Most Murano beads are made using an open flame, and are called lampwork beads. Long ago the flame was fueled by animal fat with a strong current of air produced by bellows. Today the heat is produced from gas-fired torches. The raw materials are canes of colored glass and thin copper tube. The artisan heats the glass cane and winds the molten glass (and other materials) around the copper tube. Sometimes the artisan then puts the still soft bead into a handmade mold for a particular shape. Later, once the bead is cooled, it is immersed in a bath of nitric acid, which dissolves the copper, leaving the perfectly smooth hole through the bead.

A special kind of Murano bead use gold or silver leaf, wrapped around the softened glass, then with another cooler of glass covering it, giving the beads the extraordinary luminosity they are noted for. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!.