millefiore

Ornamental glassmaking technique. Coloured glass rods are arranged in bundles so that the cross-section forms a pattern.

When the bundle is heated and drawn out thinly, the design becomes reduced in scale. Slices of this are used in glass-bead manufacture and can be set side by side and fused into metalware.

The technique is of ancient origin and was used in Anglo-Saxon jewellery and metalwork. It was revived in 16th-century Venice, then in 19th-century France and Britain for paperweights, doorknobs, and ornamental glass.