Millefiori Glass Beads

"One thousand flowers!" The ancient art of millefiori (sometimes spelled millifiori) is one of the oldest in beadmaking history. The technique was developed in Renaissance Italy and dates back to the 1st century BC. Millefiori is Italian for "thousand flowers." Many beadmakers of today still create lovely millefiori beads.  

To create the beautiful millefiori glass beads, glass artists melt long strands of brightly-colored glass into rods or canes, which are manipulated into designs that run throughout the length of the cane. This is much like how a swirl design runs throughout the length of a cinnamon roll before it is sliced into the individual cinnamon rolls. The most common motif in millefiori is varying flowerlike designs, but it is also common to create other motifs such as mandalas, stars, faces, eyes, etc. After the cane has been formed into the desired motif it is cut into thin slices or discs. These slices are then embedded into hot blown glass which is reheated and blown for a further time. This millefiori technique produces spectacular colored glass beads.