There are as many types of glass as there are techniques artists use to manipulate it. Some of them are described below, but before getting to that, there is one thing most people do not understand about the art glass pieces I use in DreamStonz designs: the colors are NOTpainted on!! The miracle (and source of my addiction to these mini masterpieces) is that all of the designs within the glass are created in individual steps with molten glass.
Each glass bead is created first by melting a rod of glass with a torch and shaping it on a mandrel into a core bead. After it is cooled, another rod is melted and applied to the core in a design. The bead is again cooled and another color or design is then applied. The process may be repeated several times for each bead. That is why no two beads are exactly alike. Some of the beads have raised dots of glass on the surface; some combine irridescent glass with clear or colored glass. The variety is as broad as the imagination.
Once the bead is finished it is annealed (cooked, basically) overnight in a kiln at high temperatures specific to the type of glass the artist used. The annealing process hardens the glass so that it becomes virtually unbreakable. "Virtually" here means it will last for generations when it is used as intended. Throw it across a room, drop it on a stone floor, run over it in your driveway and, well, you might have to start singing "Dust in the Wind".
Good glass artists -- the only kind from whom I purchase glass art used to create DreamStonz jewelry --carefully clean the holes of the beads to remove the material used to release the bead from the mandrel on which it was made. This is important to the jewelry designer because otherwise the holes may contain sharp edges that might cut the stringing material and cause all of the designer's hard work to fall apart. At which point, I would fall apart. Not a pretty sight, so poorly created or finished art beads are avoided by all means.
Borosilicate Glass Beads (Also known as "pyrex" or "hard glass")
Borosilicate is one of my favorites because it is so versatile; many different colors can be achieved from one rod of glass by using flame chemistry (more/less fuel or oxygen), and can rarely be duplicated exactly. Many of the colors are translucent, so combining and layering colored rods has an effect on the color of the piece. Although Borosilicate glass is colorful, it is more muted than the bright crayon colors of soft glass, and is at its most vibrant when viewed in bright light or sunlight. Borosilicate glass is often the type used when you see bubbles locked into the layers of the glass as part of the design. The type of Borosilicate glass used for art beads is much more expensive than other kinds of glass, and the beads can take nearly twice as long to make, so the bead prices reflect this difference.
Effetre (Moretti) and Vetrofond Soda-Lime Glass Beads(Also known as "soft glass")
This glass is imported from Italy, where it has been made for many, many years. The colors are vibrant and are available in opaque, translucent and transparent colors. This glass has a low melting point and is easier to manipulate with less heat. The colors are strong and vibrant, making it one of the favorite types of glass used by bead artists around the world.
Murano Glass (Italy)
This is really a style of glass art than a type of glass. Murano beads often include metal foils (usually sterling or 24k gold) within the glass. When the glass is heated and cooled, the foil cracks and folds inside the glass creating a delightful textured effect. Another popular technique known as millefiori involves slicing clusters of different colored glass rods so that when the slice is viewed from the flat surface, a flower cluster is formed. Murano glass art work of all kinds has been created in Italy for at least 500 years.
Bullseye Glass (from the United States)
This glass is not as hard as borosilicate but not as soft as Moretti or Soda-Lime glass. Its colors are more translucent than the eye popping Moretti or Soda-lime, but as a relatively new type of glass, colors are continually being added to the palette offered to glass artists.
