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Tag: Murano Glass Beads
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.
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.
Working with our Bead Makers
We’ve been doing this since 1993, and over the time, we’ve learned how the Venetians and Muranese work, adapted to their lifestyle and gradually found the best of the best who work with us as partners in developing new products. Enjoy a little of our story, Read our Blog
Video: Zanfirico Curved Tubes Murano Glass Beads -the Art of Bead Making
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.
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.
Matte Your Own Venetian Beads
One of our favorite ways to make a piece of Murano Glass Jewelry come alive is to use matte beads which gives you a contrast between our shiny Venetian Beads and the soft glow of the matte beads, a luster which resembles a Mother of Pearl glow. There are couple of ways to achieve this look, sandblasting, tumbling but the quickest, less expensive method is with etchall® a trademarked product sold in Stain Glass shops and some hobby shops.
We do sell some of our beads matted, but since it’s so easy, we think you’ll enjoy doing this in your workshop. It is also a cost saver as you do not need to buy both matte beads and the shiny beads, just buy the shiny and matte as you work.
To begin with, we use only etchall® Dip ‘n Etch, which you can find on our website in 4 oz bottles. Shop Now
It begins as a clear liquid but with use it turns dark as you can see in our bottle here as well. The color does not affect the ability to etch the glass.
For our Murano Glass (COE 104) it takes between 15 and 25 minutes to obtain that soft luste. Other types of glass you will need to experiment to find the optimal time.
We work with a much larger bottle of the liquid and pour into a small plastic (because it does not etch plastic) water bottle so that we can agitate easily and watch the process. Then we pour the liquid back into our larger container using a tea strainer to capture the now matte beads.
Rinse the beads thoroughly and allow to air dry.
NOTE: be sure to shake the container every couple of minutes to be sure the coverage is all over the bead. If you do not, you will have small marks where the beads touched, as the touching prevents the liquid from completely covering the bead.
NOTE: Do not use on any of our exterior foil beads as it will etch off the Gold Foil, Silver Foil.
Small Print
We would be remiss if we did not caution you about its use.
- Do Not allow children to use.
- Use on: glass, mirror, ceramic, porcelain, marble, or slate.
- Re-usable: Yes
- Disposal: Will not harm plumbing. Flush with plenty of water.
- Wear gloves to protect your hands and certainly you do NOT want your jewelry to touch this.
- Wear protective eye wear to prevent splashes which could damage your eyes
- With use it will become discolored, but it still works.
- Temperatures below 65F (18C) may form crystals. If this happens place closed container in warm water for several minutes.
- NEVER PUT IN A MICROWAVE
- Caution: Will etch porcelain sinks and tubs. Neutralize with water and baking soda before disposing in porcelain or ceramic sinks.
- Consider yourself fairly warned that etching is NOT reversable.
Halloween Bracelet – Skulls & Charms
For some people Halloween is the best holiday of the year. Count us in, we love dressing the kids up and strolling through the neighborhood. We have even taken Halloween costumes to the kids in Murano – now thanks to the same manufacturers who flood our markets with costumes, Venetians can find them locally.
While it’s still a mainly US holiday, the Venetian children do enjoy the treats (much like they get on San Martin Day, 11 November when the kids go to all the stores and receive treats).
We incorporated our authentic Murano Glass Skulls in a varying colors and our TierraCast Antiqued Silver Plated Pewter Charms. To make it even easier, we started our with our Sterling Silver Rolo Charm Bracelet. We attached the charms with jump rings, so you only need to wire wrap our our Venetian Beads.Feel free to change the design. If you want to do this in a gold tone, we have the same charms in gold/or Bronze and use Gold Fill or Gold plated chain.
It is a super Mother-Daughter project, or in my case Grandmother/Marcella/Sydney project. We have a simplified version for the younger set.
Click on this link for the components and a printable PDF of directions – or click on the picture.
Happy Trick or Treating! from all of us at VenetianBeadShop.com
Lets Go Window Shopping in Venice
Part of every trip is window shopping for inspiration. It is always good to see that someone else here in Venice has a similar approach. Imagine our surprise when we saw similar beads to our new Sfumato shades in the windows in San Marco, well I guess it is just confirmation that we have a good idea.
In these pictures you will see many of our popular Murano Glass Beads as they are used in designs and sold in Venice. It’s no coincidence, our bead makers have been selling to the stores in San Marco and around for years. Naturally if you make beads, you probably also make jewelry because you have lots of beads.
Venice, an Opulence of Color
Venice is so full of colors found in the incredible chandeliers and Murano Glass sculptures, Vases and Animals that the jewely has to be a bit over-the-top to compete.
If you look closely, you can see some of the prices, they are in Euro and they are not inexpensive.
Even though the finest of precious metal findings for jewelry are produced in Italy, you find few of them used in the jewelry of Venice and Murano. Often the beads are strung simply with just knotting between. The jewelry makers in Murano can carry on a conversation and never miss a knot.
Why?
Because they have glass and because for them there is more profit in selling what they make, rather than buy precious metals for which the market fluctuates hourly.
Can your Spot our VenetianBeadShop.com Beads?
What about our Gold Foil Discs? or our Spiralina Discs?
Or our Luna Rounds,
Cubes and Sasso?
And there are our little squares in gold foils, all our rounds in 24kt Gold Foil, Sterling Silver.
Take a lesson in not being afraid to mix colors. Look how beautiful our little transparent cubes are in this simple but colorful necklace. In Venice bright and bold colors are everywhere. Don’t be afraid to embrace the joy of these vibrant colors. So take an inspiration from the Venetians.
The colors are not only in the jewelry, take a look at this vendor who sells paintings along the walkway in front of San Marco.
How the Nuvola Murano Glass Bead is Made
This popular Venetian Bead is one of the first beads a bead maker is taught after they learn to make the aventurine beads. The process is similar but with white frit instead of aventurine. The heart made here begins with an aima (body) of clear Murano Glass and is then rolled into a bowl of white roughly ground Murano Glass (frit). As you can see here this heart begins as a gum drop shape which is then formed into the heart using the tools. The tools required to make this bead are few and the technique simple.
The small anima is rolled in the rough frit to give it the “clouds” appearance. A transparent color of Murano Glass encases the clouds.
It’s also easy here to see how the base bead could be formed into many different shapes.Google
Murano Glass Bead Colors Overload
The beginnings of almost every bead begins with a sfere (round). From there the decorations are added.
The colors of Venice are so vibrant that it is easy here to go overboard. Every window is filled with the bright colors of the 24kt gold foil and necklaces heavy laden with Murano Glass Beads. the pendants are enormous. It is natural, they sell what they make.
If you go to Florence you find a concentration of gold jewelry on the Ponte Vecchio over the Arno river.
We have been working for sometime here in Venice. Part of every trip is window shopping for inspiration. It is always good to see that someone else here in Venice has a similar approach. Imagine our surprise when we saw similar beads to our new Sfumatura shades in the windows in San Marco, well I guess it is just confirmation that we have a good idea.
We went a bit overboard on these colors. You can see that we tried multiple colors and different sizes of decoration.
We think they are all great, and difficult to choose. But we think the ones with Vinace (a deep purple) are the best. And we will have in the lentil, disc as shown, as well as rounds in several sizes.
Later we will post pictures of new great mosaics we are designing. These we will use in our pendants and larger focal beads.
Murano Glass Beads: New Designs
We are working on new color designs for the winter and spring. Somewhere in the design process we were inspired to design around the new Swarovski Blends, and as we began playing with the colors and shapes, an entire line began to form in our minds.And we just began to play with colors. What you see here are our initial designs, the final shapes are still in process. We knew that we wanted some organic shapes. Now we are also working on Murano Glass Bead rondelles which will match these, as we invision necklaces, bracelets and earrings. There are many more designs underway and we will be posting more. So tell us what you think about these. We began only with the natural colors of the glass, but decided to try some with silver and gold. Take a look at the Swarovski Blends to see how you can use these together. We named them Sfumatura which means “Shades” in English because the colors melt into clear and to the second color. We hope you’ll like these Murano Glass Beads in almost watercolor shades. Tell us what you think and which ones you like. Do you like the gold and center foil in the center or just the bicolors. Google