Murrine

This is one of the oldest processes known to man, the first examples go back to Roman times. Items made in this way were already existed in the XVI century. Fallen out of use, the technique was picked up again in the mid-nineteenth century and attained it peak in our century, especially as a result of Barovier and Venini. Making a murrina consists essentially in preparing a sheaf of multicolored glass rods, arranged so that its cross-section is according to a predetermined design. It is then heated and when the melting point reached it is drawn out until the desired diameter is obtained. After cooling, the rod obtained in this way is cut up into small disks of variable thickness, ranging from just a few millimeter to a couple of centimeters, whose section has the previously made design. They are now ready to be used in several ways. A set of murrine must be placed on a metal plate according to a given design, heating them up and then making them adhere by rotation on the surface of of an item with cylindrical shape, still connected to the blower’s pipe. After this the items is finished as usual, on occasion coating it with a layer of transparent colorless glass.