Glass Beads

Glass Bead Types

These are great value for money and come is a vibrant spectrum of colours, shape and finish.  There are many to choose from including Czech, Dichroic, Millefiori and lamp work.

Dichroic - Developed by NASA for use on space craft windows, aerospace optics astronaut visors, solar cells and microbiology research.  It is now immensely popular in jewellery.  The jewellery is formed using a multi-layer coating on glass, then fired to a very high temperature.

In order to appreciate the stunning qualities of dichoric glass, you really should see it in person.  When you tilt the jewellery, an amazing array of colours appear.

Murano Glass - In 1291, the Venetian Republic ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano because the glassworks represented a fire danger in Venice, whose buildings were mostly wooden at the time. To this day Murano is still an exporter of traditional products like mirrors and glassware, and its factories produce modern items such as faucet handles, glass lampshades, and electric chandeliers.

Millefiori - This is the most famous type of Venetian bead and translated into English means "thousands of flowers".  The technique was developed by the Romans and dates to the 1st century BC.  Here the artist uses rods of Murano glass and heats it with a torch flame.

Lampwork - Glass artists are limited only by their imaginations when it comes to this type of glass bead.  To make lampwork beads, the artist has to melt two rods of glass round what is called a mandrel.  This requires much skill and patience and as a result prices are more expensive than plain glass beads.