The round bead is the first one you learn how to make. And most of our other shapes take off from the humble round bead. So it is the building block and our most popular bead shape. We buy and sell many thousands of round Gold Foil beads each year.
Murano Glass Torch for Making Beads – the Cannello
First you’ll need a torch, the kind we use in Murano is known as a cannello, it burns without oxygen and at a lower temperature (about 200 degrees) which allows our bead makers to add millefiori, exterior gold foil and to work the bead for a longer time than can be done in American torches. On the other hand, the American torches allow the bead maker to work in a pinpoint flame, which is useful in small decorations but require oxygen.
Effetre Glass Canes – Let’s Make Some Beads
It All Begins With the Canes
It all begins with the selection of the glass canes and there plenty from which to choose. We use Effetre, known generally in the industry as Moretti. It is a soft glass with a COE of 104, Soda Ash Glass which contains no lead and is worked at temperatures of about 945 C which is about 1733 F. Our bead makers work with larger diameter canes and we buy the canes 20 kilo at the time. They know to the gram how much glass it takes to make a bead! So, if we are working on a large order, we want all the beads to be from the same glass batch in the factory in Murano. Because, like carpet and fabric, each batch of glass is slightly different.
Decorations on a Round
Tools of Bronze for Round Venetian Bead
Bead Makers – Can you Rub Your Tummy & Pat Your Head?
While we say that the round is the easiest shape to make, it’s still difficult work sitting in front of the heat, attempting to roll the mandrel in one hand while making sure that the cane is in the heat and wrapping around your mandrel. Well it takes some practice, rather like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time.
Shaping the Round
After you master the round bead you can advance to making many other shapes, it is about learning how much glass you need on the mandrel to make squares, bicones, hearts which we make with tools especially made for forming the shapes.
All these shapes begin as a round
The bead must be thoroughly heated so the temperature is the same throughout the bead which is part of learning how to recognize this when the entire bead is red hot. In Murano, the maestro speak about “knowing” the glass. It is a feel and knowing the exact shade of red you need to be sure the bead is thoroughly heated. Once you are happy with the shape and any decoration, it still must be flash annealed (again to be sure the temperature is consistent).
Rounds Ready to Cool – Vermiculite
Many of our beads are annealed in an electric “furnace” which lets the beads stay at a consistent temperature and then slowly bring the temperature down to prevent shock and breaking. Some of the smaller beads are annealed in vermiculite as in the picture above (the traditional method, though in early days it was just sand from the lagoon).
And they are made one at the time, and as we like to say “No two ever exactly alike!” the beauty of lampwork.
Venice has battled the plague more than once in it’s history. Arriving on the boats in the harbor of Venice, the merchants brought disease which killed large numbers of the population. Today’s plague and pestilence is a different kind, the abusive, illegal vendors who badger the tourist selling bags, selfi sticks, toys and feed for the pigeons of San Marco. (It is illegal to feed the pigeons. And as you might guess, it’s illegal to buy the fake Gucci, Prada or other purses.
Read our BlogVenice and learn about how to get to Venice from the airport, buy your boat passes, what’s going on and more. It promises to be a big year for tourist with some 20-30 million visitors, many coming to Italy for Expo2015 and then heading to Venice. There will be a record number of cruise ships arriving. The Art Biennale is also attracting numerous tourist. So book early, be patient and enjoy.
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!
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
This CNN special features Bill Weir as takes all of us armchair tourist on a trip to those special places in the world – before we destroy them. His camera crew gives you a spectacular view of Venice, Tops on my Wonder List. Read Our Blog
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.
The theme for Carnevale 2015 is all about the Food and Drink. Saturday night the parade down the Rio Cannaregio Canal bought thousands to watch this spectacular show. The fun continues until the close on 17 February. Read More: Follow our Blog
