Glass Beads

"Glass beads might be one of the unexplored things in your life. There is so much to it...you can make bracelets, necklaces and many more exciting things. Truly, if glass beads are around... “Variety is the spice of life”.  Read on and find out the varieties."


I would like to give the credit of producing the outstanding glass art to the original sources i.e. two countries who produced it from the ancient times...Murano glass (name of the glass bead) in Italy and Bohemian glass in Czech Republic or Bohemia. 


Let us come to the facts. It might be boring to read but we have to rely on them to go further.  From the 14th century, Small Island known as Murano in Venetian Lagoon was the centre of glass production. It was the time it was highly popular and people simply went crazy about it. All the glass techniques which make us give a jaw dropping expression were created by Murano artists. let me count on the examples...Crystalline glass, enamelled glass (smalto), glass made with the threads of gold (aventurine), milk glass (lattimo), multi-coloured (millefiori). 


There was an option to make it more beautiful by adding colours to it. There were many colouring agents and chemicals available for such purpose. How was this performed? The colouring agent was ground, mixed and lastly melted with the glass. It is still used today but the heritage belongs to them. 


Murano has given us a lot. It helped us in export trade in various forms like dinnerware, chandeliers and mirrors. They monopolised the market sharing the secret with no one. What made it so unique? It was the local quartz pebbles. They were almost pure silica grounded into fine sand particles. Unmatched quality was created by them with the help of combination of soda ash and Levant. 


Enough about Murano glass beads! Let us now switch over to Bohemian glass. It is different from the former one in the sense that it is decorated by grinding or we can call it cold worked glass. This technique was used since 13th century in countries like Bohemia and Silesia. Venice was considered as centre for making of such glasses. 


How the glass jewelry did come into existence? There was a need felt to imitate the real gems and this requirement was fulfilled by these beads. Huge demand was created for the cottage industry and this is a fact today. Many identical copies were in the market since the melted glass could be converted into mould.  For further uses (with regard to high societies), these glass were coated with gold or bronze metal finishes. Then, they were considered no less than fashion jewelry India. 


When such varieties of glass beads accompany, how can your life be spice-less!?! There is so much to do with these exciting beads. There is no end to it.