Glass beads are made using Murano glass rods. The glass is melted in a blowlamp flame and wound around a steel rod that has been treated with a fin layer of a “special separator substance” that prevents the glass from sticking to the steel rod. When the bead is formed, the temperature of the glass is 600 to 700°C and must cool off very slowly. This slow cooling process eliminates tension that renders the glass brittle. As all glass that has been heated, glass beads need to cool during an extended period at a specific temperature depending on their thickness. The beads cool in specially designed ovens. This step is indispensable to assure that the pieces are solid and practically unbreakable. A glass bead that breaks in two was probably not correctly cooled. The last step is to carefully clean the interior of the beads. A big thank you to Nicole Zumkeller and Eric Seydoux of Ver et Framboise. example 1 | example 2 | example 3