An Overview of Venetian Glass Beads

As Glass beads are one of the most ancient forms of human art and technology, they are considered to be anthropologically significant. They fall in to many categories depending upon the methods employed in the manipulation of glass. Venetian Beads that originated in Venice in the late 1800s are one of the most reputed types of glass beads. Even today, handcrafted beads of Venice are sold under the name of “Venetian Beads.”

There is a historical story connected with the origin of Venetian beads in Italy. Marco Polo, the most reputed merchant from the Venetian Republic brought gemstone beads from his travels. The glass workers of Venice found those gemstone beads to be astonishingly beautiful and came up with an idea of creating glass beads that gained so much of popularity and become popular across the world as “Venetian Beads.”

Ornamental beads of Venice are believed to manipulate the highest level of craftsmanship. People often say that, “If you love beads go to Venice.” There is no other place in the world that has a huge collection of a great variety of beads as that found in Venice. However, modern day people have the habit of ordering Venetian beads online, as they find internet shopping to be economical and time saving.

Venetian glass beads are known for their beauty, awesome colours and spectacular designs. They are artistically handcrafted to give a unique floral appearance. Glass bead making in Venice dates back to 1400s when prized beads were used as trading currencies in Africa and Europe. For the first time in history, they used a mandrel to fabricate the bead.

The most popular types of Venetian beads are Seed beads (Conterie), Rosetta or Chevron and Lampwork or Wound Beads or Perle a Lume Venetian Beads.

Venetian beads of very small sizes are referred to as seed beads. They created hollow tubes, which are then chopped and refined to make them smooth and colourful. Seed bead production was popular in Murano only in the early 1900s and the art in not existent today.

Canes known as Rosetta are used to make the so called Rosetta beads. They started manufacturing these types of beads in the 14th century. The production method involved the use of a hollow cane and six different coloured layers of glass that are then ground to get patterns of five concentric stars having twelve points. As they used to chop the cane, they got large quantities of beads for sale. Rosetta beads are the predecessors of today’s Murano Millefiori beads.

The artisans in Venice made the core of the Lume bead by wounding melting glass over a thin ferrous mandrel covered with silicon and clay mix. Sudden cooling caused the glass to contract slightly, making it easier for the bead to slide off the mandrel. As the heated glass is wound over the mandrel, they are also known as wound beads.

Glass bead making is an ancient form of art. Venetian beads are the well known type of glass beads that are known for their unique style, beauty, craftsmanship and intricate designs. Add Venetian beads to any of beaded piece and see how adorable the ornament looks.