Silver and glass beads can be assembled to suit the wearer's tastes and preferred style or colours to make up a unique charm bracelet.
Among the most popular glass beads are the famous Murano beads made in Venice, the home of glass making.
Glassmaking in Murano is thought to have started as early as the 9th Century and, because Venice was a major trading port, was influenced by Asian and Muslim culture. The technique of enamelled glass came from the Syrians and after the fall of Damascus in 1400 and Constantinople in 1435 other techniques of decoration were added to the Venetian craftsmen's repertoire.
In 1271 the Venetian authorities banned the import of foreign glass and forbade foreign glass makers from working in the city and in 1291, fearing fire in the city's mostly wooden buildings the authorities ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to the island of Murano.
It was a skill that was jealously guarded and the Murano glassmakers were not allowed to leave the Venetian Republic, though some did take the risk, travelling as far as the Netherlands and England to set up their furnaces.
Glass is made from silica, which becomes liquid at high temperatures. As it cools from liquid to solid there is a period when it is soft and can be worked and shaped.
The Murano glassmakers developed several techniques including enamelled glass, called smalto, glass with threads of gold, called aventurine, and multicoloured glass, called millefiori, milk glass, called lattimo, and imitation gemstone glass.
Various other materials are added to glass that can produce different finishes. Sodium, for example makes the glass surface opaque.
One of the most famous is the millefiori design, which is made by layering coloured, liquid glass with each layer shaped by a mould into a star, that is then stretched into long rods, called canes. When these have cooled the canes are sliced across. The cross section looks like a collection of flowers, hence the name millefiori (a thousand flowers).
Murano beads are made from coloured canes and the colour is introduced using chemical compounds. A very precise mix of copper and cobalt makes aquamarine colour, while a gold solution is the colouring agent for ruby red.
The method for bead-making was invented in the 1700s using two techniques, called wound lampworking and the torch and mandrel.
Lampworking is the most time-consuming as it involves making each bead individually. In this method the canes are heated to molten, wrapped around a metal rod and then worked by adding layers of different coloured glass as well as gold or silver leaf to achieve different effects.
The beads can be removed from the metal rod once they are cold and have solidified, leaving a hole through which they can be threaded.
Among the most popular lampworked beads are the wedding cake - with glass overlays either featuring flowers or patterns of swirls or dots - and Venetian foil beads - fusing colour with gold or silver.
Canes are melted then blown to make blown beads. This is called the Filigrana or Filigree method.
There is such a rich variety of colours, finishes and patterns in the beads that it's possible to create a unique bead charm bracelet with a special significance for its owner.
Author Resource:
The glass-maker's art has been carried out on the island of Murano, in Venice, for centuries. Murano glass beads come in a wide variety of finishes and are very popular for creating individual bracelets. Consumer journalist Ali Withers explores the history.
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