Colors of Murano Glass Beads – It Starts with the Canes

Effetre aka Moretti is the Beginning 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…

Dead Soft, Half Hard, Hard – How to Understand Beading Wire Terms

I feel like we have answered this question before, but we keep getting it. Now those of you who know me, know that beads, specifically Murano Glass Beads are my field of expertise and anything to do with glass, Murano, Venice. So to answer this question I had to do a little sleuthing, naturally on…

What I Learned at the Italian Renaissance Fair

We did it, we packed our tables, some of our jewelry and some of our (I say some, because we have a warehouse full of these wonderful treasures) Murano Glass Vases, Bowls and Bottles, Mirrors, Animals, Fish, Aquariums into a large commercial van and drove over the bay. The last couple of days before the…

Inventory Shows – Or Notify when Available?

Well after months of telling everyone we were going to implement Inventory on VenetianBeadShop.com. we DID it! It may not be pretty for a short while as we sort out any inaccurate stock counts here in our warehouse. But it just gets better as we work on it. So ever so often, a product may…

Where is My Order?

We get this question a lot. And we are always happy to answer, but sometimes if you live on the other side of the world or even across the country, our hours and yours may not sync and you are feeling neglected. So here’s how you can see if your package has shipped. And you…

Tucson In My Rear View Mirror!

We have closed the show on 8 days of fun and meeting so many new people, putting faces to our online customers. So here’s my wrap on the show. The preparations start immediately after the Christmas rush and trays of beads must be prepared, filled and labeled correctly (we hope). We operate on a bar…

Converting Fractions to Inches and Millimeters

Egyptian Hieroglyphics first used fractions in 1800BC

Fractions – Hieroglyphics It is said that the Egyptians were using fractions in 1800 B.C. writing in hieroglyphics, using them in their payments and taxes. Inches, Yards The inch was originally the width of a man’s thumb. In the 14th century King Edward II of England ruled that 1 inch equaled 3 grains of barley…

Using a Bead Gauge

We measure our beads in millimeters because that’s how our bead makers work. Millimeters are also how pearls are measured. So most women are slightly familiar with the concept, just ask one if she prefers a 10mm pearl or an 8mm pearl. A handy thing to remember is that 1 inch = ~25mm You need…

Cheap Rates from China – Dianne Feinstein Answer? or Non-Answer?

US Postal Rates for 2 ounces within same city

Since I believe that our elected officials should hear what concerns us, I wrote both Mike Honda and Dianne Feinstein. (As normal I get a nothing response….but eventually they do respond.) So that you can all see exactly her response I have copied it EXACTLY here. It is not a surprise. Basically Honda and Feinstein both…

Show Time

Well a few years ago we quit doing shows. The travel, shipping 800-1200 pounds of beads to far away places and night flights had lost their appeal. But this weekend, we did our first show. It was very close, only 2 miles from our shop. If we had a lot of time to think about it,…