Indian Glass Bead Chunky Barrel 24x14mm Smoked Topaz Wedding Cake

Indian Glass Kiln Beads offer a distinctive aesthetic from simple to intricate, featuring detailed designs on the surface such as these Wedding Cake Beads which are replicas of ones made in Venice, a century ago! They are crafted to look like miniature decorated pieces of an iced cake, and feature swirls, dots, flowers, and aventurine—a sparkling metallic copper paste added to the glass mixture. To create these, the glass is heated with a flame torch and carefully applied to a mandrel to form the bead shape. This process requires a high level of skill to ensure the bead retains its structure. During production, as the bead cools, the exterior shrinks while the interior remains hot and expanded, which can cause cracking. To prevent this, beads are annealed in a kiln where the temperature is slowly reduced, making the final product stronger and more resistant to breaking.
Indian glass beads often arrive with a dusty white or grey coating. This material is called "kiln wash" or "slip," which is used to help the bead release from the wire during production. You can easily remove it by rinsing the beads with tepid water or wiping them with a cloth.

Shape: Barrel 
Size: 24x14mm with large hole
Colour: Brown