually we don’t need name cards, but trying to sit guest who only speak Italian so they have a translator nearby requires a bit of organization.
Stocking to hold Silverware Gingerbreadmen with Names
Ice cream cones Frosted and DecoratedThis is is relatively easy to make, it begins with ice cream cones which you decorate with an icing which dries hard. We use Royal Icying and sprinkles, balls and an a candy star on top.The kids decorated all the cones for this dinner. The kids tend to put as many colors as possible. With the Royal Icing, you can make in advance. Marcella demonstrated how to make this year’s treat. At the end of the day, we had made so many retakes we ran out of KitKats and had eaten too much chocolate! Watch to learn.Supplies:(1) Base, we used KitKats because they are sturdy.(2) Candy Figurine (Santa, Reindeer, etc)(3) Kisses or Gum Drops for the tree. We used peppermint striped Kisses because they are tasty and add color.(4) Cookie Icing (You can make your own, or it’s easy for kids to use the prepackaged as Marcella does). We make these for all the holidays. They are fun for Mother’s Day, 4th of July, any occasion. Just change the figurines and decorations to make it yours. It’s about traditions, start your holiday tradition this year.
Working in Murano
While it sounds really exotic and like a story in a book, the truth about working in Murano is that you sometimes get what you get.
We’ve talked about the disasters with reds – though they have had about 700 centuries to get the recipes worked out – we are again struggling with reds that look muddy, black and simply NOT red. We try different lots to try and find one which we can use for the holiday season, and of course there’s Valentine’s Day looming in the future. Part of the issue is that Murano has been selling their glass to tourist for the same 700 centuries. Tourist go wide-eyed with the glare from all the glass around and buy everything that glitters. Muranese (as they are called) are used to this
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Along comes VenetianBeadShop and we say, yes we love that bead, but could you make 500 of it? And could you make it in 5 colors and with silver or gold foil and could we do in inverse to make a collection of interesting beads? The next word I assure you will be “Allora” which roughly means “Yes, But…” At this point you get a long an quite excited discourse, most often in dialect, on why it couldn’t possibly be made. Case in point: One of our bead makers is ever so talented, needs money badly, has small children, sick wife, house payments. This sounds like a perfect match, we love his work, our customers love the beads and this should be a business venture making everyone happy? We say, “Please make us 300 of each of these beautiful beads. The delivery must be in 3 weeks. He says “Allora”, we say “Allora – what?” This time the allora means he needs money to buy the glass. OK, we work this way with many of our bead makers, so we hand him the Euro for buying the glass. We say, “We will be back in one week and we’ll pick up the beads you have made in one week.” The balance will be shipped by our freight forwarder. One week goes by, contently we work with other bead makers, line up shipments and finally return for the goods made in a week of production? “Allora” there are no beads and now months later, there are still no beads. Though he still badly needs money, working apparently is out of the question. But it gets better. He managed to get a part time position demonstrating how to make beads in the tourist industry. They set up his lampworking table, said “Make the beads you like” and of course the tourist love watching the beads being made as he truly makes it look simple. The company would like to sell the beads he produces, should be a win-win? However in a month and a half, he made 150 beads??? So when you get the urge to go into the Venetian Bead business, just remember this Italian proverb:Più facile a dirsi che a farsi. (Translated: Easier said than done!)
Tools for Beadmaking
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?
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| Selecting Heart Moulds | There are also tools for the furnace |
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| More Shapes & a block of Aventurina | A candy store for the bead maker |
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| How Many Heart Shapes? | The Machine Shop |
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| 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..
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Tax and the Internet
What’s the Issue: The money hungry states are lobbying, along with Amazon and the NRF (National Retail Federation)and Walmart to impose taxes on all internet sales. (Since they failed in the ligitations, they now jumped on the tax everyone bandwagon.) The proposal is known as The Marketplace Fairness Act. I am not against taxing sales on the internet in principal. What I am against is the number of sales tax authorities, reporting and the amount of time, labor and energy it would take to report in the thousands of sales tax districts in the US. So while today we report in our individual state, now we would have to report in 50 states, 15,000 districts. And not every state is up-to-date with online software. It appears to me that some of the lobby is supported as well by businesses trying to captialize on this requirement. It’s every accountant’s dream, software that we all must use and for which they get paid to “oversee”. So they’ll charge all us small merchants to “sort” it out for us and the cost get added to the cost of doing business.
Why Do You Care: Ultimately, you the consumer will pay even more as this “service” becomes part of our operating budget expenses. What’s Fair? The only thing that makes sense from a small business prospective is a National Sales Tax. One rate, wherever business is conducted online. Even so, if you expect that if left to the individual states, that still means we must submit 50 sales tax reports, payments at least 4 times each year. What does it mean for Wholesale Customers? Immediately, every wholesale customer will have to be re-evaluated to make sure your Resale Certificate (or whatever they call it in your state) is valid and that we have it documented. What can you do? If you have an opinion on this, there is another Lobby group (of course) which is supported by ebay which is attempting to put some sanity into the process. You can check them out at their website: WerHereConclusion: The tax will pass eventually as the states are looking at these “lost taxes” like sugar plums on a Christmas Tree. The question is can our elected representatives in government produce a rational national sales tax that is not overly burdensome on small businesses.
Taxes
When you apply for wholesale, we do need your sales tax ID. If you are in a state where there is no Sales Tax, lucky you. But there is a business ID most likely. If you live in California, it is absolutely necessary that we have your Sales Tax ID, which we verify with the State. Additionally, you must sign and submit the Certification which says that you recognize that you must pay taxes on these items (through sales to your customers, or if you choose to use it, then you still owe the state sales tax). Without this, you will be charged sales tax. If you live outside California, and in a state where sales taxes are charged, you still aren’t off the hook. One day in the near future, all states will require online business to collect sales taxes. So in preparation for that wonderful day, we require your sales tax ID. The National Retail Federation is actively lobbying for this and some major players have already acquiesced, namely Amazon. It is a nightmare for small online stores and a national tax makes more sense than the 7,500 local tax jurisdictions and as many as 15,000 tax rates to administer. But getting the states to agree to sensible solutions has so far been futile.
Eating in Venice & Murano
Eating in Venice is an adventure and a gamble. Our list of restaurants is by no means a complete list. We’ll review some other restaurants later. The food is expensive and since they have a new boatload of tourists each day, the need to keep the quality, flavor and service up doesn’t exist. Locals don’t eat out often, or believe me the food would improve immediately. We usually eat with friends in their homes; however, I have been forbidden to give out the addresses, though they rank well above any of the restaurants below. With our friends, we eat the freshest of vegetables and fish & other local items. We go to the vineyards outside of Venice and bring our wine home in plastic jugs where we bottle it according to the little printed paper they give us with the signs of the moon. Maybe we’ll never get a 99 in Wine Spectator, but we have fun! As I explain to any friends or family who join me at in Venetian homes, if they make it, we eat it. Drink more wine! Restaurants in Venice are expensive anyone’s standards. It is a tourist town situated in the middle of a lagoon, thus everything they serve to you has been brought in by boat. The cost of property is beyond outrageous and the cost of labor high. Traditional foods in Venice mostly comes from the lagoon. The fisherman of Burano are renown as the provider of fish and today the lagoon is subdivided into farms where they carry on their tradition. In the season, we find a small boat by the bridge near our apartment in Murano with the night’s catch for sale, especially schie, a very small anchovy size fish served fried, in risotto and polenta. Here is a list of a few of the traditional foods, read well so you can either avoid them on any menu or be brave and try a few
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1. Baccala (dried salted cod( served in several ways, but most popular is Baccala Mantecatao , where the cod is rehydrated and creamed with olive oil, much like making mayonnaise. The rehydration preparation takes two days and the creaming up to an hour. So if someone makes it for you, you’d best eat every bite and tell them how wonderful it is.2. Sarde in Saor – Fried Sardines and onions marinated in vinegar3. Sepe al Nero – Cuttlefish cooked in their ink. It can be served several ways, in pasta where the pasta looks black, with Risotto, where the rice looks black,4. Fegato ala veneziana – Liver chopped and cooked together with onions.5. Bigoli in salsa – A pasta served with anchovy and onion sauce and less commonly found on the menu.6. Moéche, a small lagoon crab(granchio), in the soft shell phase, battered and fried (This one scrumptious, but available only in season (March-April and October –November). It is the job of the fisherman of Burano to carefully watch the for the perfect moment to harvest these and get the to the restaurants and fish market immediately.
Famous, expensive but worth it for a once in a lifetime experience. Experience or view may exceed the quality or taste of the food!1. Hotel Cipriani Fortuny Restaurant located o the island of Giudecca . A private launch from San Marco provides the transporation. Exclusive with amazing view, and obviously expensive. You can also arrive by vaporetto.2. Do Forni $$$$ Calle dei Specchieri, 468 Venice 30124, Telephone 041-523-2148 (Reservation) It is expensive and the food is classic Venetian, so save your money unless you like fish.3. Il Trattoria al Gatto Nero da Ruggero on the island of Burano. This is a very popular local restaurants for Venetian Wedding parties as well so it’s good to have a reservation. You can arrive via the #12 Line from Fondamenta Nove in Venice or catch it in Murano. Restaurants We frequent in Venice, please don’t write me if you go and it’s horrible.1. Osteria Mocenigo, Santa Croce 1919, Salizada, Boat Stop San Stae and just straight ahead across from the Palazzo with the same name, Palazzo Mocenigo. It’s not expensive, filled with locals, noisy and makes a great place for us to take the kids. They serve traditional Italian, including roasted lamb, spaghetti Bolognese (with meat sauce), chicken.2. Osteria alla Vedova, Calle del Pistor 3912, near the Ca’d’oro Vaporetto stop. When you walk into the Strada Nuova from the boat stop it will be directly across and set back.. It’s all Venetian, enjoy scampi and listen to the locals and catch a little Venetian dialect.3. Osteria Giorgione, attached to the Hotel of the same name, Cannaregio 45827a Calle Larga dei Proverbi. Boat Stop Ca’d’oro or Fdta Nova. Again the food is mostly traditional Venetian, but good.4. Algiubagio Restaurante, Fondamenta Nuova, Cannaregio 5039 Tel: 041 52 36 084. Originally a bar serving cafe & pastries, wine and sandwiches to the vaporetto workers and locals, over the years it has changed into a full restaurant. It’s perfect for Americans as they listen to Giulio’s collection of jazz and one of the few places you can get a steak. Reservations aren’t necessary and if you have to wait, sit outside on the terrace looking over to Murano.I recommend their cappuccino, the Raboso (a red wine from the Veneto region) and the Spritz, a Venetian drink of white wine and aperol or bitters. As it is so close to the vaporetto to Murano, I stop in morning, noon and night. Do tell them Brenda sent you!5. Trattoria Giorgione, Castello 1533, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, It’s noisy, people burst into songs, especially the owner Bisutto. Great experience – and all Venetian Foods (see list above). For an evening you won’t forget along with traditional Venetian folk songs.6. Trattoria Da Remigio, Castello 3416 Salizada dei Greci, 041 523 0089. Recommend reservations. If moeche are in season, don’t waste your money or calories on anything else. And the Sgroppino, a Venetian Cocktails are superb – but watch how many you drink. (They go down easy, but they are strong, vodka and limon gelato and Prosecco.)7. Pizzeria Trattoria Vesuvio, Sestiere Cannaregio, 1837 Venice 041 795688 (near the boat stop San Marcuola and the TIM store on Strada Nuova. It has air conditioning. Not expensive and the pizza is good (for Venice). It has outside dining as well.8. Il Caffé Florian in Piazza San Marco, opened in 1720. Sit outside, buy a bottle of prosecco and listen to the orchestra.9. La Columbina in Cannaregio, The owner is from Sicily so the food is a mix of northern and southern. There is also a selection of meats. They have just moved, so we’ll get the correct address shortly. 10. Bàcaro Jazz has a great selection of jazz music on CD and a friendly, casual atmosphere. It is located near Coin the department store not too far from Rialto Bridge. It is one of the few places serving American cocktails. So if you are in need of Jack Daniels, you’ll find it here. It is also open late, a plus in Venice. Restaurants I go to in Murano: In Murano, the restaurants are generally less expensive than Venice. However, they are open mostly for lunch (il pranzo) though recently their has been a joint movement to keep at least one open at night during tourist season. Since friends or family friends own these I will leave the critique to you! There are other restaurants, some better, or worse. As we have been coming for about 20 years, we are not experiencing it as a tourist, the waiters we know by name, and we have long ago chosen our favorite dishes on the menu.1. Antica Trattoria Muranese –Rivalonga, 20, Murano 30100, 041 739 610 Good friends own this restaurant. It’s not expensive, great terrace out back for hot days. I recommend the Scampi Fritti (Fried Shrimp) or the assorted (a place of fish, shrimp & calamari fried). The salads are fresh and check for the daily special. It is just down from the Museo boat stop in Murano.2. Da Tandue, Fdm Manin (between 2nd and 3rd bridge) This has been a home away from home for us for many years. We sit and write orders here, catch the locals at the bar, take an espresso and hold impromptu meetings.3. Al Soffiador connected to the small hotel by the same name (just off the boat stop Il Faro). In the summer you can sit outside on the small piazza.4. Ristorante Pizzeria Marlin Fdm Dei Vetrai, not too far from Colona the boat stop, before the 1st bridge. There is an inside air conditioned room if it is hot, another of our impromptu offices where we can talk quietly.5. Al Ponte, a sandwich, pastry, gelato & great espresso. Just at the foot of the bridge to Riva Longa. Packed with locals, it’s a frequent choice when we are in a hurry and on any occasion for a coffee!6. NEW: Acqua Stanca Osteria, Fdm Manin near the 2nd bridge – Opened in May 2012 on the site of a former panifico (bakery) with a couple of famous Muranese last names, Nason and Arcangeli, with only 24 seats serving local fare, cicheti and Veneto wines. The co-owner worked for 8 years for Harry’s Bar catering, great training for the restaurant business. We will update this from time to time to add a few quick places for lunch, great sandwiches in 30 minutes or less and affordable. If you have a favorite, send to us and we’ll add to our list or if you found an absolutely horrible one, send to us so we don’t add to the list. (Note that in Venice there are two spellings for many words, the old Venetian spelling and the Italian spelling. For many I choose the Venetian as it is how I learned it. It may not be correct in Italian, but in Venice it will mark you are a local!)
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What Really Goes on at VenetianBeadShop.com
What really goes on at VenetianBeadShop.com
Some days when our new boxes of beads come in we feel like Christmas. Other days when only a portion of it arrives or the colors are off (here’s where you get lots of specials) we feel like really disappointed children on Christmas morning.
It all begins with us working with the bead maker, we have to specify colors ever sooo precisely and even then Moretti will produce a batch of canes which are simply off. Then of course there is the “lost in translations” between the day we decide and the day they sit down to make the beads. And the difference in what beads they think are urgent versus what I think are urgent.
Or simply we are waiting on Moretti to produce the right canes. This happens especially often in the millefiori which require a specific millimeter bead to produce.
Website Woes:
Then there’s the website…..computers often have a way of disrupting everything. Microsoft or Foxfire or Safari launch a software update which throws all our website to the far right of the screen or worse yet, you (our customers) can’t get past step 1. (By the way we urge you to update your Foxfire and that is not easy.)
And did I forget to mention that we have four grandchildren who demand their equal attention.
Tips for Visiting Venice and Murano
This week one of our customers asked us for recommendations in Venice and Murano. Since many of you may be planning travels. We’ll share a few of our tips with you
Visiting a Furnace: There are 2 ways,
1) DELUXE: Ask at your hotel who always has an arrangement with a furnace in Murano. They will pick you up and take you in a taxi. You’ll get a grand tour, history & info on making the glass.
At the end you will be escorted to the “showroom” where you will get an aggressive sales pitch. Some people enjoy the personalized visit, want to spend a chunk of Euro on glass and they are happy. Others enjoy the tour, but have no intentions of buying.
This makes the furnace owner unhappy as he has paid the hotel a “ransom” to deliver you there, so probably there will not be a taxi to take you back to your hotel and you’ll have to find the public vaporetto. (So read carefully #2 below)
2) DO IT YOURSELF (My Pick): Take the public vaporetto to Murano. Take the 41, 42 or the DM (departs Venices from Piazzale Roma or the train Station only). The 41, 42 take about 40 minutes, the DM about 20. Get off at Colonna (its the first stop on Murano).
When you arrive, there will likely be several men (with badges) who will offer you a tour. It’s a short walk with them and you’ll get part of the DELUXE and less of the sales pitch. There will be someone making little horses or animals and it is still interesting.
Afterwards you can wander around the islands (yes there are more than one) and maybe catch another tour.
Shopping in Venice and Murano: 3 Pieces of Advise.
1) If you see something you love, must have, buy it. Don’t think that you will find it somewhere else cheaper because chances are you won’t and secondly chances are you won’t be able to find the first store again or run out of time and then dream about it forever!
2) If it’s cheap it is not Murano Glass. This goes for jewelry, vases, anything glass. The “Merchants” of Venice will let you think it is. Sometimes they will downright lie to you.
3) Do Not Buy from the street vendors – this means anyone with goods on a bedsheet, selling out of a canvas bag, or lined on the steps of bridges selling purses, toys, watches or whatever the current racket is. You can be fined. It is all fake, meaning illegal.
Eating in Venice: First about the food in Venice. It’s a lagoon and their local cuisine is derived from fish and shellfish. Just visit the Fish Market any morning (before noon) and you’ll see the locals buying their daily supplies. The local traditional foods are seppie neri pasta (it’s squid with the ink in the pasta), baccala (dried cod in paste), sarde & soar (onions, sardines & vinegar) and Fegato alla veneziana (liver). The grilled fish is always a good choice and besides it’s healthy.
The good news is that the wine, even good wine, is inexpensive.
My favorite Prosecco, Carpene Malvoti, is about 6 Euro in the local grocery. In the US, it’s $24.00 plus tax!
A cappuccino cost about 1.5 Euro, yes it’s a bit smaller but vastly superior!
The other great thing is that there’s no additional tax. What you see on an item is the price, the VAT (equivalent of tax) is already included. Makes figuring out prices a whole lot easier.
Morning Pastry:
In Venice, one of the oldest pastry shops is Pasticceria Rosa Salva. It’s a century old and there are 5 in Venice and one in Mestre (mainland). Ask any local and they can point you in the direction.
Indulging in Venice:
Many tourist, especially Americans make the pilgrimage to Harry’s Bar made famous by Ernest Hemmingway. But for my 50 Euro, nothing beats sitting in the Piazza San Marco (pick any of the cafes with outdoor seating) and listening to the bands, drinking prosecco and just enjoying being in this historical setting with a backdrop of the Chiesa San Marco and the lagoon.