How to Wash Your Murano Glass Beads – Why Soap it best.
We have been talking with our customers about concerns that our beads come from Italy, specifically Venice, Italy. But actually the concern relates to any beads handled by anyone in these days of the coronavirus. And this is a good safety for most everything you buy as everything is touched by humans somewhere along the production and packaging process. So we did a little research and a couple of customers gave us some suggestions. My photo shows Joy, but I am not recommending any particular brand, it is just what we had in the kitchen. Our glass beads are like the glass in your kitchen cupboards, they sparkle when washed and thoroughly rinsed. A word of caution for the blown beads which are hollow, be sure to shake the water out of them and leave them to dry with the holes vertically on a towel. This I learned long ago as the water drops left in the hollow beads will show through. You can use bleach on all our beads, except the ones with exterior gold, white gold or silver foil. The bleach will attack the metals. National Geographic has an article as did many other news outlets on how to wash hands and specifically why soap is the best choice. It has to do with the structure of the virus and the oils in soaps. Since I am not a scientist, here are a couple of articles and a quick search of the web should give you more confidence or a different method which you prefer. National GeographicThe New York TimesScience Focus As a side note, I am happy to report that as of today in Murano there is still not one death from the virus. As naturally isolated community, the isolation has been good for them. So when the tourist stopped arriving approximately 4 weeks ago, the arrival of any virus from exterior sources became less a possibility. There are, of course, still vaporetti plowing the canals as it is their only means of transportation to get to their doctor appointments, shopping for supplies or taking care of aging relatives. Small transport barges continue to bring in the supplies for the main grocery store on the island. Locals are delivering supplies to their neighbors who are older or at a greater risk.
The number of strands of beading wire is a function of how pliable it is but even that is dependent on the gauge of the wire. But just for simplicity sake, think that if you put 49 strands in the same space as the one with 7, then the 49 strands are much thinner, and thus much more pliable. It gets even more confusing, we can thank the fact that the wire we use wasn’t originally made for beading. It was made for Fishing! (that’s right Fishing) in fact one of the major manufacturers of our beading wire still sells fishing wire. So to confuse us more, it is measured it in gauges. Gauge is a measurement of the wire diameter, and in electrical terms, this size determines the amount of current a wire can carry. And exactly what does this have to do with beading? One day I have to research this. And to make it even more confusing, the smaller the number, the larger the wire, which I assume has something to do with electricity. And then we measure beads in millimeters….because well, that’s how they are made and let’s face it most of the world works in millimeters. So we will just have to teach you this. For example 10mm, well take a look at your pinky finger, the nail on that finger is more or less 10mm. Our bead sizes are noted in millimeters diameter. Then remember that 25mm equals 1 inch, so essentially the size of a 1 inch ball. So wire used for stringing, artistic wire used for wire wrapping and headpins are all measured in gauge. Common gauges for headpins is 20, 22 or 24. (Remember the larger number is the more flexible because it is the smallest.) 10 Gauge = 2.59mm (0.1019 Inches)20 Gauge = 0.813 (0.032 Inches) So here is a conversion from Wire Gauges to Inches to Millimeters.
20 Gauge artistic wire is a good size for wire wrapping as it is strong enough to hold up for your designs. And yet is still pliable enough to use.
Venice during this period of shut down is incredibly beautiful. Thanks to Andrea Rizzo a Venetian photographer who shared this video. . Even Venetians are not getting out to enjoy the beauty of their city. They can only go to the grocery or pharmacy, otherwise they cannot be further from their house than 200 meters. Fortunately, the canals are within that range and we are getting lots of pictures showing the clear water, seeing the fish swimming., that we had no idea were living right beneath the boats. I am glad that Andrea documented this brief tranquil moment in Venice.
Since we started importing some 30 years ago, my suppliers have become like family to us. And by extension their families feel the same way. This is an extremely difficult time for Murano whose lifes and livelihoods have been threatened many times in history. The older generation can still remember World War II and the aftermath of a devastated economy. And World War II was upon them even before they recovered from WWI. One of my friends in Murano sent me this very lovely message. A man of very few words, I was so touched by his concern for Murano, all the small businesses, restaurants, bars, artisans and yet, still able to see the beauty in the lagoon. And his concern for us.
It is a time in the world when we should stand together.
Cane Glass is really a version of the old Rosetta Canna – just a whole lot less complicated. The Rosetta Canes required many dips into the furnace pots for the added colors which later got carved away. The furnaces in Murano have been blowing and pulling glass rods for centuries. The term rosetta first appeared in the inventory of the Barovier Glass works in Murano, in 1496. Today they continue, it’s something they do for example:
1) when they need to make the “s” curves for chandeliers
2)when they want to make chevrons – the Rosetta
3)when they want to make the glass rods for silver serving pieces.
4) when they want to make just about anything which has a hole in it….it all starts with the bubble in the first gather.
Just pointing out that cane glass was NOT invented in the US by ANYONE! And that I get slightly miffed when Americans think they invented beadmaking, or glass blowing. (Just saying)
This is a working furnace in Murano and the one where we produced the cane glass, our blown filigrana beads, wine glasses, vases, bowls, and bottles and a few thousand drawer pulls, wine stoppers, Christmas Balls, Glass Slippers and almost anything you can dream. This furnace has been making glass since the 1960s. It is a production furnace, supplying handmade Murano Glass all over the world. It’s hot, it is heavy, it’s dangerous and it is not for tourist.
A Typical Murano Glass Furnace
And who better to make this glass, or so at least that is what I thought when I began a project with my dear friends at the furnace. Clearly having been a glass blower for some 40+ years, they could make the glass canes. Partly, the owner humored me, and partly he thought it was a good idea as well. Neither of us knew that the stubborn nature of Muranese and tradition would get in our way.
It is the same process as making the zanfirico or the latticino which is used in all furnaces as decorations, just put a bubble in the first gather. Many of these furnaces also pull their own mosaic – millefiori or murrine. It just makes sense to “do it in-house”, you have the glass, the workers and then you know it is done properly and will be absolutely compatible with your other glass. And the famous Effetre Moretti who makes glass canes used around the world, well they too pull it the same way.
Claudio puts the bubble in the glass.
Here you see Claudio – who, over the years, worked as a glass blower and sometimes a waiter. Some of you who have been to Venice to the demonstrations of glass blowing near San Marco Square may have seen him there as he moonlighted on the weekends earning a little neri (cash under the table). He spoke about 5 languages and arrived on the vaporetto each morning from Pt Sabbione – not a native Muranese. He is preparing the blow pipe to bring out the mass of glass that becomes the bubble.
The bubble is crucial, because that bubble becomes the hole inside our cane glass. Now as you see, it is darn right difficult for us to control the exact size of the bubble and therefore we have great difficulty controlling the size of the hole! Once the bubble in inside, the next work, like making mosaics is to add on the layers of color or decoration. With each layer you add, your gather (the ball at the end of the punti) becomes larger and heavier. With the cane glass, we next add the color which is a thin layer when viewed from a cross section.
The ball become quite large and it’s a lot like making taffy (just at a much higher temperature). The size of the ball will determine how much glass rod you yield, a delicate balance between making production and being able to control the cooling process so you don’t break the glass. When the ball is at the size you want, another glass blower arrives with a hot punti which he uses to attach to the other side of the ball, with the blow pipe still attached on the ball as well. Then it’s a ballet of blower and the glass to pull this ball out before it begins cooling. Here Franco is seen in the middle of the pull blowing cool air to cool the cane.
Pulling the canes for Cane Glass
I might point out here that this is also the reason our can glass varies in diameter, exact shape as well as hole size. A bed of insulation is prepared to drop the cane for further cooling.
Next comes the conflict of tradition and need. The traditional way for canes to be cut is chopping, that’s right, like a guillotine. If you use this glass in the furnace, you do not need straight cuts, you heat it up and it become the decoration on an art piece.
But our jewelry makers want nice straight ends so their earrings, necklaces, etc hang just right. It was a loosing battle against centuries of “that’s how we do it”. We did come to terms on fire polishing the ends, though they still are not perfectly straight, probably a major concession in Muranese history. And we did find a glass manufacturer in the US who makes precision glass. However, once they discovered we used it in jewelry, they more than doubled the prices per cut.
Glass Rods In the Furnace in Murano
Here’s our inventory of glass waiting to be cut – no make that chopped!
So if you want to use our cane glass be prepared for a few irregularities on these absolutely – doesn’t get more authentic – Murano Cane Glass. Enjoy them!
I can skip the yellows….my least favorite and it is a hard color for us to make in Venetian Beads. The “Quetzal Green” had me a bit perplexed, but I looked it up and it could either mean
a bird of the trogon family, with iridescent green plumage and typically red underparts, found in the forests of tropical America.
the basic monetary unit of Guatemala, equal to 100 centavos.
So I am going with the bird, for me it is a “teal” and our G6 or G26 will give you a similar color.
And below is a chart that shows you how we use metals to give us the colors. Gold Foil always makes the color richer, Silver Foil makes the color brighter and White Gold Foil gives us a soft/satin look. The numbers you see below the color names are the numbers for the canes of glass we buy to make the beads.
Color Variation with Metals
We have our own series of numbers which we use. Had I been clever enough when we started, I would have used the Moretti numbers as it would make working with our bead makers easier. Our color codes table you can find online at Color Chart (Click Here) So for each color of Moretti Glass, we use the prefix “G” “S” or “WG” to achieve the results. Our Spring and Summer Line drops the Prefix for gold, silver or white gold because we only mix Moretti Colors for these.
Making Beads is Hot Work
Having given you this detail guide, it is not quite so easy. Just so you know, each batch of glass as it arrives to our bead makers from Effetere (aka Moretti Glass) is slightly different. Reds are the most difficult of all. The amount of moisture in the air, the salt content of the air in the lagoon, the purity of the minerals used, and the heat at which they melt the minerals all contribute for a slight difference. And then there is the bead maker whose eye watches the bright red color, because that is the color of molten glass and knows just when it is ready. Again the temperature, how long they re-fire it and a myriad of other things affect the final bead. It is what makes these Murano Glass Beads!
If you are traveling to the city of Venice in Italy, there are some useful apps that you may want to download before you go. While these apps have nothing to do with sites to see or places to eat, they are essential to getting around Venice and being prepared as you go about. The first handy app that you will want to download to your iPhone is: hi!tide Venice (see picture below). This app gives you up to date information on acqua alta including the times the water is expected to peak, the maximum level, and area specific flooding information. Not all areas flood equally as some areas are lower than others. The area around San Marco is one of the lowest areas and the first to flood. If you are a tourist and do not have boots, there are plastic waders which cost under 15Euro which you can buy to salvage your Venetian experience. And just think of the stories you’ll have to tell when you get home.
The next must have app is: iVenice (see pic below), which can help you find the right vaporetto to take and the arrival and departure times by location. There are some recent changes in the route numbering system that are not yet reflected in this app, so check for app updates before you go. Remember as a tourist not to block the entrance to the vaporetto. Many times, more than one boat line stops at a single boat stop. Locals know which one it is, but tourist often just stand in front blocking the entrance. Ask someone in the crowd if you are unsure, there will always be someone who understands enough of your language to help.
One of my favorite apps tells you which vaporetto (boats) CheBateo, Bateo is boat in the Venetian dialect. There are route schedules at each boat stop, but trying to understand them may be a challenge. This app is always up to date and makes it simple.Note you can choose your language. You will need to be on a wifi to use it.
Download from Apps stores Apple or Google Use these apps to help make your Venice trip a little easier and to help you prepare ahead of time so that you can enjoy your stay.
This is a question every new beader asks when they first encounter Venetian Beads. And then they ask, “What size wire should I use?”
Venetian Beads, Murano Beads
The most common size of holes of Murano Glass Beads is approximately 1mm. Approximate because they are most often made on 1mm diameter copper rods, which heats up and naturally expands. The glass wrapped around it expands as well, but when the glass and the copper cool, they both shrink. So we generally have a ~1mm hole and for larger beads, the mandrel will be larger as the mandrel must support the bead in the fire.
Making Beads with Fango
We also make beads like our PerlaVita, European Large Hole Beads, Bimbi, our smaller European Large Hole Beads for Children, Duo and 2mm Rondelles which we developed for Leather and they each have different sizing. We make these on stainless steel rods using a bead release to keep the glass from sticking to the rods. Bead Release was used in Venice prior to the 1920s and was called “fango” meaning mud because it came from the lagoon. Bead Release is similar to kiln wash and contrary to popular believe it was not invented by Americans, but they did add graphite to it.
MANDRELS BEING PREPARED TO MAKE OUR LARGE HOLE BEADS So the short answer is that any wire which is less than 1mm can be used for Venetian & Murano Glass Beads. The important issue is the weight of a bead. So larger beads from 16mm up through our large 30 and 40mm beads will need a heaver (larger) gauge wire. Note: Venetian/Murano Beads will always be slightly abrasive around the edges. This is not a defect, simply how the beads are made.
Bracelets or Necklaces?
Bracelets will require a heavier gauge because bracelets are much more active and get more abuse than a necklace. Necklaces, especially those with Swarovski or small beads can be strung on a smaller gauge because they will not be subjected to as much stress.
Here’s a peek inside the dichroic facility of Sanberg Coatings, where all our Murano Glass goes for the added bling or as I think, the magic machine that gives us all these added colors.
Vacuum Coating Chamber – Cost ~$2Million
The technology is called “vacuum thin film deposition” and was discovered in 1887. It took military and aerospace needs to support the research and development of the expensive equipment to produce on a large scale. Tax dollars paid for the creation of these complex machines for use in optical equipment, lasers, fiber optics, optical recording, infrared guidance, photoelectric converters, Dolby 3d Projection and mundane things like eyeglasses or camera lenses.
Prepping for Coating
The coating process is done in a vacuum deposition chamber by vaporizing quarts and metal oxides with an electron beam gun and condensing micro-thin layers on the surface of the glass (or whatever you want coated) in a crystal structure.
Jerry Sandberg, an engineer as well as jewelry artists, worked at a high tech firm producing thin film components in southern California when he discovered that another artist, Murray Schwartz was digging through the trash at the facility for the small pieces of reject mirrors. He too began collecting the rejects and along with Murray, they began the development of the first three dichroic glass colors designed for the art glass industry: Cyan/Red, Magenta/Green and Yellow/Blue, colors which we still use today. It’s a bit confusing, the the first color is the input color, the second is what you see when it is fired. So if we want Red we buy Cyan/Red.
Sheets of Glass Coated
It was Murray’s wife, Rupama who put the first scrap of dichroic into her kiln, an experiment that led us all to today’s incredible array of art produced with the colors dichroic made possible.
The Warehouse – Full Sheets Ready
Like all our businesses, Sandberg needs to have sheets ready to ship. Here is there stock room. With the price of an average sheet about $150, it’s a sizeable investment. Since our glass comes from Murano, there is the added cost of the glass, freight, incoming Custom Duties so if you are wondering why our dichroic beads are expensive, here are the clues!
Sandberg Contest Winners
Since the coating are not done in heat, almost anything can be coated – expensive, but can be. Below are some pottery, glass, things you might buy at a thrift shop, a home decoration store. The only issue I see is that you can coat only one side (or you must flip and coat the other).
Examples of EveryDay Items Coated
I say it’s magic because the technical description defies my understanding and I am happy to have Sandberg work his magic for our beads and pendants.
Note: Sandberg sells through distributors, but if you want to take a class, you can find the classes available on their website Coating by Sandberg.
Our beads all (except for the few borosilicate) start with the canes that Effetre produces in much the same fashion they have been doing since the late 1800s. That is not to say that Venetians and Muranese did not make beads before Vincenzo Moretti began his production of Murrine and subsequently branched into all colors of glass canes. The furnaces of Murano could all make glass canes. It starts with the batches they create each night. But the Moretti family concentrated the production, and made it easy for bead makers to buy in small batches.
Even today our bead makers go to the Effetre warehouse to buy canes by the kilo. It is a secretive place and definitely not open to tourist. Even the largest importer of Moretti canes in the US, Mike Frantz, tells me he has not seen the entire production areas. I sometimes get go with a bead maker, but definitely no cameras. I count on the office manager to take care of delivery to the bead makers where we supply the materials.
Effetre Factory Warehouse
Catalog of Colors
Well the catalog is actually small pieces of canes in a binder. And if you are looking at newer colors, hand prepared, then they just cut off a piece of cane and put a sticker on it for you, like one of my favorites, Blue Inchiostro. It has yet to make it into the books! My office always is full of pieces of canes, millefiori and samples we have tried. Fortunately Moretti had the forethought to give the canes a 6 digit number, though most of us just use the last 3 digits.
Canes and our Bead Shapes Sample Card
It takes a good bit of imagination to work on beads. Like the artist pallet, there are always things that influence the outcome, the color. You can see in the chart below how the color changes just be adding Gold, Silver or White Gold.
Gold and Silver Change the Colors
Colors and Numbers
And you can see we have our own color codes which are almost uniformly. That’s because late at night I might give something a different number – but never intentional.
White gold foil beads are produced White gold which is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal, such as silver or palladium.
Yellow gold is measured in Karats. With Yellow Gold, there are two applications, interior and exterior and exhibit the same behaviors.
White gold tends to tone down the color, giving the colors a softer look. Think about the difference between Sterling Silver Jewelry and White Gold Jewelry, where the White Gold it has a much softer glow.
Basic Colors in White Gold Foil
The little pads of the precious metals are sold by the weight to the bead makers. It is expensive but fortunately it takes only small amounts for each bead.
Gold, Silver and White Gold Foil in Sheets
Every bead maker has a stash of canes.
Serious Work
Our bead makers have serious supplies of glass. There are a couple reasons. 1) We need lots of beads and 2) Effetre has a schedule for making the glass, and they NEVER deviate from this schedule. If we need Green and they are sold out, then we just have to wait. The batches are in about 250-300 Kilo and if we do not like the Red, then we still have to wait. Not only do we have to wait for the schedule, we also have to wait until they have sold all of the Red we do NOT like.
Blue comes in Many Shades
Now that we have the colors, then you must decide shape, size and decoration.
