Tag: Italy

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 wire to the top of the tower in San Marco…But it is the flag of the Republic of La Serenissima that flies closing Carnevale.

There have been some beautiful creative costumes and many of the classic well-known style. This costume with the moon is so clever and right on with the theme of  this year, but it was a bit difficult to manoeuvre through the crowds. My personal favorites are those people make themselves. But many people wear masks they purchased on the walk to San Marco Square.

On Saturday before the close of Carnevale, an estimated 60,000 people arrived in Venice, most of them for just a few hours. My solution to the crowds is to take a breather in the Correr Museum, gives you a great view of the crowds, surrounded by the history of Venice and while everyone else is trying to find bathrooms and food, I am enjoying wandering around an world class museum with lots of very clean bathrooms and a charming cafe with Prosecco, Wine, Tea, Sandwiches and best of all: chairs to rest and it is inside in case the weather is bad. (If you are handicapped, inquire for the elevator.)

And while I am in the Correr Museum, I get a chance to learn a little more about the history of Venice browsing through the rooms filled with the collection of Teodoro Correr which he bequeathed to the city of Venice. There is also a collection of jewelry from a few centuries ago. And we thought we invented the tassel! It is clear that gold has always been in style.

Some of my favorite costumes were the “Steam Punk” and a group about 50 people arrived from outside Venice on the train all in costume. We had a short phase of Steam Punk jewelry in the US, but apparently it’s a genre still very popular around the world. And in Venice there are tons of masks in case you want to have this costume for next year.

 

And so Carnevale ended with the traditional flight of the “Leone”, the Flag of the Republic of Venice and the anthem, a somber finish to the fun and frolic of Carnevale di Venezia. (The Republic existed for over a millennium between the 7th century and the 18th century from 697 AD until 1797 AD when Doge Manin surrendered to Napoleon.) The fog which had obscured the tower cleared just in time for the Leone.

And my personal end to Carnevale is the last frittelle at my favorite morning coffee shop on the day after Carnevale ends as they will not be made again until Carnevale 2020.

Carnevale Ends with a Fritelle

Watch our short collection of the nearly 2,000 pictures I made of costumes and scenes from Carnevale 2019

Until next year…..

Video: Zanfirico Curved Tubes Murano Glass Beads -the Art of Bead Making

Making Venetian Beads

Sometimes making Murano beads is like one of those games you play where you try to see the differences between two cartoons. Or “one of these things is not like the other”. We were working on a slightly different version of one of our zanfirico* beads to make it a little more production friendly. Two days of working with our bead makers to make one style of beads and I was still trying to explain that it just doesn’t feel right. That while all the components, zanfirico, 24kt Gold Foil, Base color were all there, it just wasn’t what I was trying to achieve. Not that the beads weren’t beautiful – just not what I had in mind. But sometimes the vision they have of a bead (well actually often) turns out better than my own vision. Watch our video as we work to make this bead.

Making one bead, is one thing, making the hundreds and thousands we need for our VenetianBeadShop customers around the world and keeping them essentially the same – well that’s a more difficult task. The variables are so many: the canes we buy from Effetre (known in the industry as Moretti)** who makes the canes as they have been for  – did something change in their batch? like carpet or fabric, each batch has a specific color and varies from batch to batch, the heat and how the torch is working on any given day, add in the different beadmakers, and their humor. Any small change in this loose chain will result in a different bead.

Moretti Producing Glass in Murano – Not an Exact Science!

Sometimes I envy Swarovski® who makes everything by machine and I am sure precision in their recipe for glass colors that equals rocket science!

But then they don’t get to share any creative ideas! Venetian Beads will never be exactly the same – it’s not a science, it’s an art! And our beadmakers the artists!

*Zanfirico and Reticello are high quality products, belonging to the filigree family and they a difficult manufacturing tasks. Zanfirico consists of lines of opaque glass turned together while pulling the rods creating a spiral then wrapped in a clear cover, while Reticello is so named for the characteristic mesh texture that can be observed inside.

**The processing techniques used by EFFETRE MURANO SRL go back to the XIX century, when Vincenzo Moretti rediscovered the difficult method of the murrine from the Romanesque ages, and created a multitude of coloured glasses and enamels, that’s why Effetre products are known also as Moretti.

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