African Trade beads

[KA]

I saw these in a store in Seattle and thought they might be fun to make. I looked for some information on how they are made but couldn't find anything. So the obvious way, to me, is just a the millefiori to the outside of a base color on a bead mandril or add them to the outside of a tube. Any ideas? The Venetians seemed to have a way to make tons of these things. Anyone know how they made them?




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[Floorkasp]

They are made on a mandrel. Often with a black base, on which the cane pieces are placed. Then heated and shaped. One of the things that surprised me, is that they use quite long cane pieces. For the murrini to cover the whole bead, they need to be long, so they can 'widen out' when being melted in. Some of these beads, including some if your examples, have been cut by coldworking at the ends at an angle. This makes for nicer stringing on a full strand. However, this is not done on most of them. Flattening out the ends a bit while hot, does add to the overall look.

[dusty]

Originally Posted by Floorkasp

For the murrini to cover the whole bead, they need to be long, so they can 'widen out' when being melted in.

You can find pictures of a similar process in Jim Kervin's book featuring Akihiro Okama.

[KA]

Thanks for the info. I have a bunch of Boro murrini so I was going to try it with Boro.