New on Pinterest: Millefiore Glass, A Thousand Flowers

Millefiore, Italian for "a thousand flowers" is a glass working technique used to create swirling floral patterns in glass pieces. Often seen in beads, there are also many beautiful larger glass pieces that use this technique. On our Pinterest board, "Thousand Flowers" we've been pulling together some of our favorites. Check out these images:

Source: liveauctioneers.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

Source: amazon.com via Bumbershoot Designs & Supplies on Pinterest

Estate Sale Vintage Glass Cabochons From Bumbershoot Supplies

I have previously blogged about our recent estate sale purchase of vintage Venetian glass flowers, you can read that post here.  I am still working to photograph and list these flowers on Bumbershoot Supplies.

However, I wanted to let you know that we were also able to purchase many rare and unusual vintage glass cabochons and a few lovely vintage rhinestones from this same estate, and some of these are now listed at Bumbershoot Supplies.  Check ‘em out! Many of these lovely vintage glass cabochons and rhinestones are available in limited quantities.

We use natural light for photographing all our supplies and designs because we have found it best reflects the colors and character of the vintage materials we offer. And natural light is somewhat limited at this time of year in Seattle. For this reason and because and we did purchase quite a large lot of vintage glass from  this estate, we expect to be listing new items for several weeks. You can always visit the “new arrivals” section at Bumbershoot Supplies to see what is most recently available.  Or send me an email – maybe we have what you are looking for.

Venetian Flowers on Wire: History and Provenance of Flowers at Bumbershoot Supplies

We are very excited to have recently purchased many vintage glass flowers and leaves on wire for your designs and inspiration!  We will be loading these up at Bumbershoot Supplies over the coming weeks.

The first flowers now available at Bumbershoot Supplies, shown in this blog post, are Venetian in origin.  We were fortunate to purchase a large lot of vintage glass from a local estate, including these flowers.  Because the flowers were part of an estate collection, we were able to learn their history. These particular Venetian flowers were originally purchased in Venice in the 1920's.

These lovely flowers just happen to be in Pantone's color of the year for 2012, tangerine tango.  Vintage corals are a wonderful way to capture this color in your designs, see my blog post here.

We're excited to have these Venetian flowers to offer because vintage glass flowers on wire are becoming increasingly rare. Within that rarity, it is more common to see vintage Japanese glass flowers on wire, so these Venetian ones are quite special. We will have at least 12 different colors available, perhaps more once we finish all the sorting :)

We have many more vintage glass flowers and leaves on wire to offer, including Venetian, Japanese and some Czech. I hope you enjoy seeing our flower collection unfold over the coming weeks!