Period Corsets Visits the Murano Glass Festival

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Period Corsets had the amazing opportunity to collaborate with gifted glass artist Sabina Boehm for an on-going series of wearable art pieces. The most recent installment was a two-part piece of two ensembles. Themed "Fire and Ice", Sabina used her handmade glass medallions and swirls to adorn bespoke corsets and our full panniers.

The first look, "Fire", included a hand stitched corset, designed and made entirely by Sabina, featuring dangling red medallions and "fire" bust cups. To match this look, Period Corsets created an all black full pannier cage and assisted in stitching on the many medallions which embellished the "bars" of the cage.

Hand-blown glass "flame" cups curve perfectly over the bust

Sabina adding her glass pieces by hand to our cage pannier

The look of this finished piece is stunning indeed. And the sound created by the glass pieces tinkling added to the theme. As the wearer moves about, the glass florets clink against each other creating a crackling noise reminiscent to fire.

For the look of "Ice" Sabina went with cooler tones of ivory, white and light blue. Using a similar method to her "Fire" piece, Sabina used the lampwork technique to create hundreds of glass swirls.

Hundreds of hand made glass swirls

Sabina at work making swirls

For her base corset, Sabina chose our c. 1660 Kristina stays, flatlined to an ivory silk. Period Corsets started her with a fitting corset to test the shaping and sizing before constructing her final one out of the silk material.

Testing the shaping and sizing before constructing our final pieces

Her handmade swirls took hours to hand sew to the corset surface, a group effort among the artist, ourselves and willing friends. Due to the slippery surface and shaping, the swirls required just the right placement and stitch to keep them from shifting around or falling off.

Dividing up the work, front and backs

Swirls expertly sewn in place

Detail of the glass "lace edging"

Our next task was the matching open cage pannier. Period Corsets constructed it in all-white material and again spent much time helping to apply the glass ornaments to the outer surface. 

One swirl at a time!

This second look had its grand début in Murano, Italy, a major glass center of the world. For centuries, Murano glass artists have kept their techniques a secret, protecting their unique ways of creating the intricate glass pieces for which they are so famous. Just recently the Murano glass artists finally opened their doors to established and budding glass artists alike to share in their knowledge. As part of its yearly, traveling conference, the Glass Art Society went to this famed city to share, learn and celebrate.

Sabina models her wearable art at the Murano Glass Conference 

Fashion show on the water

Sabina takes a fashionable gondola ride

Complete with a ride down the Veneta Laguna, the conference included a wearable art fashion show displayed entirely on gondola boats. A truly unique display for this truly unique art form.