Friday, September 5, 2014

An Introduction To Murano Glass Beads

Murano glass is a type of handmade glass that is made in the Venetian islands of Murano. Murano glass beads are a famous product of this particular place and every year a large number of bead lovers travel to Murano just to get their hands on these ornate creations. Murano glass beads are beautiful and colourful and they have been around for centuries. There is a special process used in their creations and today you don't have to travel all the way to Murano to get them, but you can purchase them conveniently online.
Murano glass beads can be used in the creation of all types of jewelry items such as necklaces, bracelets, anklets, pendants, earrings and much more. You can combine them with other types of beads such as crystal beads to create stunning artistic pieces. These beads have been influenced by the makers of Venetian glass and they have been around since 1291. Glassmakers in those days used a number of technologies such as enamelled glass, crystalline glass, multicoloured glass, milk glass, glass consisting of threads of gold as well as imitation gemstones created from glass and produced beads that are still unmatched around the world.
Color
The first step towards the creation of Murano glass beads is production of colored canes. It is important that the chemical compounds used in their color fabrication are mixed very accurately because they are quite sensitive. A combination of different compounds is used to achieve different colors. For example when cobalt and copper is combined, the resulting color of glass is aquamarine.
Lampworked Beads
One of the techniques that are commonly used in the creation of these beads is lampworking. A torch or air pump burner and mandrel is used to make these beads. Previously, mandrels were made using iron rods and were covered with a release material, but now the process makes use of a copper tube. This helps create different shapes of beads.
Although the lampwork method is time consuming, the outcome is beautiful and stunning. Each bead has to be produced individually and they are usually quite expensive as well.

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