Murano Glass Furnace - Venetian Bead Shop Blog

The Differences between Mouth Blown and Lathe Blown Glass

Many people think traditional mouth blowing glass is synonymous with glassblowing but that’s only a type of it. A more precise method to create glass apparatuses known as lathe blown glass has also gained the attention of many bead enthusiasts.

And this is why here’s a complete guide by us on mouth-blown and lathe blown glass and differences between them. But before venturing into the main topic, let’s gain some knowledge about glassblowing. So here we go!

What Is Glassblowing?

It is a glass-forming technique where molten glass is shaped by blowing air into it through a long metal tube. More precisely, in this technique, the molten glass is inflated into a bubble with the aid of a blowpipe.
This method of glassblowing has been there since its development in the Middle East around 200-300 BC. Even in the 21st century, glass-blown products have retained their spot of being an essential part of everyday life. It does so by taking part in the production of numerous innovations and art forms.
It is said that the first glass-blown products were glass tubes, glass rods, and tiny blown bottles. These products were found dumped at a ritual bath in Jerusalem.
The art of tube blowing is much more than just an experiment done by glassworkers, it is a revolutionary step that induced a change in conception and a thorough understanding of glass. A person who performs the work of blowing glass is called a glassblower.

The art of glassblowing is basically of two types. The first type is called Mouth blowing which is used globally for creating decorative and utility-based pieces. The other type is called Lathe blown and is not very common as it is mainly used for laboratory and scientific glass production.

Having proper knowledge about these methods can make you understand the process of glass-production better. So, let’s learn about these types in more detail.

What Is the Mouth Blowing Method?

This is the most basic and oldest method of glass design. It is also considered the original method which helps in working with the glass.
In this technique, the artist places a heated and molten glass at the end of the blowpipe. This end of the blowpipe is known by many professionals as “gather”. This blowpipe is then carefully rotated and inflated. It is done while maintaining the proper temperature of the gather and incorporating air into the glass. This allows the glass to get the intended shape.
Now, the glass needs to be removed. An iron rod is used to free the vessel from the blowpipe. Once the process is done, the vessel is heated again and further clarifications are made to the shape and form.

Each piece of mouth-blown glass is unique due to the beautiful irregularities made by rapid heating and cooling. The mouth-blown beads are extremely alluring and are meant to give an elegant touch to its wearer.

If you need one such bead to enhance your beauty, we recommend you Venetian Bead Shop’s Blown Murano Glass Round Gold Foil as they are authentic Murano blown beads, completely hollow inside with the signature Ca’d’oro appearance. These are designed for focal beads and are also often used in Christmas ornaments or decorations.

If you want to buy something luxurious, you should go for Red Filigrana Orchid with an Orange Long Stem. These are formed by combining the flowers made of Murano Glass Red Filigrana and clear Stems of Boro. Group a couple for a beautiful display of flowers that require no watering and don’t wilt on a hot day.

What Is Lathe Blowing Glass Method?

This is a complex technique to make some of the most reliable, durable, and accurate pieces of scientific apparatus. The lathe glassware is found almost in every laboratory. The most important work of Lathe is to grab and rotate glass tube or rod during the glass fabrication process.
To create a super-efficient lathe blown glass, a glass blower commences with a molten globule of glass from a furnace and shapes it into containers and artistic objects. To make scientific apparatus, the glass blower begins with an existing piece of specialist glass equipment and modifies it into the required shape.

Differences Between Mouth Blown And Lathe Blown Glass

Application :

The decorative mouth-blown glass pieces in someone’s bedroom or living room come from a technique that requires one to take a piece of molten glass and use a glass mold or blow tube. These are used for ornamental or decorative purposes.

While lathe blowing is a newer more precise method that is used to create sturdy lab and science glass products.

Material Used:

Compared to the normal globe of glass used in mouth blowing, lathe blowing uses a special kind of glass known as borosilicate glass.

Technique:

In case of mouth blowing glass, the artist molds the glass by blowing into the tube while rotating the glass to shape it. Depending on what the artist is creating, he may need to gather more molten glass to add to his creation. Once shaped and molded, the artist then trims the glass and removes it from the blow tube.

Now unlike mouth blowing, lathe blowing uses a machine to create and either a handheld or machine guided flame to mold the glass.

Parting Notes

Get yourself beautiful blown glassware and add a level of sophistication to your room or lab. If you wish to buy more blown Murano beads, you can browse for the same at our store. At Venetian Bead Shop, you will get a variety of options of beads that are mouth-blown using transparent Murano glass.

<p id="For more information, kindly visit our website or contact our supportive staff. We’ll get back to you in no time.

Everything You Need to Know About Murano Glass

What can people do with glass? We use it to make windows, mirrors, bottles, jars, tableware, tables, covers for watch faces, and more — including, of course, beads. Two distinct items can even be referred to as “glasses” — namely, the vision aid and any cup made from the material. Glass is practical for all of these uses because it is a hardy material in its final form, but can be formed into all kinds of shapes during its creation.

Also notable, though, is a less functional kind of glasswork. Ever since people first began heating and cooling sand, they have molded the material into beautiful and beautiful works of art. Consider the stained glass windows adorning medieval churches, or the more abstract sculptures from modern times. One form stands out for its ability to combine the aesthetic with the functional: Murano glass, a centuries-old artisanal tradition and the subject of this special article.

What is Murano Glass?

Murano glass gets its name from a chain of islands in the Venetian Lagoon. It is also known as Venetian glass for this reason, though the islands lie about a mile north of the mainland city itself. Archaeologists and historians believe the tradition to stretch back one-and-a-half millennia, originating from trade with merchants from the Middle East and the Byzantine Empire. Learning from those regions, Venice soon became the first European capital for glassmaking. Royals and nobles from across the continent considered Murano products a sign of luxury.

In fact, the islands comprising Murano received legal designation as the only place in Venice for factories and artisan shops. This move was partly done because keeping the fiery furnaces away from the rest of the town would prevent fires from spreading. Perhaps a more important reason was to help keep knowledge of their glassmaking technology and techniques away from outsiders, raising the value of their exports. Venice prized their secrets so much that glassmakers needed permission simply to leave the city.

As time passed, other European countries developed their own glassmaking methods, decreasing demand for Murano products. Napoleon Bonaparte’s conquest of Venice in 1797 ended the republic whose laws protected the glassmakers. His closure of the factories ten years later halted nearly all production. Thankfully for world culture, a revival began in the late 19^th century. Now, Murano’s artisanal tradition is still going strong. Their unique techniques continue to dazzle.

What Makes Murano Glass So Special?

Although other countries, companies, and craftspeople have their own methods for making glass, none are quite like the method for making Murano glass. Their process involves mixing silica sand — approximately 70% of the batch — with a variety of substances. The precise identities of all the ingredients remains a well-kept community secret. Whatever they may be, their combination has the effect of lowering the required temperature for the glass to melt and take a liquid form.

This one change in its aspect makes for consistently high quality, something on which the artists behind Murano glass pride themselves. Moreover, they can more easily shape the paste into the forms and shapes they want. All kinds of household wares and decorations have been made from this type of glass. Popular examples of the artisans’ creations include glass horses, pristine chandeliers, ornamented mirrors, and cristallo chalices, among many others.

One element that can make Murano glass works stand out is the color. The material is clear and devoid of color on its own, but certain chemicals and minerals can be added to enhance its brilliance. Only a faint trace of selenium, for example, is necessary to spread billows of red through the glass. The colored sections, which can be shaped to create dazzling designs, are themselves transparent. They create new artistic possibilities without tarnishing or compromising the Murano glass. These color effects combine with the intricate sculpting to produce truly stunning works of art.

What are Murano Glass Beads?

The bead is another noteworthy product that can be made from Murano glass. They are as diverse as anything else made from the material, coming in an array of designs, sizes, and glassmaking styles. For centuries, the island’s artisans have worked to refine the process, using copper mandrels to create the beads one at a time. They string the glass paste around metal tubes, making holes so the finished product can be used as jewelry. They then stack layers of colored glass until it takes the desired appearance.

On that note, beads depend greatly on color. Most other Murano glass products, which may have a specific function and a more complex form. A clear cup retains an appeal that a colorless bead does not. As a result, you can find beads with all kinds of stunning color mixtures. No two are exactly identical in coloring because they are made individually, and also because of the sensitivity of the ingredients that create the colors. Artisans must mix and handle them carefully and wield the color canes with great care.

The vibrancy and quality of these glass droplets have given them an enduring popularity all over the world. Even in the dark period following Napoleon’s shutdown of the factories, global demand for beads allowed Murano glassmakers to scrape by and preserve their methods. It seems that any form of art can last, as long as there are those who learn about and appreciate them.

Where Can I Find Murano Glass Beads?

If you are searching for Murano glass beads of your own, then your search is already over. As you could guess by our name, Venetian Bead Shop specializes in beads made with this special and beautiful process. Every product available on our online store is forged, fanned, shaped, and colored by genuine artisans in Venice and the islands of Murano. Our relationship with these geniuses spans over a quarter-century, and their knowledge and methods have been passed down over generations. If you place an order with us right away, you will soon possess their high-quality, completely authentic masterworks.

Cane Glass – Murano Style!

Cane Glass is really a version of the old Rosetta Canna – just a whole lot less complicated. The Rosetta Canes required many dips into the furnace pots for the added colors which later got carved away. The furnaces in Murano have been blowing and pulling glass rods for centuries. The term rosetta first appeared in the inventory of the Barovier Glass works in Murano, in 1496. Today they continue, it’s something they do for example:

1) when they need to make the “s” curves for chandeliers
2)when they want to make chevrons – the Rosetta
3)when they want to make the glass rods for silver serving pieces.
4) when they want to make just about anything which has a hole in it….it all starts with the bubble in the first gather.

Just pointing out that cane glass was NOT invented in the US by ANYONE! And that I get slightly miffed when Americans think they invented beadmaking, or glass blowing. (Just saying)

This is a working furnace in Murano and the one where we produced the cane glass, our blown filigrana beads, wine glasses, vases, bowls, and bottles and a few thousand drawer pulls, wine stoppers, Christmas Balls, Glass Slippers and almost anything you can dream. This furnace has been making glass since the 1960s. It is a production furnace, supplying handmade Murano Glass all over the world. It’s hot, it is heavy, it’s dangerous and it is not for tourist.

And who better to make this glass, or so at least that is what I thought when I began a project with my dear friends at the furnace. Clearly having been a glass blower for some 40+ years, they could make the glass canes. Partly, the owner humored me, and partly he thought it was a good idea as well. Neither of us knew that the stubborn nature of Muranese and tradition would get in our way.

It is the same process as making the zanfirico or the latticino which is used in all furnaces as decorations, just put a bubble in the first gather. Many of these furnaces also pull their own mosaic – millefiori or murrine. It just makes sense to “do it in-house”, you have the glass, the workers and then you know it is done properly and will be absolutely compatible with your other glass. And the famous Effetre Moretti who makes glass canes used around the world, well they too pull it the same way.

Here you see Claudio – who, over the years, worked as a glass blower and sometimes a waiter. Some of you who have been to Venice to the demonstrations of glass blowing near San Marco Square may have seen him there as he moonlighted on the weekends earning a little neri (cash under the table). He spoke about 5 languages and arrived on the vaporetto each morning from Pt Sabbione – not a native Muranese. He is preparing the blow pipe to bring out the mass of glass that becomes the bubble.

The bubble is crucial, because that bubble becomes the hole inside our cane glass. Now as you see, it is darn right difficult for us to control the exact size of the bubble and therefore we have great difficulty controlling the size of the hole! Once the bubble in inside, the next work, like making mosaics is to add on the layers of color or decoration. With each layer you add, your gather (the ball at the end of the punti) becomes larger and heavier. With the cane glass, we next add the color which is a thin layer when viewed from a cross section.

The ball become quite large and it’s a lot like making taffy (just at a much higher temperature). The size of the ball will determine how much glass rod you yield, a delicate balance between making production and being able to control the cooling process so you don’t break the glass. When the ball is at the size you want, another glass blower arrives with a hot punti which he uses to attach to the other side of the ball, with the blow pipe still attached on the ball as well. Then it’s a ballet of blower and the glass to pull this ball out before it begins cooling. Here Franco is seen in the middle of the pull blowing cool air to cool the cane.

I might point out here that this is also the reason our can glass varies in diameter, exact shape as well as hole size. A bed of insulation is prepared to drop the cane for further cooling.

Next comes the conflict of tradition and need. The traditional way for canes to be cut is chopping, that’s right, like a guillotine. If you use this glass in the furnace, you do not need straight cuts, you heat it up and it become the decoration on an art piece.

But our jewelry makers want nice straight ends so their earrings, necklaces, etc hang just right. It was a loosing battle against centuries of “that’s how we do it”. We did come to terms on fire polishing the ends, though they still are not perfectly straight, probably a major concession in Muranese history. And we did find a glass manufacturer in the US who makes precision glass. However, once they discovered we used it in jewelry, they more than doubled the prices per cut.

Here’s our inventory of glass waiting to be cut – no make that chopped!

So if you want to use our cane glass be prepared for a few irregularities on these absolutely – doesn’t get more authentic – Murano Cane Glass. Enjoy them!

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…..

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 and subsequently branched into all colors of glass canes. The furnaces of Murano could all make glass canes. It starts with the batches they create each night. But the Moretti family concentrated the production, and made it easy for bead makers to buy in small batches.

Even today our bead makers go to the Effetre warehouse to buy canes by the kilo. It is a secretive place and definitely not open to tourist. Even the largest importer of Moretti canes in the US, Mike Frantz, tells me he has not seen the entire production areas. I sometimes get go with a bead maker, but definitely no cameras. I count on the office manager to take care of delivery to the bead makers where we supply the materials.

Catalog of Colors

Well the catalog is actually small pieces of canes in a binder. And if you are looking at newer colors, hand prepared, then they just cut off a piece of cane and put a sticker on it for you, like one of my favorites, Blue Inchiostro. It has yet to make it into the books! My office always is full of pieces of canes, millefiori and samples we have tried. Fortunately Moretti had the forethought to give the canes a 6 digit number, though most of us just use the last 3 digits.

It takes a good bit of imagination to work on beads. Like the artist pallet, there are always things that influence the outcome, the color. You can see in the chart below how the color changes just be adding Gold, Silver or White Gold.

Colors and Numbers

And you can see we have our own color codes which are almost uniformly. That’s because late at night I might give something a different number – but never intentional.

WG1 is Cristallo/White Gold
G1 is Cristallo/Gold
S1 is Cristallo/Silver
For more on our color codes, visit our VenetianBeadShop Color Chart

White gold foil beads are produced White gold which is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal, such as silver or palladium.

Yellow gold is measured in Karats. With Yellow Gold, there are two applications, interior and exterior and exhibit the same behaviors.

White gold tends to tone down the color, giving the colors a softer look. Think about the difference between Sterling Silver Jewelry and White Gold Jewelry, where the White Gold it has a much softer glow.

The little pads of the precious metals are sold by the weight to the bead makers. It is expensive but fortunately it takes only small amounts for each bead.

Gold, Silver and White Gold Foil in Sheets

Every bead maker has a stash of canes.

Our bead makers have serious supplies of glass. There are a couple reasons. 1) We need lots of beads and 2) Effetre has a schedule for making the glass, and they NEVER deviate from this schedule. If we need Green and they are sold out, then we just have to wait. The batches are in about 250-300 Kilo and if we do not like the Red, then we still have to wait. Not only do we have to wait for the schedule, we also have to wait until they have sold all of the Red we do NOT like.

Now that we have the colors, then you must decide shape, size and decoration.

More about that later.

23 Years and Counting – Happy Anniversary to Us!

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 of careers 2)the adoption of entire families 3)a love affair with the magical city of Venice!

We already had the famous Vincenzo. Famous for getting on an airplane, speaking not a word of English, to come to the US to study helicopter repair (which he never did). Famous for sweeping Bob’s daughter off her feet and marrying her (and us) within months, still speaking only a few phrases of English. (And us less Italian!) As part of Vince joining our family, we also inherited a full fledged Italian family, complete with a fabulous sorella (sister), 3 amazing Zia (aunts), cugini (cousins), baby gemelli (twins) and one very grumpy fratello (brother), all of whom arrived here for August holidays.

His family introduced us to amazing family dinners, which we thought needed either a referee or the police as with our limited Italian, we were sure that some one was going to die! Did I mention that the sorella was a graduate of the Largo Garda Hotel Restaurant & School and also a sommelier? Need I say more about the food? Everything hand made in a kitchen the size of a Volkswagon Bus, served exquisitely, in courses so many I couldn’t count, much less eat it all!

But Why? We had though a little about something to do outside of high tech. I was working for a company building satellites. We also though it would be a good idea to write-off our frequent trips to Italy. Sounded good? And the glass of Murano, well, we had fallen in love with it. Though early on, we researched glass in Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic – these places just didn’t hold our attention like Murano.

So in August 1993, we headed to Murano with a few thousand in our pockets. Now why Vince or his family never thought to tell us that the entire islands of Venice and Murano would be deserted – Ferragosto! Everyone having fun on a beach somewhere, but definitely NOT working. The sun was amazingly hot and I think we could have made glass on the sidewalks of Fondamenta Manin. We had a list from the Italian Trade Commission with names of furnaces. (At this point, we were not buying beads, rather vases, bowls, bottles – the beads came along later. But we still managed to buy some beads as they were, then and still today, impossible for me to resist.)

Bob had cross-referenced the list of furnaces with “street” addresses. The street is in quotes, because addresses were based on the way the postman delivers the mail – nothing to do with where the furnace is located! Remember this is 1993, there is NO internet, no google maps, just us in 95+ degree heat, 100% humidity walking miles and miles, knocking on doors sadly closed until September. We did, however, meet a few who were working. They became our immediate friends and we worked with them for years. We had no idea of wholesale pricing, so before visiting a firm, we would visit all the retail stores and see what the retail prices were. (Not so far documented at any business school as a good idea!)

We made our few purchases, and knew we’d be back as soon as possible. Of course Christmas would be coming and we’d need to visit the family. Funny thing, the furnaces are also closed at Christmas! We soon discovered that Italy is closed a good bit of the year!

But now that we had this Murano Glass, we had to sell it. We signed up for school fairs, flea markets and learned a lot about selling the glass, well a lot about packing and unpacking glass and standing in the hot sun! We read in the paper (yes Dorothy, papers were once read) that the International Gem and Jewelry Show was opening in San Mateo. (We read this on Friday a.m.) We decided to go and see what people sold. So Friday afternoon we went to the show, looked around and inquired with the show management about exhibiting, with our thoughts on some nebulous future show date. Danny Duke, from the family that owned the show, said great, they had nothing like our goods and by the way, a vendor had cancelled and he could make us a good price if we could show up on Saturday but no commitment to future shows. We headed home to work our excel spreadsheets to price and pack our glass.

We were like the proverbial “deer in the headlights” but we sold almost all our goods even though we were in the wholesale area. Danny was encouraged and thought we would do better in the retail area for the next show, so he offered us a contract. We had a few beads and discovered that many people wanted to buy the loose beads. Who knew? Our first show we were in a booth beside the famous Picard Beads, who clearly understood we knew nothing about the treasures from Murano that we were selling.

This was the beginning of some 10+ years of exhibiting with the show.

But what threw us into this as a real career? Well it’s now 1998, and there is indeed an internet and the start-up internet over satellite where I worked as Director of Marketing – well it crashed, thanks to the thieving founder who relieved us and our investors of a couple million dollars. But the technology was still valuable and while I worked to sell it out of Chapter 13 to new owners, I began shooting pictures, you know the kind you take to the store and have put on CDs. We opened our first store on Yahoo. Well miracle of miracles within 24 hours of opening the store, we had our first order. And it was from Brazil! We were now hooked on online shopping!

Our Original Logo – A glass Gondola made by a Lampworker in Murano

Early on we worked with the Apple QuickTake Camera, which held only 8 photos, had the battery life of a twinkling star and the resolution was miniscule by today’s comparisons. Eight pictures and then you had to download! But it was a start!

Since we needed more products for the store, I began shooting pictures of the few loose beads we had on hand. They sold immediately and customers asked for more. Fortunately this was just before Christmas and we had already planned to go back to Venice in January. This time we bought BEADS! and lots of them along with our blown glass.

So If I am Here, Is it really Work?

Our amazing selection of Venetian/Murano Glass Beads, you can find on our webstore at: VenetianBeadShop

You can find our blown glass on our sister webstore: VenetianGlassArt

Calcedonia Murano Glass Beads

Calcedonia Murao Glass Beads – Exquisite

Calcedonia Murano Glass was developed in Murano during the mid fifteenth century. In the glossary of glass, written in Murano, Angelo Barovier is attributed with developing this polychrome glass in 1460. The secret of this glass was closely guarded and entirely lost when the Venetian Republic fell.

It was once again rediscovered by Lorenza Radi in 1856 but by the 20th Century none was in production. It is widely acknowledged that Loredano Rosin mastered this technique in the 1970s and his pieces are still on exhibit around the world and in private collections. His untimely death from a boating accident was a blow to the artist community.

Fortunately, his brother Dino Rosin has carried on the family tradition and has continued to perfect this glass in large and beautiful glass sculptures. You can often find Dino Rosin sculptures available at very hefty sums on ebay and in fine galleries everywhere, just search for the name, Dino Rosin. Today there are several well known masters who create sculptures in this unpredictable glass.

Rosin Glass Sculptures in San Marco Square

For all of us in the Venetian Bead world, we are fortunate that there is another furnace who produces (with proper begging) canes of this unpredictable glass which we can chop and use in beads. However, this is a difficult production and we can only get small quantities made – never knowing what color will arrive.

We all dream of the blues and aquas…and sometimes we get it. The amazing, never the same, colors are produced by adding silver nitrate to the glass and the colors are affected by the humidity, the heat, and factors we don’t understand. The glass begins as salt, soda, sand and minerals days before the glass master is ready to work. The recipes for glass depend on very accurate measuring and minerals of the highest quality.

Any small difference will result in color changes or in glass which does not react well in the flames when the beads are being made. It pops and cracks. The Calcedonia has a mind and life of its own, the colors can not be reproduced with any certainty. They continue to turn colors in the flames as the beads are made and even after the beads are in the annealing oven with the silver nitrate reacting to the heat.

We must enjoy each batch of beads for what they are: unique little jewels!

A View of Murano Glass Tool Making

Roberto Donà created this tool making video in honor of his late father Carlo Donà, his family has been making tools for the furnaces and bead makers of Murano for 90 years. The tools must be strong, created for specific uses in production furnaces on Murano, and must survive the daily use in the furnaces.

Roberto has taken the industry world wide as the lampworking world discovered not only the tools which the Muranese use daily in real production furnaces, but discovered the magnetic personality of Roberto. Charming, ready smile and a generous heart, he has a world wide following of the men and women of lamp working and it’s easy to see why!

But as you can see by this video, it’s hot, it’s bending and shaping steel, but more importantly it’s putting his heart into the tools he shapes. He must understand the glass and what the artist is making. Bravo Roberto! You honor your father!

What Is Glassblowing?

What Is the Mouth Blowing Method?

What Is Lathe Blowing Glass Method?

Differences Between Mouth Blown And Lathe Blown Glass

Application :

Material Used:

Technique:

Parting Notes

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What is Murano Glass?

What Makes Murano Glass So Special?

What are Murano Glass Beads?

Where Can I Find Murano Glass Beads?

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