Glass was one of the earliest materials crafted into jewelry, and not simply as an inexpensive stand-in for costlier stones or metals. The ancient Egyptians valued glass beads and carvings as much as they did gemstones, and Roman glass items, with colloidal gold or silver particles and patinas are highly prized by collectors to this day. Art glass was perfected in Murano an island off the coast of Venice, as early as the 8^th century. Several types lend themselves well to the creation of unique jewelry pieces.

Millefiori, in Italian literally “thousands of flowers” is made from fused multicolored glass canes and produces distinctive floral patterns when cut and polished.

Hand-blown glass produces mesmerizing and swirling patterns. For earrings, feather-light blown glass globes made from candy-striped glass are fun and easy to wear.

Dichroic glass, pronounced "dye-crow-ick," is a modern material that we can thank NASA for. They developed it for various scientific applications but the non-translucent, iridescent glass was quickly adapted for artistic use. Manufacturing the raw material is a pretty high-tech operation involving vaporized metal oxides and minerals coating multiple layers of glass within a vacuum chamber. Dichroic means two-colored as the resulting pieces have a whole rainbow of flashing colors that beget a rich, metallic looking glass. Variation makes for distinct one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces, and the bright sheen for fantastic, dreamscape beads.