Beautiful bead strand with glass millefiori beads, made in India.
The word 'millefiori' derives from the Italian words 'mille' (thousand) and 'fiori' (flowers). This specific term has been used since the second half of the 19th century, but the technique of these beads can be dated back to ancient Roman, Phoenician and Alexandrian times. Prior to the term 'millefiori', the style was referred to as 'mosaic beads'.
With the millefiori technique, very distinct decorative patterns on glassware (and sometimes also other materials, such as polymer clay) can be made, often resembling floral shapes. The technique is used not only for jewelry, but can also be found on for example luxurious dinnerware and decorative objects.
The production of millefiori glasswork can nowadays be found all over the world. The strand of glass beads here in our webshop for example comes from India. The beads have been made quite recently, but have been used before, resulting in some minor signs of their previous usage here and there. But overall they are in good condition.
The glass beads have been set into silver colored metal beadcaps on both sides. These serve not only a decorative function, but also prevent the beads from getting damaged by grinding against each other.
This strand consists of a total of 50 millefiori beads with a total weight of 610 grams. They are strung on a thin cord of white cotton. Considering their combined weight, we wouldn't recommend wearing the strand as a necklace as it is now, but instead to re-string it first on a very strong cord, or to use the loose beads individually in your personal jewelry making projects.
Size of the individual beads; approximately 25 millimeters long and 20 millimeters wide, with a 2 millimeters hole for threading.
Only one strand available.
