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| Types of Venetian Beads |
| Bella Venetian Beads, is a direct importer of Venetian beads. Venetian glass artisans have been influencing bead makers since the mid fourteenth century and beads made in Venice and the Island of Murano are among the most recognized and collected in the world. |
| Accept no imitations! All beads from Venice are made using the centuries-old process of hand forming a single glass bead on a copper wire and then dissolving the wire out of the bead using nitric acid. This leaves the bead hole crystal clean all the way through. Many "imitation" Venetian beads are mass produced (in places like China and India) with several beads formed on a single steel mandrel that has been coated with a liquid releasing agent. When the beads are later slid off the mandrel, the hole is coated with white powder remnants of the releasing agent. This is a sure fire way to tell the beads are not authentic Venetian beads. |
| We strive to offer a wide variety of high quality Venetian beads. It is almost impossible to describe all the different types of beads that are produced, but the following describes some of the more popular types of Venetian beads we carry. |
| Chevron Beads: This is the most famous of the Venetian beads. It is made from a hollow cane composed of six layers of glass (white, blue, white, red, white, blue), which are shaped to present five concentric twelve pointed stars when sectioned. The canes are cut into small cylinders which are then polished by hand using a wet abrasive wheel. This is how the bead takes on the oval form revealing its inner pattern. |
| Millefiori Beads: One of the more decorative Venetian beads is the millefiori, which means a thousand flowers. The bead begins with a layer of glass and is then covered with murrine, which are slices from a millefiori rod. A flame then softens the murrine and they join together. The bead is then molded into the desired form and polished to obtain perfectly shiny beads. |
| Fiorato Beads: This is a glass bead with flower decorations. After a ball of glass is formed in the desired color, a central strip and tiny ‘threads’ of glass aventurina are added to the bead. Decoration of this flower bead continues with ‘threads’ and spots of both aventurina and other colors. Finally to complete the bead, the bead maker uses ‘threads’ of white and pink to make small roses. |
| Sommerso Beads: The sommerso bead is captivating as it contains gold or silver leaf in its middle. Sommerso, meaning colors within layers of glass, begins with a small piece of glass wound around the copper wire. Next the gold or silver leaf is applied to the hot glass and completely covered with another layer of transparent glass. The bead is then shaped and the layers of glass and foil produce a beautifully striking bead. |
| Blown Glass Beads: Blown glass beads are very fragile, but extremely spectacular. The glassmaker gathers a small piece of molten glass on the end of a blowpipe and gently inflates it to the desired size. Other colors or fine lines of gold may be laid across the surface of the bead and twisted to create swirls. Finally each bead is carefully pierced to create a hole for stringing. |
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