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…
Carnevale 2020 Venice
Carnevale Venice is something everything should see at least once. Scenes like this one you find all over the city with people in elegant costumes doing very normal things like having their morning coffee or on the vaporetto. It is a bit sureal with people in costumes from the 1700 and 1800 centuries texting and…
Beads Millimeters to Inches Conversion Chart
When you start making jewelry for fun or as a business, you’ll probably wish (not for the first time) that you were taught the metric system instead of the imperial as a kid. Sure, most of us learned it temporarily for science class in high school, but all that has made it’s way far out…
The History of Millefiori
Did you know that glass blowing started in the middle east around 2000 years ago? Are you curious about the history of Millefiori? In this article, you’ll learn what exactly millefiori is and the history of it. Read on to discover its colorful and long history. What Does Millefiori Mean? Millefiori is a word in Italian…
Carnevale Ends with the Flight of the Leone
For those of you who follow VenetianBeadShop, you know that we are in Venice “working” and enjoying Carnevale. The weather has been beautiful, warmer than usual. Today is the closing and it ends with the flight of the Leone. When I first went to Carnevale, I thought someone dressed as a lion would slideup the…
Cane Glass – Murano Style!
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…
Venetian Beads and Pantone Winter Colors
Top10 colors Pantone Winter 2018/2019 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…
Useful Apps for Venice, Italy
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…
Celebrating 25 Years @VenetianBeadShop
Taking a walk down memory lane, 25 years ago in August we made our first buying trip to Venice. Now why our Italian son-in-law never thought to tell us that Italy is “Closed” in August is still a mystery. We arrived with our little indexed list of glass blowers, indexed by location and type of…
Celebrating 25 Years @VenetianBeadShop
La Fenice furnace on Murano whose owner GianFranco Albertini taught me the ins and outs of Murano GlassTaking a walk down memory lane, 25 years ago in August we made our first buying trip to Venice. Now why our Italian son-in-law never thought to tell us that Italy is “Closed” in August is still a…