What is the secret of Murano glass

For many years my dream was to travel to Italy, to Venice and to the islands of Murano and Burano. I have always been attracted by these beautiful, bright and surprisingly attractive places. The city on the water, gondolas, colorful facades of houses and ... Murano glass.

Glass products I've been interested all my life. If on trips I came across museums or salons with crafts made of glass, I certainly visited there. I was lucky to visit exhibitions in Florence and Karlovy Vary. I thought Bohemian glass would be my love for life, but what I saw in Murano will never be forgotten.





Muransk glass Today edition "Site" I have prepared for you an essay on the fascinating history of Murano glass, as well as tips, How to distinguish real Murano glass Forgery. Masterpieces that are accessible to many!





Murano glass is perhaps the most plastic type of glass, and the secret formula of the composition allows you to embody the bold fantasies of glassblowers-artists in the most bizarre and unpredictable forms.

The technique itself is called millefiori, which means “a thousand flowers” or “flower meadow”. Artfully crafted muranese In this technique since ancient times equated to jewelry. They all looked like semi-precious stones: agate, carnelian, chalcedony.





Murano glass is always handmade, and hundreds of years ago, since the birth of this technology, and now.

In the XIII century, the Venetians brought from Constantinople samples of Byzantine artistic glass. recipeThis gave impetus to the development of its own technologies, the birthplace of which was the island of Murano. It was there at that time that the production of an amazing material and the smelting of outlandish glass objects from it were established.





The very history of mosaic glass with floral patterns goes back to ancient Egypt. Even master glass blowers from Alexandria in the II century BC learned to smelter such an extraordinary miracle. And only in the I century BC, these smelting technologies were borrowed by the Romans.

In the 90s of the XIX century, all the secrets for the manufacture of mosaic glass were declassified and products in the millefiori technique became known to the British and French, who adopted the experience of the Italians and established their production. Further, this technique gained its popularity not only in Europe, but also around the world.

Nevertheless, it is on the island of Murano that the focus of glass production in the amazing technique of millefiori is concentrated. When you watch how the master in front of you creates this glass beauty, you experience indescribable delight!





Millefiori technology It involves blowing and pulling glass rods, in the middle of which a color pattern is formed, which manifests itself only on the cut.

It is created by layering glass threads on the rod part. The rod is heated in a hot oven to a flexible state and pulled into thin long rods. At the same time, the picture is compressed in its size and becomes almost filigree.

The cooled long bars are cut into shorter ones and, connecting to each other in a bundle, again warmed and pulled into one long rod. This happens until the master is not satisfied with the pattern formed on the cut.





Then the rod is cut into small plates up to 5-6 mm wide. On the cut of such a plate, which is called moorina, you can see an unusually beautiful drawing in the form of a flower, diamond, ring, heart with colorful divorces.

Many such murine plates are applied by rolling on a heated glass vessel, which, after the necessary processing, becomes similar to a flower clearing.

Murano glass produces: chandeliers, vases, dishes, watches and many other interesting decor items, as well as jewelry. Personally, I bought earrings and pendant in Murano, and they are now better than diamonds!





The demand for Murano glass is great, so, unfortunately, today you can find a large number of fakes. So how do you distinguish a genuine work? Here are some lifehacks I was told on a tour of Murano!

How to recognize Murano glass
  1. Muransk glass undergoes heat treatment, so that in jewelry acquires high strength. Experts believe that it is simple to determine the glass: for this you need to lightly hit it on a hard surface so that it makes a long and loud sound.
  2. The main difference of such glass is a variety of patterns that are formed due to various oxides of chemical elements. These patterns in the original product are deep from the surface. And each pattern, like filigree, is laid out to the smallest detail. 464168



  3. It is worth paying attention to such a small thing as feelings. Murano glass, unlike plastic, is slightly cool to the touch.
  4. Genuine decorations with Murano glass do not dim, do not change color, since they are not painted with paint, but with the help of metal oxides.



  5. Real. muranese They will never be put in costume jewelry! This is expensive and noble enough material to wrap it in a fragile jewelry alloy. Only gold and silver of the highest standard.
  6. Remember that no two products are exactly the same. This is purely handmade, so even in one bracelet the beads will not be identical!





I also want to mention a unique master who works in this technique today. The most interesting thing is that he is not from Italy.

California glassblower Lauren Stump fantasizes in the technique of “Murrine”, creating truly unique things.





Miniature paintings: portraits, landscapes and even mini-copies of plot paintings he creates using the technology of Murano glass. The level of skill of this maestro amazes the audience with its perfection!





To see and understand how the process works. creation of products from Murano glassLook at this video.

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I also invite you to learn an interesting story about the legendary Madonna service. It turns out he has his own special secret!



What do you say about this beauty? Personally, I am delighted with Murano glass! I would be glad if you would share your opinion on this with us in the comments.

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