Floor, hi! I was just about to change my post a bit. Wanted to add that I was not fishing for compliments with my question - then saw your post. Thanks for your compliment, but I do not think that I can compete with Venice. Definitely not! But I am still confident that I can very much compete with Gablonz. Saying so in my effort to strengthen my argument that Venice made better beads than Gablonz could and did.

It is very true (what you said) that Venice had the advantage of better glass, not to forget the routine aspect of it. Venice beadmakers made beads every single day, week-by-week-, month-by-month and year-by-year and possibly even longer. I doubt that Gablonz had been that busy, as far as lampworking goes.

True is also what Rosanna said - that many Venetian beads were rather sloppy. They knew they were producing for the African markets and were certainly paid by piece (not by beauty), leaving ultimate quality by the side of the road.

That they have been able to do better, much better, can be seen on the VERY SAME models made for European/American consumption. I have often tried to copy Venetian beads, since it seemed to be a rather easy thing to do. But...? But it wasn't. I have never been able to duplicate Venetian beads in the same quality.

The beads I made - without training actually - are on the simple side of the spectrum. Everybody with a steady hand can apply a number of dots to a round "ball-of-fire" (actually the name I gave my unregistered "workshop" at the time). The final bead looks more difficult than it really is. Not to forget - it took me roundabout 30-60 minutes to create a single such bead. Venice, I believe, made 10 if not 20 time this amount, during the same time.

It is my believe that most beadmakers in Murano could have been much better without a ticking clock. There wasn't a reason to do so, obviously, since it was the amount that counted, not the beauty of an individual bead.

Look at Chevrons - an(other) achievment of Venice, not Gablonz or any other lampworking centre. Look at latticino, often used on their better pieces - absent on Gablonz beads.

If you have a collection of lampworked Gablonz beads, I would love to see them. Maybe you get me finally convinced that Bohemia was not as simple a beadmaker, as I (still) believe.