Glass flamework
In 2001 I attended a glass flamework workshop with Kim Osibin, the very talented glass artist from USA, where I attempted to make beads in the style of the famous Murano beads of Venice. The bead on the left with the sunflower detail in yellow and white is one of my more successful ones. The large blueish bead pictured at the top left of the photo above also has several good details in it, such as a circle and two flowers, although compared to the genuine red Murano bead in the same photo, it could definitely be improved. I wanted to have a go at making this style of bead as my paternal grandmother bought a necklace, pictured below left, from the Murano bead makers when she visited Venice, Italy on a trip to England in 1952. The necklace is beautiful and I was keen to learn a little of the intricacies of this style of bead making.
The large pendant bead pictured here on the right is a different style, with pieces of pink dichroic glass captured beneath the glass and swirls of other coloured glass as decoration. Working with molten glass can be very challenging, especially when trying to copy the beautiful beads of those world-famous Murano bead makers! I didn’t achieve anything any where near the craftsmanship of the Murano bead makers, but I learned a lot and enjoyed the experience.
In the same workshop, I made this leaf , using the techniques that Kim taught. The colours of the glass are each applied separately, and the photos can’t capture the different depths of each colour fully. The small beads that complement the colours of the leaf are dark amber from the Baltic Coast. This is my favourite autumn necklace.
Some time later, I had the opportunity to work with glass bead making again, and learned various techniques to make different patterned beads, shown on the necklace on the left. The clasp on this necklace is a hand-made bead with raised dots on the surface. The smaller beads that make up the necklace are manufactured ones.
Here’s some more patterned beads I’ve made. The close up images show the different types of patterns that can be made by adding different coloured glass in various ways to the bead as it is formed. A group of beads with different patterns work well in a necklace when mixed in with other beads of similar and complementary colours.
Beadwork
This necklace is of a different style, which I created with tiny, manufactured beads and strung together to form a coiled necklace, with raised patterns adding interest at intervals along its length. The Christmas decorations on the right are also made with manufactured beads. Some of these were made by my children when they were little, but as I’m not sure who made what, I’ve included all of them here.
© Ali Brown 2025