In case some of you have been wondering where I was last week, I took a trip to Venice, Italy. This is a fascinating and incredibly beautiful city, which I have had the pleasure of visiting before, but only for a few days. I had seen the main sights and admired the wonderful light that has attracted so many artists, but I left with a desire to go back and see more. On this trip, I spent much of my time enjoying the narrow streets, canals and bridges, admiring the art in the many churches and not so much time at the major tourist attractions. However, no trip to Venice (for me) would be complete without visiting the island of Murano with its traditional glass- making factories. After all, this is where my French beaded flowers originated and so, in a roundabout way, my own beading journey!
Venice and Beads
I
freely confess, I went to Murano with the specific intention of seeking out some beads! Happily, I managed to find some…eventually! Strangely enough, amongst all the truly beautiful pieces of glasswork, I struggled to find many beads. The island of Murano is reached by Venice’s public transport system – in this case a ‘bus’ means a ‘boat’ and there are three possible landing points on the island. Murano is very small, so I elected to land at the first stop, then walk across the island to get a bus back from the stop on the other side. This allowed me to enjoy some of the glass making factories and a lot of shops en route! Many of the factories allow tourists in for a short demonstration of the techniques they use. I was lucky enough to watch a master in his art making a glass leaf which would eventually be used on a chandelier. The furnaces are incredibly hot and I watched with fascination as the craftsman moulded a piece of molten glass into shape. Partly aided by gravity (the glass in its liquid state will just ooze into a long drip when properly handled) and partly with tools, he first shaped the glass into a curve, then added the leaf texture. The process relies on careful timing: there is only a short window of opportunity during which the glass is in a state that allows it to be moulded, before it hardens again. Re-heating it will soften it, but again this has to be minutely timed so as not to ruin the shapes already created. If you have already tried lampwork, then this may sound familiar! Suffice to say, the process was absolutely fascinating to watch. Like all masters, this man made it look incredibly easy, but I’m very sure it isn’t! The factory owners aren’t silly – after watching a demonstration like this, you do feel very inspired to buy a piece of glass to take home!
Further on round the island, I stumbled across the other scale of glass-making…the miniature, or lampwork as a lot of beaders will know it. Seated in one of the shops, a lampworker was working on tiny little glass angels. He was kind enough to show me his process and explain what he was doing…making 1000 angels, each less than 1cm in size, to fulfil an order! The intricacy of the work was incredible. He explained that he worked from a pattern which could be scaled up or down according to what he needed. The detail of this work meant he could only make a few angels in one session, so I t
hink it’s going to take him a while to finish up that order…I hope they are going to be appreciated!
Still on a search for beads, I did eventually find a shop, run by a lovely lady, who made beautiful beads, amongst other things. It was hard choosing, but I ended up with three hand-made beads that incorporate gold leaf, plus a few strings of seed beads so I could make a necklace. I’m still working on the necklace, but it will be a great memory of the holiday!
For anyone landing at the other end of the island, just in case you’re unfamiliar with its history, the wonderful glass sculpture that greets you will leave you in no doubt! The sad thing is that the Murano glass industry is struggling. The beautiful art that its craftsmen produce is time-consuming to make and of course, expensive. Sadly, the industry is being threatened by cheap imports, largely from China. They look much like the authentic glass (until you really look closely), but they are about half the price. A lot of unwitting tourists are taken in by this and looking for a cheap bargain, think they are buying real Murano glass, but aren’t. The biggest irony is a lot of these tourists are from China!
Venice Crafts
Aside from
its art and glass, Venice (specifically the island of Burano) is also known for its lace. I discovered I was staying right next door to a lace-making school. It was open for shopping, but I happened to be passing through just as the school was giving a talk to a group of tourists, so I learned a lot about what they do. The Italian government has set up a program to help preserve the traditional lace-making industry. So, helped with government grants, this school teaches Italian ladies the traditional techniques. These go beyond lace-making to include crochet and knitting. Needlepoint is the technique that emerged from Burano a couple of centuries back and, like a lot of other crafts, it has had a varied history. At some points being a leisure pursuit for genteel women, at other times, a working class industry. The tutor at one point held up a beautiful round table-cloth – probably about 2-3feet in diameter. It had a wonderfully intricate pattern of flowers and leaves. She explained that this item had been made by lace masters. In order to claim this title, you must have at least 15 years experience. This particular cloth had taken 7 ladies a total of 8 months to complete. Each had been involved in a different part of the process. She explained that it was being sold for 1100 Euros, which might sound like an eye-watering price for a table cloth…until you put it into perspective. Divide that by 7 and you are looking at less than 200 Euros for each lady for 8 months’ work! Just like all those other crafts that we love, that amount of skill is just not paid fairly. Sad, but true, human skill and ingenuity cannot compete with machine speed. Nevertheless, it is wonderful to hear that these traditional crafts are being preserved.
A Taste of Italy…in beads!
It is almost obligatory to eat pizza, pasta and ice cream whilst in Italy. Actually, the hot and humid weather on my visit made the ice cream a necessity…at least that’s my story and I’m sticki
ng to it! I had thought about making the bold (foolish) move of leaving my beads at home on this holiday so as to take a proper break. That would have been silly though as beading is a relaxation as well as work for me. So whilst in Venice, I thought I should make a long-planned project…pizza! To celebrate my home-coming I’ve just published my pizza slice earrings on here. So I think that may be time to say goodbye to Venice for a while and look ahead…Battle of the Beadsmith 2015 is being revealed as I write this. In a day or two I will finally be able to share this year’s piece!
