WHAT IS MILLEFIORI
Millefiori is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware. The term millefiori is a combination of the Italian words ‘mille’ (thousand) and ‘fiori’ (flowers). Apsley Pellatt in his book ‘Curiosities of Glass Making’ was the first to use the term ‘millefiori’, which appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1849. Before that, these beads were called ‘mosaic beads’.
Polymer Clay
The millefiori technique has been applied to polymer clay and other materials. Polymer clay is quite pliable and does not need to be heated and reheated to fuse it, and is therefore an easy medium to use for this.1 Once you have created your bead, just bake it in a conventional oven.
The manufacture of mosaic beads can be traced to Ancient Roman, Phoenician and Alexandrian times. Canes, probably made in Italy, have been found as far back as 8th century archaeological sites in Ireland2.
The technical knowledge for creating millefiori was lost by the eighteenth century, and the technique was not revived until the nineteenth century. Within several years of the technique’s rediscovery, factories in Italy, France and England were manufacturing millefiori canes.3 They were often incorporated into fine glass art paperweights.
The millefiori technique involves the production of glass canes or rods, known as murrine, with multicolored patterns which are viewable only from the cut ends of the cane. A murrine rod is heated in a furnace and pulled until thin while still maintaining the cross section’s design. It is then cut into beads or discs when cooled.
References.
1 “Millefiori technique in clay”
2: ‘The Work of Angels’, Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, 6th-9th centuries AD, 1989, British Museum Press, London, ISBN 0-7141-0554-6
3: http://exhibits.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/barker/techniques/tech_millefiori.php