BEADS AND WORKING OVER THE FLAME

The starting point to making the glass beads is the glass rod, which holds special importance for its production in Murano.

It is made by pulling both ends of the single colour glass bubble, until the right diameter is reached.

The rod can measure up to 100 metres long, and is then cut into smaller sections of approx. a metre each, which are then bound in bundles.

The solid glass rod is used to make really beautiful beads with the “flame” technique.

The flame burns using methane gas and oxygen, and something similar to a welding torch is used, and over the heat of the flame the glass melts and creates a thread that is wound around a fine metal rod.

This way a sort of hot glass ball is produced that is worked and shaped using pincers or bronze moulds to give the bead the desired shape (round, square, star, etc.) and is then finally cut at the base of the copper rod.

Once it has cooled down, the bead is placed in an acid so that the copper rod dissolves and leaves a hole in the bead.

Various and important techniques can be used for the flamed beads, some of the most interesting and typically “Venetian” are those with gold or silver leaf, which are obtained by forming the first liquid glass which is then rolled over a very fine leaf of 24 carat gold or silver; with the heat the leaf breaks giving a cracked effect that is always different.

The glass can then be covered with a second layer of transparent glass, to make the bead shinier, while if it is left without the second layer it is more opaque.

The same flame technique can be used to make small star-shaped glass plates, hearts or other shapes, rings and small animals.

Another very important technique is that of applying pieces of Millefiori rod to the main nucleus.

Also known as Millefiori or Mosaic beads, they are made by applying fine pieces of rod to the hot glass core so that the entire surface is covered.

The bead is then heated a second time so that the murrinas weld together.