Murano glass charms are very fashionable these days, lots of companies use them alongside silver and gold to make charm bracelets to add more colour and beauty.Murano glass beads are handmade and still use Venetian glass, this means that each one is different..

 

Murano glass working is said to have started in 9th century Rome, most of the influences coming from Asian and Muslim countries.. Venice at that time was mostly built from wooden structures, so to stop the city catching fire, all of the glass works were moved off to the city of Murano..

 

The Glass-makers were highly respected in the area, they wore swords and military garments and were even welcomed into the rich families. The downside was that due to their skills, they were not allowed to leave the region.

 

At the end of the 16th century, three quaters of Murano island’s seven thousand people were involved in some way in the glassmaking industry. The technologies they used were hreading gold into the glass (aventurine), enamelling (smalto), milk glasses (lattimo) and crystalline glass.

Surprisingly these techniques are used today in the creation of designer charms and some of the same factories are still used.

 

To make Murano glass charms it takes the heating of silica, the glass becomes liquid when it gets to a certain temperature. When the glass is changing from liquid to solid the glass workers add the beautiful colours and reshape them.

 

The oldest of the existing Murano factories is Antica Vetreria Fratelli Toso, founded in 1854.

You can find a whole host of wonderful charms at yourchamilia.com, they offer so many varieties that go with any outfit, and they use traditional methods of creating Murano glass charms that are all created in the old ways in Venice Italy.