Handmade Beads - Venetian Bead Shop Blog

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 products all worked out with the Italian Trade Commission in Atlanta in the preceding months. No Waze or Google maps just our printed maps of the city which really didn’t have a lot of detail, so we drew them as we explored and our limited Italian language.

Just one night in the oven of a hotel where we stayed sent us searching at the Information Office for hotels with air conditioning a rare find in the early 90s in Venice. We discovered the Lido, a couple of hotels which were only open in the summer, catering to the French and German tourists, which of course led us to discover the necessity of the vaporetto and restaurants on Lido where we still enjoy eating.

Alessandro Barbaro Maestro – Effortless Beauty and Perfection

So in the early morning we would head to Murano with our lists, only to discover most of them were closed. But there were a few wonderful suppliers who were gracious, though they were probably wondering about the crazy Americans who came in August. We still work with some of those suppliers. And I am sure many of our early suppliers thought we would be there once and never come back. Fooled them!

They say love is blind, and luckily so is the love of Venice and Murano where we fell as they say head over heels in love with both the people and the glass. It has been a journey of discovery, joy and pain and fierce friendships.

We did not begin buying beads, that came later. We began with glass from the furnaces, vases, bowls and bottles, figurines, clowns (by the hundreds). While we bought these, we actually had little idea of how to sell the products. We had spent a lot of time learning about importing, customs duties and even attended a college class on importing. We researched the market and knew there were few people in our area who carried any Murano Glass.

But selling it? We made the rounds of school events, church events, and yes, even flea markets. But we read in the paper, you know those things we all used to read in the morning with our coffee, that there was quite a well known Gem and Jewelry show in a town nearby, 3 days only, and 3 times each year. So on Friday afternoon, we went to the show to get a look and explore future show possibilities. The show promoter said, well I like what you have and it so happens that we have a booth where the vendor did not show, so if you can be here ready at 10 tomorrow am, you can have the booth.

That began a very long night of pricing our products, and amazingly, we sold almost everything we had. At the end of the show, the promoter came and convinced us to sign up for his next show, so now we had 3 months to get more goods….well that called for another trip to Venice, Italian classes and our house became a warehouse packed with beautiful Murano Glass.

To be continued…..

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 code system so making sure that technology is on spot is essential. We’ve always thought it was important for our customers to know what they bought, what they paid and more significantly, how to re-order it. In my days before exhibiting at the shows, I always found it exasperating that I got home with a piece of paper with scribbles on it and couldn’t identify a single bead back to it’s price.

Technology has not kept up in any exhibiting arena we’ve ever worked. There is always the frantic attempt to get the internet, the wifi, the card processing up and running. It is enough to give you a case of hyper ventilation!

So Checklist: Barcodes working, Paypal Here working. Nothing lost on the 12 hour trip from the San Francisco bay area to Tucson, just a little sleep and a sore back from sitting in the van. A few pictures of the trip down and us getting set up.

Our neighbors in the show are familiar faces despite our hiatus from Tucson. We love the area, and each morning heading to the show I detour so I can catch a glimpse of those amazing sagauro cactus. I even drive a detour (a long cut) getting to Tucson which takes me through a desert land of these armed monsters. Ageless, they don’t even get their arms until they approach 75-100 years. They are native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican State of Sonora, and the Whipple Mountains and Imperial County areas of California. They can grow to 70 feet tall and are home to dozens of desert critters.

Our Neighbors at the show, That’s Carter – Experienced Show Vendor at 15 months.

When we arrive we have tables and nothing else. About 6 hours later, we have everything unpacked and ready for our customers.

Well setup went perfectly until we got to the hotel. A slip on the pebbles used everywhere in place of grass sent me tumbling. A quick assessment of working parts, I decided the arm was not working. It was about 8 pm and the show opened at 10 the following morning. Plenty of time for a visit to the Emergency Room where 6 hours later I emerged with a cast large enough to make sure I couldn’t move, but still able to man the booth and didn’t impair my talking ;>) It did, however, require me cutting the right sleeve of my tops. Thanks so much to Janice a long time Tucson customer for helping us…we were a little short-handed (pun intended)!

By the end of the show I get a new streamlined cast and have a new respect for using my left hand.

We got up super early to visit some of the rock and fossil shows. It is worth a trip just to see the staggering amount of goods shipped from around the world. Rock Hounds – put this on your list!

Mel checking out the fossilized fish – a bit creepy

Tons of Malachite, Amethyst, Lamar, Hematite, Obsidian, Quartz, Opals, Pearls by the kilo – it is all here.

It is impossible for us to take all our bead styles/colors. But we did take about 1200 different beads. Here are a couple of pictures of our bead trays, all bar-coded.

Well we had so much fun, we have signed up to exhibit at the upcoming ToBeadTrueBlue in Santa Clara, CA March 24-26, 2017

We are looking at the ToBeadTrueBlue show dates for Tucson 2018, but we have to double check the Carnevale Venezia dates – have to do the important things.

Working with Venetian Beads

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 are wound with molten glass over a copper mandrel. The short story here is that in the 20s one of the Murano bead making companies discovered, though exactly how is unknown, that copper would be consumed when exposed to nitric acid. Before that time, the beads were made on mandrels dipped in “fango” mud from the lagoon. So alas, the US did not discover bead release. This new process relieved workers from dipping countless rods in the fango (and obviously displaced some workers). Over time the new process required more sophisticated machines, and the environmental problems came to light. Now, the copper is recovered and the nitric acid must be recycled in environmentally friendly process.

Some of the beads are more prone to this than others. Any bead with avventurina or Calcedonia, and our Nuvola beads tend to have more shards. The Nuvola have small polverized opaque white in them representing the “clouds”. Opaque glass, Avventurina and Calcedonia are more dense and melt at a different temperature than our transparent glass, so they tend to escape the bead. This etching process leaves small shards of glass as the copper is etched out. There are a couple of ways you can work this as you make jewelry.

Our PerlaVita Beads and sometimes those which have silver foil, we use the traditional coatings on stainless steel rods. It just takes longer and while you might not think about it, the consistency of the bead release makes the rod slightly larger or even a little lopsided. So we have to be more careful.

Beadcaps

They hide uneven surfaces and protect the wire or thread you are using as they provide a buffer between the glass and the thread. Classic Venetian Jewelry always had little beadcaps between the knots. They knew this was a good way to prevent the rough edges from cutting the thread (at least not right away). Even pearls will eventually cut the thread – as we all learn!

Classic Venetian Mosaic Bracelet Hand Knotted

Bead Reamer

We use the simple bead reamer on most all our beads when we are making jewelry. It takes just a minute and assures us that we have an even surface with which to work. Always wear glasses when you are using the bead reamer (both the manual one and the electric one). As little particles are thrown in the air. Don’t be afraid to work with the beads. It is good to dip them in water often as you are using the bead reamer (which is really a file) as this prevents heat build up and prevents loosing the lustre of the bead. You can even use this if you want to make the hole a little (very little) larger.

Round Diamond Drill

Less expensive, just as useful. You can find these at most hardware stores. Buy the diamond variety as it will last longer.

For the Serious Beader: – A Dremel

This is an investment you’ll use for years. I confess this is my “goto” for most everything. I can drill through plexiglass to make fixtures for our pictures. I can use the tool to clean the edges around the holes of our handmade beads. It is lightweight and rechargeable. You’ll have to order because I have not found it in hardware stores. Holes in leather, in stamping blanks. It also comes with a wire brush which has it’s own uses. (Sorry we do not sell them, but if you are interested I can give you some places to look.)

They all do the same job, make the holes nice and smooth. And make your beadcaps sit nicely for a well made piece of Venetian Glass Jewelry. Best of Luck!

Designing Beads with our Bead Makers

We enjoy a very privileged friendship with our bead makers in Venice and Murano. Doing business internationally has it risks, there are no “laws” which cover commerce with individuals and small groups. It’s all about relationships and believe me you don’t want to burn one of those bridges in Venice. Venice is a very small place and our industry of handmade, artisan bead makers, is even smaller. Everyone knows everyone and most often they are related families or by marriage.

Designing Beads – Now You Need an Ipad??

We have been working with these wonderful people since 1993 when as neophytes we wandered the streets amid the heat of August, wondering where everyone had gone. During these decades we have encountered every one who makes beads or fuses pendants, and become known through the islands, investing both time and money into developing our suppliers. Some are easier to work with than others; however, the difficult, sometimes produce the most amazing beads!

Those who are willing to work with our ideas, collaborate with us and in turn, take our ideas and turn them into their own are our steadfast suppliers, friends, confidants, and family always welcome in our home for holidays.

With our OEM services we design the Murano Glass beads based on specific requirements of the large jewelry manufacturers, usually colors of the Season, patches of leather, fabric and sketches of their jewelry designs and armed with this we go to our bead makers with the requirements and the fun begins.

Sometimes we need to go to the Effetre factory in Murano to match canes for specific beads. The factory is not open to the public, but Muranese come there to buy their canes. Even after all these years, we need an escort of a local bead maker to enter into the warehouse and definitely no photography, but occasionally I can sneak a couple of pictures.

If the shape is new, it requires a trip to Carlo Donà, famed tool maker of Murano whose son Roberto has carried on his father’s tradition of making tools for the furnaces of Murano which is much more prestigious than making tools us lowly bead makers. (Yes in the eyes of the maestro who produce incredible works in the furnace, making beads is not so high on the totem pole!) Roberto can make any tool we need and he has a following around the world both in the furnaces and bead makers who have discovered the quality of the Donà tooling.

Then we make our first samples. While our bead makers are every bit the “artist”, we need production quantities, not just one bead. So many times we have to slightly modify the tooling or the design to make it easier to produce without loosing the beauty of our original design. As we always say, “No two are ever exactly alike“! That’s the beauty of hand made beads!

So we go through many stages, measuring the glass it takes, measuring the time it takes to make the bead, measuring the amount of 24kt Gold Foil, White Gold Foil or .925 Sterling Silver Foil. The time is of course the most expensive part of the bead and we can only come to a definitive time after having produced several hundred.

And we have to check the colors as different batches result in different colors. Red is our most difficult color and apparently also Effetre’s impossible mission as they tell us they have not changed anything, yet the shade is different each batch of glass. So for large productions we want to be sure to make it from the same batch. A batch of glass is about 250 Kilo (around 500 pounds) and they will not produce a new batch until the old batch, even if it is bruto (ugly) has been sold. We have to wait hoping some international customer will buy the excess as no one in Murano will buy it and then we can try again on the next batch.

At the end of a day where we may have argued over colors, techniques, delivery, designs, soccer teams and politics, there remains the friendship and time for a Brindisi (toast) together. And we enjoy a beautiful sunset looking towards Venice from Murano! And that’s the secret of getting the best beads in all of Murano and Venice.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: