[mikefrantz]

I try not to bore you with the history of glass production at Vetrofond, but historically Vetrofond was making blown lamps and other objects of art long before they began producing glass rods. I have one of their rejected light fixtures that was blown in a mold and the finished size is about 4 foot tall with a diameter of around 8 inches with multiple layers and about half an inch thick. Light shades like this might be found hanging in some of the most beautiful buildings in the world. The Vetrofond factory has a very unique and secret way of blowing glass which I am not allowed to mention, and even the photos I can take at the factory are limited.

I do not actually know the date they obtained the production equipment for the glass rod making that they have at this time, but I might assume that it was in the late 80's or even the early 90's. Next time I am at the factory I will ask Mr. Moretti. And before you start wondering, the Mr. Moretti of Vetrofond has no connection to the glass company name of Moretti, the name Moretti is common in Italy.

The first time I visited Murano and was on my first visit to Moretti (now Effetre) I was greeted by Mr. Fausto that was the plant manager. I actually have written a poem about that experience and one day I will share that experience with everyone.

Then I heard that Fausto left Moretti and began to work at Vetrofond and he solicited me for business to buy glass rods from Vetrofond and many years later I did purchase Vetrofond Glass, long after Mr. Fausto had passed away.

Vetrofond has a magazine (an outlet shop on Murano, not open to the public) but if you were to knock at the door, you probably would be able to come in and look around as the managers they have had while I visited have been so kind and nice.

It was only a few years ago that the young man that operated the shop was tragically killed in an accident (not related to work). Soon a new person was running the shop and he is a very nice person as well.

While you will see many shops in Murano and Venice using 5-6mm rods, you will find the majority of glass artists using the 11-12 opaque and 13-14mm transparent sized rods. When I go to one special beadmaker and ask him to make a bead out of a new Effetre color rod, he will take 3 of the 5-6mm rods and tape them together so they have the size and feel of a larger diameter rod because that is what most artists use. In American and many other parts of the world, beadmakers use the 5-6mm, but in Italy you will see a large number using the larger rods, and with the help of a porta cana, the glass artist has large diameters rods heated and almost dripping and ready to use.

Ok, I guess I have gotten away from a quick and short answer to where the rods are.......I continue.

When I first visited Vetrofond and entered their magazine, there were rods of many diameters, but the majority was larger. The number of colors in the 5-6mm size were very limited. For me to get them to make any color in a 5-6mm size, I had to commit to buying a production which was anywhere between 1,400 and 2,200 pounds! Now when you multiply 2000 pounds times 100 colors (or more) I ended up with a huge building of glass.

The economy has been bad for everyone, including me you and everyone else, and Vetrofond is no exception. With the world's economy declining for many, paychecks have shrunk or vanished and many of the glass than Vetrofond manufactures goes into high end retail shop in New York and into large buildings for lighting and the demand has gotten smaller and the need for glass on Murano for glass artist has also diminished.

So for one, the economy has kept Vetrofond from producing glass, and this has also effected Effetre, Costco, and the Pizza place around your corner. Less demand equals less production and less production means no more light ivory.

Vetrofond had said they would start production in August, but it was August of last year and it has been a full year and now they are slowly making glass rods.

Vetrofond recently produced six new ODD colors. I had some airfreighted in and took them to ISGB (I think Glass Craft Expo) and the BASH and had a bit available on line. We have about 10 pounds left of each of these new colors. The stock numbers are like.....791819 thru 791823 (or something like that). On my seafreight I have the balance of the production which is around 1,400 pounds of each color.

Light Ivory was produced and is on its way. Some other colors that we have been out of are also on the way. As far as black, it seems that when they produce black glass, the crucible is totally distroyed when they make black, so whey wait until the crucible is almost ready for the trash before they use it for black. Perhaps that is why the end of the production of black can have crucible rocks in it as it begins to fall apart.

We have 791064-CR. This CR stands for, I actually forgot, but it really means that BLack with Rocks. The glass works fine, but you got rocks in it and they sell it to me at a good price and I pass those savings on to my customers.

Somebody posted that light ivory was available in France, and that is because I did not buy the entire production and they have acquired some at Vetrofond. This is just my best guess and it is also possible that it is left over from an old production.

Somebody asked about shipping Fed X, while I have not checked into Fed X shipping, it can not be cheap. When I want to UPS by air the cost is around $4 or more per pound. If I go airfreight the cost is around $2.50 per pound. This prices can go up when fuel costs are on the rise. BUT, when I ship by sea, the cost per pound is around $.25 per pound. For that reason I will only bring in by air the colors that we want to test or those that somebody is willing to pay an extra $2.50 to $3.00 per pound. Now if I airfreight in Light Ivory and give a 35% discount and pay $3.00 per pound for shipping....I make no profit I go into the hole. So we all will wait and be patient for these colors and when Light Ivory arrives, I will have around 1,400 pounds and I will not run out for a very long time. Sometime in the future Vetrofond will say they have another shipment ready, and if we have sold enough of the light ivory we will bring more of it in and we should be good for a few years.

I do not know if this answered the question, but it did give you something (maybe interesting) to read.


Mike