| A LITTLE HISTORY OF MURANO ISLAND | |
| Murano is an island in the Venetian Lagoon,it lies about a mile north-east of Venice and is famous for its glass making, particularly lampworking.like Venice itself it is actually an archipelago of islands linked by bridges.Murano was settled by the Romans, then from the sixth century by people from Altino and Oderzo. At first, the island prospered as a fishing port and through production of salt.In 1291, all the glassmakers in Venice were forced to move to Murano due to the risk of fires. In the following century, exports began, and the island became famous, initially for glass beads and mirrors. Aventurine glass was invented on the island, and for a while Murano was the main producer of glass in Europe. The island later became known for glass chandeliers. |  |
| HISTORY OF MURANO GLASSWORK | Typical Murano Canal |
| Murano’s reputation as a center for glassmaking was born when the Venetian Republic, fearing fire and destruction to the city’s mostly wood buildings, ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano in 1291. Murano glass is still interwoven with Venetian glass.Murano's glassmakers were soon the island’s most prominent citizens. By the 14th century, glass makers were allowed to wear swords, enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the Venetian state and found their daughters married into Venice’s most affluent families. Of course there was a catch: glassmakers weren't allowed to leave the Republic. However, many craftsmen took this risk and set up glass furnaces in surrounding cities and as far afield as England and the Netherlands. Murano’s glassmakers held a monopoly on quality glassmaking for centuries, developing or refining many technologies including crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Today, the artisans of Murano are still employing these century-old techniques, crafting everything from contemporary art glass and glass jewelry to Murano glass chandeliers |
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| Last high water 12.01.2008 |
MILLEFIORI ( Murrina)
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The millefiori rod is a hollow or solid rod composed on the inside of concentric layers of glass in different colors which form, in section, a characteristic star of flower motif. Its production requires a number of open molds which press a star or flower pattern on each successive colored layer, after which the rod is pulled out dozens of meters. A distinct type of millefiori rod is the rosetta, which dates from the XVth century and presents characteristic star motifs in white, red and blue glass in alternate layers. The rod in generally cut into sections, which are often called murrine. If the rod is hollow, the sections may be smoothed and become beads. Solid sections may also be laid side by side and fused in the kiln to make pendants, or on a larger scale, dishes or bowls. The sections of millefiori rod also constitute the modular decorative element, fused to the bottom of a small hemispheric mass of crystal, for paperweights. MURRINO GLASS This is a very ancient technique independent of glassblowing, and which consists in the composition of a multicolor glass slab, obtained by fusing together different colored glass tesserae or sections of polychrome rods, even rosetta rods. The slab may then be kiln-shaped by placing it onto a mold made of refractory clay. It may also be gathered with the blowpipe and shaped as desired into the form of a vessel. |
| The future of Murano! | FILIGRANA |
 Closed for high water! |
There are three types of classic filigrana: the "retortoli" type, also called "zanfirico", characterized by subtle twisted white or colored threads inside the thin wall of the blown piece; the "reticello" filigrana, characterized by a fine netting of threads; the "mezza-filigrana" with diagonal threads, an intermediate phase in making "reticello" filigrana. The oldest filigrana is the "retortoli", patented in 1527 by Fililppo Catani, whose furnace bore the sign of the Mermaid (Sirena), the founder of the Muranese Serena dynasty. Ahead of time, the glassworker prepares clear rods with white or colored threads inside wrapped in a spiral. On a slab he positions equal segments of this rod, parallel and adjacent. He then uses his blowpipe to pick up the rectangle obtained by fusing these segments together in the heat, so as to obtain a cylinder which is then smoothed by rolling it over the marver and closed at the end. The piece is subsequently blown and shaped. The "mezza filigrana" is obtained by preparing a rod with a straight thread inside. The glassmaster lays equal and parallel segments of this rod on a slab, fuses it together in the fire and picks up the vitreous rectangle with his blow-pipe. By marvering and closing the resulting cylinder at the end, he twists it to make the threads run diagonally. If two identical glass pieces in mezza-filigrana are prepared with opposite thread patterns and one is blown inside the other, by overlaying the two vitreous walls a grid effect is obtained, the "reticello". Since the surface of the two blown pieces at the moment of their adhesion is still wavy, an air bubble remains imprisoned in each square of the grid, conferring yet another decorative effect. |
GOLD AND SILVER LEAVES |
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| In the first phases of hot-work the glassmaster rolls the incandescent glass on the end of the blowpipe over thin leaves of gold or silver which adhere perfectly to the surface. As the glass is blown, the leaves pulverize into gold or silver dust. The gold leaf may also be applied in decorating workshops on a completely cooled piece. Parts of it may be removed in a decorative pattern, using a sharp instrument. The object must be refired to set the decoration permanently on the glass wall. This technique is generally used together with enamel painting. |
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| CLEAR GLASS | |
 Glass sculptures by night |
Cristallo in artistic glass production is transparent glass, homogeneous, absolutely colorless. The secret of quality in cristallo, which is glass, is the purity of the raw materials, the use of bleaching agents, the preparation of the vitrifiable mixture, the fusion process. In the middle of the XVth century Murano invented a pure and colorless glass, which for the first time in history was called cristallo and was later imitated in other European countries. In contrast with Nordic crystal, which has a concentration of lead oxide and today must be subject to strict controls of the fumes deriving from its fusion, its contact with foods and its waste disposal, Murano cristallo is a sodic-calcic glass whose principal components, aside from silica, are sodium oxide and calcium oxide. Murano has always remained faithful to sodic cristallo because it is most suitable for the production of particularly light blown objects which require long working processes. Opaque colored glass is obtained on the basis of the same principles but with a base of white opaline glass and a larger amount of raw coloring agents. |
