.... Beautiful Millefiori!
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Millefiori is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware. The name millefiori is a combination of the Italian words "mille" (thousand) and "fiori" (flowers). This name first appeared in the Oxford Dictionary in 1849. The beads were called mosaic beads before that time. The manufacture of mosaic beads can be traced back to Ancient Rome Phoenician and Alexandrine times. Canes probably made in Italy have been found as far away as 8th century archaeological sites in Ireland.
The millefiori technique has been applied to polymer clays and other materials. Because polymer clay is quite pliable and does not need to be heated and reheated in order to fuse it is much easier to produce millefiori patterns.
Another material to which the millefiori technique has been applied is paraffin wax. Again due to the low melting point of wax and its extreme pliability the material is easier to produce millefiori than glass. This technique seems to have been invented by a `Stoney` French in the late 1950`s. He passed on his technique to an employee, a Danny Ruddick, who returned to Israel to found the company Jerusalem Candles, which by the early `90s was selling millions of $`s worth of millefiori candles into the U.S. and Europe.Unfortunately, before `Stoney` French died in a plane crash he sold his millefiori techniques to a Chinese businessman. As a result by the mid-90`s U.S. and European markets were awash with cheap versions and the market for quality millefiori candles virtually disappeared almost overnight.
The making of Millefiori beads involves two glass making techniques and is a labour intensive process. Rods or canes known as `murrine` of millefiori glass are made by the layering of a variable number of layers of glass of various colours in a mould and by pulling the soft glass from both ends until the cane has reached the desired thickness. It is then cut into short segments for further processing. It has multicoloured patterns that look like little flowers which are viewable only from the cut ends of the cane like a stick of Brighton rock.
Each Millefiori item is individually and painstakingly handmade. Millefiori beads are made of plain glass bead cores with thin slices of cut cane (murrine) pressed into the bead surface forming mosaic like patterns while the glass is still hot. Millefiori beads can be decorated sparingly with a small number of murrine, or they can be covered entirely by the same style of murrine, or by a combination of two or more styles applied to form a flush surface, or left protruding from the bead.
The result? Beautiful beads for me to make into beautiful necklaces for you to peruse at:-
www.the-handmade-jewellery-shop.com http://stores.ebay.co.uk/The-Handmade-Jewellery-Shop
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