Do glass beads really last for centuries?
Yes! Glass beads are known to last for hundreds, even thousands of years. A remarkable characteristic of glass is that it retains color better than almost any other art material. The soft glass we use has been manufactured in Murano, Italy for centuries and is proven to hold finish, lustre, and color with no special storage requirements. Oil paintings and antique metal works are far more fragile. The round shape of most beads is inherently strong, however we take an additional step to strengthen our beads by annealling them in a kiln. The annealing process involves reheating the bead slowly and keeping it hot in a near molten state long enough for any tension or stress, trapped as the bead was formed, to self-adjust and even out. The beads are cooled very slowly, and the annealling process takes about 5 hours but the beads become much stronger. The beads we offer are hand made and computer/kiln annealled, with the intention of providing years of satifaction and hierloom quality.
