A Thousand Flowers

In Italian, "millefiore" means "a thousand flowers." The green beads in this recently completed "ladder" bracelet are wonderful examples of contemporary millefiore beads. See those little flowers? Each center, each petal, is comprised of a separate rod of glass, all compressed together and fused with heat to create the pattern. Very beautiful. Very labor intensive. Guess that just goes to prove the old saying about anything worth having being worth working for...
The alternating beads are contemporary Czech glass and believe me, the Czechs are no slouches when it comes to glass, either.
Some people tend to discount bead jewelry, but look more closely next time you see a piece constructed with beads. The larger work of art that is the jewelry is composed of many small works of art that are the beads. Hmm. Not unlike millefiore.