In 2011 I bought some unusual millefiori beads by Arianna Giuman, a woman working in the glass factory of her family. The Giuman, father and sons, made glass sculpures and other objects, and Arianna refined them grinding and polishing. These millefiori beads are to be intended as a sort of skill test in glass working: they are not made at a lamp, winding a base of softened glass around a wire and inserting murrine (glass cane slices) on it. These millefiori beads are made from a massive block composed by many (about 150-200 or more) segments of millefiori canes; the block is then grinded, polished and drilled to create the perforation. Apart from being rather rough, I presume that beads like these are technically very difficult to realize,and a labour intensive work. They vary in size, perforation is always a little less than 6 mm. The bead in the pictures is 46 mm in length and 32 mm large.
Giorgio