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Sunday, March 15, 2009

Magnificent Millefiori

I was introduced to millefiori several years ago by a friend.
She had been to France, toured the Murano Glass Company,
and purchased a beautiful millefiori pendant.
Millefiori is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive
decorative patterns on glassware. The term millefiori is a combination
of the Italian words "mille" (thousand) and "fiori" (flowers).
The millefiori technique involves the production of glass canes or rods,
known as murrine, with multicolored patterns which are viewable
only from the cut ends of the cane. A murrine rod is heated in a furnace,
pulled until thin while still maintaining the cross section's design,
and then cut into beads or discs when cooled.
I've since purchased these three pieces for myself....a paperweight...
And a couple of pendants. I think I like it so much because it reminds me of these favorite childhood candies. Kind of made with the same process.... just sugar instead of glass!

24 comments:

  1. I love millefiori and have several paperweights, too! It's magical, isn't it?

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  2. I love millefiori but never knew the history or technique behind it. My mother has a dainty millefiori pendant that she wears often. I must ask her where she got it.

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  3. I have a bracelet with millefiori beads. That paperweight is fascinating. I could study the designs for hours.

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  4. I love the heart pendant. It's my favorite.

    These remind me a little of the designs you can make with the Sculpey clay, if you're really, really good, which we're really, really not, but wish we were.

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  5. Ah, I love and am very familiar with millefiori. In fact I have a large pendant in this style and it was given to me as a gift by my parents for my 40th birthday. It is one of the most precious jewelery pieces I own;)
    Lovely post as always.;)

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  6. Those peices are so pretty and I love the story behind them... Have you ever tried to make those designs with Femo? Its a lot of fun.

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  7. Oooh ... neat! I knew about that look but never had a name to put with it. They are so cheery and pretty! And, I love the connection with the candy. They DO look similar!
    Susan

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  8. How pretty, didn't know the story of it! I do know about the candy,ha
    Loved it also, I don't think I have seen any for years???

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  9. This is very interesting to me. We have a bacarrat paper weight which looks so similar to Millefiori.

    CJ xx

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  10. I just have to pipe in on the candy...my mom used to give it to me when I was little after she gave me yucky liquid medicine, and to this day I can't even stand the smell of that candy. It's very specific. So for me the candy reference was not a good one, but I think I've seen some around at Christmastime.

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  11. How beautiful! I don't remember seeing this anywhere, somehow I missed it!

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  12. Vicki ~ No, I've never even heard of Femo...must go check that out! Thanks!

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  13. Kayren ~ Oh that is funny about associating the candy with taking medicine. We always got 7-up when we were sick and I associate it to this day with that. But it's a good memory...comforting, in a way..and I still love 7-up! :)

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  14. Betsy...so beautiful and unique.

    Now, I cannot say that I have ever seen those candies...chocolate outside? What on the inside?

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  15. Jill ~ the candies are hard and fruit flavored. No chocolate! I rarely see them any more. Sometimes around Christmas.

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  16. Those are really beautiful pieces. I remember my mom having a beautiful paper weight like that.

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  17. Those are very pretty.

    I love those candies too.

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  18. that is what I was going to say..it reminded me of that hard tack candy we had as kids!

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  19. My girlfriend sent me some passion-fruit candies like these from Spain. I hadn't seen them here...where do you find them?! Even the candies are beautiful!

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  20. Gracelaced ~ I saw them in a craft store around Christmas. I hadn't seen them in years and I haven't seen them since! The picture I got from google. It's from the Sticky Candy Co. in Australia and Singapore. I think they are so beautiful!

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  21. You must know I love millefiori too, as I choose that name for my blog..lol I wanted it to be named that without the "favoriti" but someone else had "milli fiori" already on blogspot.

    The design does look like a thousand flowers. I just adore your jewelry and paperweight!

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  22. I have a watch from Italy that has millefiori on the face and I love it. Something so delightful about these teeny-tiny flowers. I know this may sound odd, but it is rather similar in looks to tiny sushi pieces!

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  23. Suza ~ oooh..I bet your watch is beautiful!

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