This August marks 23 years that we have been working in Murano and Venice with our wonderful bead makers. It started as a hobby, well not even that, friends wanted the beautiful necklaces that I had bought in Murano. Little did I know that loading my bags with goodies for friends would lead 1)a change…
What goes into making a millefiori bead? What are they always different? What makes them smooth? and other questions you’ve always wanted to know about millefiori! First the canes must be made. And since there are many different opaque millefiori slices of canes used in this particular millefiori bead, well there are about 120 opaque canes that…
This is one of my new favorite products, the safety chain for our PerlaVita Bracelets. Most of us have a little trouble putting on a bracelet and taking it off. There are “bracelet buddy” tools, someone in your household who helps you or your co-worker who comes to your aid but this little Safety Chain…
What do you think about a seller in HongKong (China in general) shipping a 1 pound package to New York City for $3.66 while a seller in New York City pays slightly under $6.00 to ship the same weight package? It gets worse for the 2 ounce package: A Chinese shipper can ship for .98…
If you prefer the bright shine ,925 Sterling Silver, not Silver with an Anti-Tarnish coating, which tones down the bright shine we all love, you need easy ways to clean it. This cleaning method works, it’s easy, you have the items in your kitchen so give it a try. (Read the cautions below before you…
Calcedonia (Chalcedony) is a glass made with silver and other elements (glass is above all a chemical reaction which takes place in heat), developed in Murano during the mid fifteenth century. Angelo Barovier is attributed with developing this polychrome glass around 1460 (the 15th Century).The Barovier name has been synonymous with Murano Glass since the furnaces…
Just a little refresher on terms we use in jewelry making. Math, it turns out, is also useful for jewelry making. Conversions Factors To Go From To Multiply By Carats DWT 0.128603 Carats Grams 0.2 Feet Millimeters 304.8 Feet Meters 0.3048 Grams Carats 5 Grams DWT 0.6430149 Grams Troy Ounces 0.03215075 Inches Millimeters 25.4 Inches…
Our beads all take a similar path arriving here to have photography made, get names, assign Product Codes and finally to you. We begin with the famous Effetre glass canes which are produced on the island of Murano in much the same fashion as hundreds of years ago. The Effetre factory is a secretive place…
Our beads are handmade and well, sometimes there are shards of glass left when the mandrels are etched out. I know many people think the holes are “drilled” but that would be so time consuming, hazardous to the health and we would break a ton of beads along the way. Rather, most of our beads…
We published this article a few years ago, but it is still valid. I was prompted to update it when a reader on our FaceBook Page commented on a picture of beads and saying “wow so expensive, i find these places …. i go to garage sales, and regular stores and can get some amazing glass beads…