Murano italien glass mosaic

The history of the glassblowers

The special glass production of Murano glass was already used in Roman times, but the tradition disappeared with the migration of peoples. Only in the 10th century, the technique came back to Venice. However, for a better protection against fires, the manufactories were moved from the lagoon city to the nearby island of Murano. Ever since the tradition existed, the glassblowers were obliged to keep the technique secret, if they told anyone, they were threatened with the death penalty. They lived in prosperity and the production and sale of works of art made of glass were the main sources of income for the island's population. Despite all attempts to keep the secret of the technique of production and colouring methods on the island of Murano, in the 15th century some glassblowers were able to emigrate to the north and found their own glassworks there. Louis XIV was thus able to have his Hall of Mirrors built. Today the colorful glass creations are known all over the world and in the streets of the city there are many shops and exhibitions. But one should always distinguish between the cheap souvenir shops that sell cheap Murano glass from serial production and the glass galleries with works of contemporary artists.

Ideas for mosaic objects

Murano glass blocks are suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. Therefore, they offer many possibilities to make your home or garden more exciting and to decorate it. For example, you can decorate whole walls or even floors that are not exposed to too much stress with the stones. Helpful for this can be templates for certain mosaic patterns available in craft shops. Also mirrors or picture frames can be put in scene particularly well by the Murano glass, which has a very special colour intensity and many different shades.
Another great idea is to decorate terracotta balls with the mosaic stones, for example in different shades of blue or green. Due to the many different colour shades of the Murano glass mosaic stones you can create beautiful colour gradients and let your imagination run wild.
Plates can also be decorated with the mosaic stones, which makes them unique and makes them, for example, very personal gifts. Also jewelry boxes or other wooden storage boxes become real unique pieces by this technique, which also make something special as decoration.
The different materials, such as wooden plates, polystyrene balls or wooden boxes and plates without decorations, on which the mosaics can be placed, are available in every craft shop.

Necessary materials

Depending on where and how you want to design your mosaic, you need different substrates and also the right adhesives. The stones can be placed on glass or plexiglass plates, so you can decorate light objects great, but you should use brighter colors to set the artwork in scene. If you want to create vases, or balls with a mosaic, terracotta is an excellent substrate, it is suitable for indoor and outdoor use, but you should protect the objects from the cold in winter. For terracotta objects white glue is often used. With lamps or lanterns, of course, you do not want the glue to be visible. Silicone glue, which is flexible and transparent, is best suited for this purpose.
When choosing the right colour for the joints, you should consider whether the mosaic stones should be set in scene, or whether the picture should merge into an overall picture with joints of different colours. Either way, you should make a small test object before grouting so that the colour matches the stones perfectly.
The Murano glass mosaic stones are usually left in their size of 2x2cm, because they are relatively thick with 4mm and so difficult to crush. The square shape and their light crystalline structure are characteristic for these stones.

Description of the Murano glass stones

The Murano glass stones have a typical crystalline surface. The color is very intense and can be bought in many shades, there are also stones with patterns. The colours range from black and different shades of grey to shades of blue and green, there are also red, yellow, orange and beige stones. The stones are available square in the dimensions 2x2cm and have a flattened, grooved back, which makes them easy to attach to almost any surface. Through centuries of craftsmanship, the stones are of the best quality and can even withstand temperature fluctuations, making them ideal for outdoor mosaics. They are also resistant to treading and scratching and are also resistant to acids and alkalis. Another great characteristic of Murano glass is that the colour hardly fades at all and is just as strong after a long time as it was at the beginning.