For over a millenium, successive generations of Venetian glass artisans have passed their ancient handcraft of working glass down from master to apprentice. Even today in Venice, the art of hand fusing molten glass into beautiful multi-colored beads continues in the strict traditional manner; using only copper wire, colored glass and a simple gas flame (lamp). Every Venetian lamp bead is fused and meticulously formed onto copper wire within a flame; the molten glass becomes a sphere (bead) as the artisan delicately twirls the wire in his for-fingers. Each bead, decorated or plain, is cooled naturally in ashes for 24 hours and then submerged into an acid to dissolve the copper wire and create the stringing hole. No painting or machine work is ever employed; the "Mille Fiori" (a thousand flowers) color and pattern goes right through each bead. Our Venetian glass beads have been carried in many major museums and stores such as The Corning Glass Museum, Boston Fine Arts catalog, Italian Pavilion at Epcot Center and The Museum Company Store. We hold the largest stock of Venetian Glass in the USA and no-one can beat our quality and prices! 1-612-821-1072 Hand made glass beads from Venice Italy