Murano Glass and brass sculpture.
This is a big sized collectible lampwork glass bead decorated with green dots on a brass customized base.
The Murano Glass bead is one of my Fenice bead whose main characteristic is the base covered with and then decorated with oxidized silver leaf.
I call these little sculptures “Mappaperla” ( named after the mappamondo, the word for globe in Italian) .
All my Mappaperla have a big sized bead on this kind of brass base.
They answer to my question: how big can a bead go only by using the traditional Murano technique? Also, making this kind of beads is a challenge for my skills and the flame. The technique I use is called lampwork. In this technique we use only a flame to melt glass rods. You need to know your flame as you know your house, all the ups and all the downs, all the corners and how to better use them.
Well, then, the decoration is my favourite part of the work: the bigger is the bead, the more space for the decoration I have!
It is not easy to manage such a mass of Murano glass using only the torch flame. You need to perfectly control the temperature to prevent the piece from cracking and to keep the control you want on the decoration, specially if you work on a symmetrical design.
Also what I love in these is that the color of the Fenice beads changes over time, as other silver objects; they keep reacting with the air and the oxidation keeps going. Same for the row brass of the base that will turn burnished, sooner or later. In this way this object becomes also a reminder of the time it spent with you.
The bead is 10,5cmx2,5cm and total height is 16,5cm.
Please notice that all my creations are subjected to a correct cooling cycle to guarantee the solidity of the piece.
Colours may differ from the originals due to the different monitor settings.
