The best designs in handmade beaded bracelets come from using the finest manmade materials, such as Murano glass beads and Swarovski crystals then contrasting them with one of natures’ best accidents – freshwater pearls.
At Girlie Girls Jewelry Studio we feel many of our designs are timeless classics and this handmade beaded bracelet is no exception. If you could feel the smoothness of the Murano glass hearts and see the beauty of the colors of the two strands of freshwater pearls you would have no doubt about this bracelet becoming a family heirloom.
We only have a few handmade beaded bracelets in this design available; you will never go wrong choosing quality and classic style, therefore placing your order today would be what the smart Girlie Girl would do.
Pearls symbolize honesty, wisdom, purity, innocence, integrity and serenity. Pearls can stimulate your femininity; they lift
your spirits and make you feel beautiful. Pearls foster motherly love and ensure good health and longevity. With their humble beginnings
as a grain of sand and slowly transformed over time into an object of value and beauty, they help us get in touch with the simple things
in life.
Physically, pearls aid with the heart, digestion and stomach, and with the immune system.
Before the beginning of the 20th Century, pearl hunting was the most common way of harvesting pearls. Divers manually pulled oysters
from ocean floors and river bottoms and checked them individually for pearls. Not all natural oysters produce pearls, however.
In fact, in a haul of three tons, only three or four oysters will produce perfect pearls.
Now, however, almost all pearls used for jewelry are cultured by planting a core or nucleus into pearl oysters. The pearls are
usually harvested three years after the planting, but it can take up to as long as six years before a pearl is produced.
Pearls are formed inside the shell of certain bivalve mollusks. As a response to an irritating object inside its shell, the mollusk
will deposit layers of calcium carbonate and conchiolin which forms nacre, or as most of us know it, mother-of-pearl.
The unique luster of pearls depends upon the reflection and refraction of light from the translucent layers and is finer in
proportion as the layers become thinner and more numerous. The iridescence that some pearls display is caused by the overlapping
of successive layers, which breaks up light falling on the surface.
The value of the pearls in jewelry is determined by a combination of the luster, color, size, lack of surface flaw and symmetry
that are appropriate for the type of pearl under consideration. Among those attributes, luster is the most important differentiator
of pearl quality according to jewelers. All factors being equal, however, the larger the pearl the more valuable it is. Pearls come
in eight basic shapes: round, semi-round, button, drop, pear, oval, baroque, and ringed. Large, perfectly round pearls are
rare and highly valued. (Wikipedia 2006)
The origin of Murano glass is interesting because it is the longest ongoing center for glass making in history. It spans from the 9th century to today and is full of beautiful and innovative artwork. The glass artisans of the island have had astonishing success, failures and thankfully, a remarkable resiliency in the face of adversity.
First for readers uncertain of where Murano lies, it is a small island North West of the city of Venice, Italy -not much larger than a few square miles.
It is believed the origins of Murano Glass dates back to 9th century Rome, with significant Asian and Muslim influences, as Venice was a major trading port. Multihued pearls and glass beads were used in trading with Asian, African and Muslim neighbors.
The first known historical document describes Domenico, a maestro (glass blowing master) who created fiole (bottles). Other equally rare documents describe Pietro Fiolario working with glass in 1083 and Giovanni Fiolario as a maestro making bottles in 1158.
In 1291, the Maggior Consiglio (Venetian government) decreed that all the glass furnaces had to be moved from the city of Venice proper onto the island of Murano, because of the fire hazard to a city built of wood. More politically astute observers note that the consolidation of all glassblowers on a small island allowed the government to better oversee and manage its monopoly on the profitable industry.
Realizing that the glassblower's secret techniques were prestigious and one of the underpinnings of the local economy, the Republic further tightened its control by issuing an edict forbidding glassblowers to practice their craft in other countries. They couldn’t leave and if they tried, there was the possibility of having their hands cut-off by the “secret police” - very harsh consequences indeed.
However, the close eye kept on Murano and its artists had unforeseen positive consequences. By artificially concentrating the entire glass blowing industry on a small island, it inadvertently intensified the level of competition between maestri; as a result the quality of glass was dramatically refined, and new techniques and ideas rapidly disseminated throughout the island.
Over the years, the island has seen its fortunes grow and diminish, furnaces shuttered and its artists scattered throughout Europe. This reversal of fortune lingered until the 1860's, when Vincenzo Zanetti developed the Glass Museum of Murano, (in reality more of a school than a museum) and slowly began reintroducing lost glass blowing techniques.
One of the pivotal players in the modern Murano era is Paolo Venini. An unlikely candidate, an attorney with no experience in glassblowing, he was known for his willingness to collaborate with others in diverse fields, especially from the world of architecture. One of his greatest contributions to Murano in the 20th century was developing upcoming artists. The list of artists his company mentored over the years reads like a who's who of the modern Venetian art world.
The future of the Murano is as bright as ever. Continual innovation coupled with a renewed emphasis on collaboration with artists worldwide will serve the island well, allowing the maestro's to flourish and establish the 21st century as another "Golden Age" of Murano glass!
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