About Millefiori
Millefiori, sometimes called “caning,” was first created to use with glass. It was used by the Ancient Phoenicians, the Romans, and Egyptians, but was made famous by 19th century Venetians.
In the 1970s polymer clay artists realized the technique could be adapted to polymer clay.
Traditional millefiori beads are multiple millefiori slices on one spherical or cylindrical bead, Sarah does something a little different. Sarah’s beads are a single millefiori slice, often laid flat though sometimes shaped.
Now, nearly every necklace made by Sarah Sexton incorporates millefiori into the beads.
The Steps to Creating a Millefiori Bead
There are numerous steps to creating a millefiori bead, here they are.
01
A Design is drawn
The first step is to draw a design showing what I want the finished millefiori to look like.
02
Layers of clay are built up
Layers of clay are built up onto of the 2-D design. The tube (or cane) of clay is then compressed to get rid of air.
03
The cane is reduced and sliced
Sarah gently squeezes the cane to reduce it to the size wanted. Then the cane is allowed to “rest” before being sliced. When the cane is sliced, you can see the pattern, hopefully as it was originally designed.
04
Slices are turned into beads before being cured
Next Sarah pierces the slices to turn the into beads, and cures them. Some slices might get reshaped, as the Calla Lily beads, before being cured.
Contact
To contact us you can fill out our “Contact Us” form, or email the below address.
SeSextonDesigns@gmail.com