Italian Millefiori

Italian Millefiori resembles tiny pieces of Christmas candy and are fun to work with in mosaics. The art of making millefiori is now associated with the Italians, who gave this style of glass art the current name "millefiori." The method of creating millefiori has not varied much since 1400 B.C.E. when it was made by the Egyptians. Throughout history, various cultures have produced millefiori glass at different points in time. The Egyptians produced it, followed by the Persians, Roman Empire, the Islamic world, and finally, the Italians.

Glass artists take many thin glass rods or canes and arrange them in a bundle so that they form a pattern in the cross section. The pattern can only be seen at both ends of the bundle. Once the pattern is set, the rods in the bundle are fused together into one rod with a torch. This rod is stretched thin while it is hot, allowed to cool, and then cut into pieces that we know as millefiori. Sometimes millefiori is also referred to as murrine, which involves small pieces of cut glass melded together to create a larger piece of glass.

The word "millefiori" means "Thousand Flowers" in Italian and it is often used to represent flowers in mosaic art. While the most common pattern in millefiori is a basic flower shape, other patterns are also popular: stars, bulls eyes, hearts, swirls, etc. The millefiori assortment we sell includes many patterns and colors. It's a great accent for all sorts of mosaics, particularly those made with mixed materials, but keep in mind the pieces are rather small (less than 1/2 inch in diameter.) The thickness is roughly around 1/8" so millefiori can be used with glass mosaic tile.

Murano Millefiori is a great millefiori reference site. It links to several other useful sites with info about millefiori.

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