frantzglass
2006-03-08, 3:43pm
But first, a word on Italian glass:
During the last half of February we all had our eyes glued to the Winter Olympics that were held in Turin (aka Torino). But while the judges at the Olympiad were handing out gold, silver and bronze medals, artists around the world are reaching out for the golden glass of Venice and Murano.
Here is some information regarding the island of Murano that was taken from http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/murano_the_glass_island.htm:
Murano was a commercial port as far back as the 7th Century, and by the 10th Century it had grown into a prosperous trading center with its own coins, police force, and commercial aristocracy. Then, 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.
It wasn't long until Murano's glassmakers were the leading citizens on the island. Artisans were granted the right to wear swords and enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the notoriously high-handed Venetian state. By the late 14th Century, the daughters of glassmakers were allowed to marry into Venice's blue-blooded families. (This was roughly equivalent to Archie Bunker's daughter being invited to wed a Cabot or a Peabody.)
Such pampered treatment had one catch: Glassmakers weren't allowed to leave the Republic. If a craftsman got a hankering to set up shop beyond the Lagoon, he risked being assassinated or having his hands cut off by the secret police--although, in practice, most defectors weren't treated so harshly.
What made Murano's glassmakers so special? For one thing, they were the only people in Europe who knew how to make a mirror. They also developed or refined technologies such as crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Their virtual monopoly on quality glass lasted for centuries, until glassmakers in Northern and Central Europe introduced new techniques and fashions around the same time that colonists were emigrating to the New World.
The two most widely-known Italian art glass companies are Vetrofond and Effetre. Both factories actually originated from the same source, which was on the island of Murano. Effetre is still on Murano, while Vetrofond had moved to Maestras, which is across the canal from Venice.
Both types of glass are similar but there will be differences in color and striking results, and sometimes in price. Both are beautiful and will create wonderful beads, jewelry and sculptures. And both are, indeed, gold-medal deserving products!
http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/uploadedimages.php?viewid=19829 http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/uploadedimages.php?viewid=19830
Beads by Corina Tettinger www.CorinaBeads.com; Heart bead by Beth Williams www.bethwilliams.com
We have an air shipment from Effetre that is here now. Included in this shipment are:
570920-20 Effetre Aventurine Blue large pieces (http://www.frantzartglass.com/go.asp?ic=570920-20)
570916-20 Effetre Aventurine Gold large pieces (http://www.frantzartglass.com/go.asp?ic=570916-20)
591254 Effetre Purple Handmade Opaque Glass Rods (http://www.frantzartglass.com/go.asp?ic=591254)
591219 Effetre Copper Green Handmade Opaque Glass Rods (http://www.frantzartglass.com/go.asp?ic=591219) (new production)
http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/uploadedimages.php?viewid=19831 591222 Dark Periwinkle Handmade Pastel Glass Rods (http://www.frantzartglass.com/go.asp?ic=591222)NEW COLOR! This is like 591220 but darker.
Look for our next sea shipment from Vetrofond that should arrive in the middle of April.
**************************************************
{ Be sure and check our website for other sales }
If you would like to read our articles in entirety, see better descriptions of our sales, and see photos of the sale items, please go to www.FrantzArtGlass.com (http://www.frantzartglass.com) and click on the Newsletters and Links (http://www.frantzartglass.com/newsletter.asp) page.
If you would like to subscribe to our e-newsletter and have all of our sale and article information sent to you directly each month you can send us an email at subscribe@frantzartglass.com or you can call us at
1-800-839-6712
(Our email address list is secure and unshared.)
During the last half of February we all had our eyes glued to the Winter Olympics that were held in Turin (aka Torino). But while the judges at the Olympiad were handing out gold, silver and bronze medals, artists around the world are reaching out for the golden glass of Venice and Murano.
Here is some information regarding the island of Murano that was taken from http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/murano_the_glass_island.htm:
Murano was a commercial port as far back as the 7th Century, and by the 10th Century it had grown into a prosperous trading center with its own coins, police force, and commercial aristocracy. Then, 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.
It wasn't long until Murano's glassmakers were the leading citizens on the island. Artisans were granted the right to wear swords and enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the notoriously high-handed Venetian state. By the late 14th Century, the daughters of glassmakers were allowed to marry into Venice's blue-blooded families. (This was roughly equivalent to Archie Bunker's daughter being invited to wed a Cabot or a Peabody.)
Such pampered treatment had one catch: Glassmakers weren't allowed to leave the Republic. If a craftsman got a hankering to set up shop beyond the Lagoon, he risked being assassinated or having his hands cut off by the secret police--although, in practice, most defectors weren't treated so harshly.
What made Murano's glassmakers so special? For one thing, they were the only people in Europe who knew how to make a mirror. They also developed or refined technologies such as crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Their virtual monopoly on quality glass lasted for centuries, until glassmakers in Northern and Central Europe introduced new techniques and fashions around the same time that colonists were emigrating to the New World.
The two most widely-known Italian art glass companies are Vetrofond and Effetre. Both factories actually originated from the same source, which was on the island of Murano. Effetre is still on Murano, while Vetrofond had moved to Maestras, which is across the canal from Venice.
Both types of glass are similar but there will be differences in color and striking results, and sometimes in price. Both are beautiful and will create wonderful beads, jewelry and sculptures. And both are, indeed, gold-medal deserving products!
http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/uploadedimages.php?viewid=19829 http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/uploadedimages.php?viewid=19830
Beads by Corina Tettinger www.CorinaBeads.com; Heart bead by Beth Williams www.bethwilliams.com
We have an air shipment from Effetre that is here now. Included in this shipment are:
570920-20 Effetre Aventurine Blue large pieces (http://www.frantzartglass.com/go.asp?ic=570920-20)
570916-20 Effetre Aventurine Gold large pieces (http://www.frantzartglass.com/go.asp?ic=570916-20)
591254 Effetre Purple Handmade Opaque Glass Rods (http://www.frantzartglass.com/go.asp?ic=591254)
591219 Effetre Copper Green Handmade Opaque Glass Rods (http://www.frantzartglass.com/go.asp?ic=591219) (new production)
http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/uploadedimages.php?viewid=19831 591222 Dark Periwinkle Handmade Pastel Glass Rods (http://www.frantzartglass.com/go.asp?ic=591222)NEW COLOR! This is like 591220 but darker.
Look for our next sea shipment from Vetrofond that should arrive in the middle of April.
**************************************************
{ Be sure and check our website for other sales }
If you would like to read our articles in entirety, see better descriptions of our sales, and see photos of the sale items, please go to www.FrantzArtGlass.com (http://www.frantzartglass.com) and click on the Newsletters and Links (http://www.frantzartglass.com/newsletter.asp) page.
If you would like to subscribe to our e-newsletter and have all of our sale and article information sent to you directly each month you can send us an email at subscribe@frantzartglass.com or you can call us at
1-800-839-6712
(Our email address list is secure and unshared.)