February 24, 24 (Fun date!) Petals, Daisies and Woodie!
This is my last weekend of sales before taking a few weeks off. Just a reminder my shop will be closed Feb 28-March 25. New items will be back in the shop on March 30. Like I mentioned last week, I'll be taking some time to create tinies and Lisa will take advantage of my time away to get them all cleaned and chopped (I hope she doesn't break up with me after she sees it all). Thanking her in advance for this huge undertaking! But back to this week's murrini... I filled requests for certain designs I was asked to remake and added a new buddy to our bird line...introducing Woodie the Woodpecker!
This week's project was a cute one and I'll give you all the details on how I made it, but it contains all the murrini I have this week (besides a remake of the Apple/Leaf Duo). I wanted to play with Joni's stringers again and my birds needed a place to hang out. ;) More on this a bit later.
Up this week and available Sat. Feb. 24 at NOON Central Time:
Four Bird Mix
I almost called this the Big Bird Mix, but I thought you might be looking for the Sesame Street Big Bird! Ha! This cute mix has three of our usual characters, Cardinal, BlueJay and Grey Titmouse, with the addition of Woodie the Woodpecker! He's adorable and his pecking is not as noisy as you'd think. :) ALL of these cuties need a LIGHT TACK FUSE! What I call a light tack fuse is a top temp of 1300 with a 5 minute hold. They'll overfuse quickly, so I recommend a test first to confirm the right temp before putting too much work into a project just to find them all rounded out. I wanted you to have an equal amount of birds in your package so you'll get TWO of each bird. If I had put three of each in, they were weighing too much over 2oz. So keeping them more reasonably priced, they'll be $26 for the eight canes with weights that average around 1.25 to 1.5oz.
Flat-End Multi-size Sunflower Petals
This is a remake I was asked to do. If you are an Oceanside user like me, you'll know what I'm talking about here. Each time I get a new shipment it seems like the colors are anywhere from slightly different to incredibly different. This isn't a deal breaker for me as I'm a go-with-the-flow kind of girl when it comes to colors, but that also means I may not be able to make something EXACTLY as it was before because those colors don't exist anymore. I've found that the new Marigold fires almost identical to Sunflower, so I put orange as the darker highlight in these and they are a bit bold, but that was my best option for this remake. I still love them, they are just different. $26 for 1.5oz.
In the sample above I have the Flat-End Sunflower Petals used in two ways. One as just a single layer around a pre-fused dot. And the second one is layered with larger petals underneath and smaller on top. This is why the package will have multi-sizes, so you can make smaller, larger and/or layered designs. 
Interestingly I did it a new way this time and it has a somewhat Daffodil feel to it!! Total happy accident! I pre-fused the larger layer first where they rounded out beautifully, then came back and tack fused the top layer on and added frit in the center! I kinda love it! Sorry about the scored lines in the back. I was trying to use up some 5mm scrap. ;)
Yellow and Orange Centered Daisies
This is a remake of this fun and interestingly changing centered Daisy. Bold and fun. They are perfect tack fused to fully fused, flatted or flip and fused. This beauty can handle ALL the things. Your order will have a variety of middles. 1.5oz $26.
Flat-End Hydrangea Daisy Petals
It's been awhile since I've made these, but had a request for them. Beautiful Hydrangea outer with a Dark Blue inner highlight. They are good at all temps as well, but like the above Flat-End Sunflower Petal...they round out in a full fuse...still very beautiful. Just different. They aren't necessarily multi-size, but each package will have a slight variance in sizes. 1.5oz for $26.
Swirly Chambord Daisies
Now, these are a new color for me! This past year Oceanside made a "Happy Hour" series of glass. This is called "Chambord" and I was hoping for a more pink color, but they are definitely in the purple family. Mixed with Vanilla Cream, these unique fellas have the most interesting swirly inside. I can't get enough of these!!! Each order will have a variety of centers. Like the other daisies, perfect at all temps and techniques! The Chambord is a transparent, so the glass you put underneath will need to be considered. 1.5oz for $26.
Here we are fully fused. I love these guys.
Lilac and Youghiogheny Pink Daisies
These lovelies are Oceanside Lilac in the petal with Vanilla Cream and Youghiogheny Pink in the centers. There will be a variety of middles in each order. Perfect in all temps and techniques. 1.5oz $27. See them tack fused in today's main project, but below is the fully fused version.
Forgive my score mark in the back. ;)
SECONDS: Youghiogheny Pink and Lilac Daisies
Now...let's chat about these being seconds. Erf. This is nothing new, but each time I try it I hope for the best and then say "Beth...why did you try it again?". But sometimes when I have Youghiogheny pink on the outside next to clear, it pulls out of the vitrigraph bumpy on the exterior. I'm honestly not sure why, but it just does this sometimes. I snipped away most of the bigger bumps, but you'll see it on the exterior of these. It doesn't change the way they fuse (I tested one chip with a bump on it in a full fuse) and they tested perfectly...in fact they are spot on under polarizing filters. AND even tho this pink is crazy in price, I just couldn't sell them at full price due to the aesthetics of the outside. Too picky I know...but that's just me. These are Youghiogheny Pink petals and Oceanside Vanilla Cream, Lilac and a touch of transparent in the centers. Since they are seconds, there could also be an outer inclusion or chip on the edge. 1.5oz $22
It's beautiful fully fused, too. 
These bumps look like the above. Was somewhat hard to get a good shot of it.
Apple/Leaf Duo
Per lots of requests...I have apples again this week! A package of apples will have one leaf for every apple. Sizes will vary on the apples. The tiny apple leaves may vary slightly...but they are mostly very tiny. When snipped you'll need to grab your tweezers. ;) The apples snipped fine with both the wheeled nipper and the chipper nipper, although my preference was the chipper nipper. The leaves will require the wheeled nipper placed directly in the center. Light tack on these guys so you don't move from fruit to vegetable, as the fully fused version looks like a tomato! Ha ha! 1.5oz for $26.
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This week's Project!
This week I wanted to work with Joni's stringers again as I just LOVED the way the variegated brown makes the most spectacular branches. See my "Find It In A Tree" blog for a video of how I put her stringer in a torch to make them more wiggly and thinned out on the edges. AND AND AND ... the fatter ends are what I used as the Cattails! Just LOOK at the variation in color with her Variegated Brown!!! This all comes from the same batch!
First I started with some beautiful blue streaky Oceanside glass that had a PERFECT swirl in the center that looked like water! So I went with it, sketching out my idea with a black sharpie. I decided to fully fuse it first as I knew I wanted a foreground and a background this week. It's 5 3/8 square just in case I wanted to slump it into a dish when I was done. 
First I mixed up just a little bit of Fern green and Light Green Transparent medium frit. 
With a little bit of GlassTac glue I sprinkled it all over where I wanted grass and with my finger I scooted it inside the lines I drew.
Next I mixed up some Chocolate and Medium Amber Transparent frit for the tree.
I did the same thing with just a thin smear of Glasstac glue on the tree section, then sprinkled my brown frit mix using my finger to make it straight against the lines. (I knew all my childhood projects with elmers glue and Mom's hated GLITTER would pay off... ha ha...see mom???)
NOTE! Underneath this piece in the kiln is a piece of 3mm clear sprinkled with clear powder...then I put this piece over top!
I put it in the kiln with a little piece of papyrus on the two sides with the frit, placing kiln posts gently against it just in case the added frit undammed had the potential to make these spread a bit more and be wonky. I wasn't sure so chatted with my BFF Tricia to see what she would do and we figured we couldn't go wrong with the dams. I think it paid off because it ended up perfect. This was at a full fuse and my top temp was 1450 with a 15 minute hold.
Yep, I already love it. Look at the DEPTH the opal and transparent frit gave the grass and tree. I couldn't be more pleased!
From here I started adding my elements. Yep...there's our new little Woodie Woodpecker just pecking away at the tree. ;) I also wanted to put the smaller daisies in the background since this week I had the two Flat-End petals that make BIG flowers. The Hydrangea petals are snuggled up perfectly around a white pre-fused dot. The Little Sunflower is a single layer with the smallest of the petals being used here, placed in a circle around a pre-fused brown dot. Frit in the center would also work here as well.
I didn't want to block the lake with more flowers so the thought of Cattails dawned on me. I was going to use brown frit, but there I was staring at Joni's stringer saying "USE ME!" So I snipped off the larger ends and there it was...perfect cattails. I put super thin stringer around the cattails and same for my two foreground flowers.
I put them in my kiln, told them to behave, and that I would see them in the morning. :) They behaved beautifully thank goodness! The final fuse was a super light tack fuse at 1305 with a 5 minute hold.
Just a note on rolling and shifting elements. I've mentioned this before, but if you put something on your glass and it's rolling around or slipping off (like the double layer sunflower) and the only way it's staying still is with a dot of glue...then keep in mind that when it starts to heat and the glue burns off early on in the fusing process, it's going to slide or roll again when the glue is gone. SO...always make sure your murrini is sitting level or not rolling. THEN at that point I tack it with the tiniest drop of super glue.
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Two other little projects I popped in this week were some hearts. I have the molds filled with mostly medium clear frit underneath, then a little sky blue transparent at the top and at the bottom I put my leftover Fern/Light Green trans glass from my lake project. I put one of Joni's stringers across the middle to be a branch and put in with my full fuse project.
After they came out I put some thinned out tips of stringer over the top of the fully fused stringer and placed some birds. I popped them in with my Light tack fuse. They are perfect. It's hard to see unless you zoom in, but Joni's variegated stringers have so much depth to them with the different colors. I'm making more of these, but putting more white at the top along with the sky blue so they aren't as transparent and hopefully look like clouds. Then I put a bit of dark green trans as the lower leafy grass part. 
I also worked on this simple piece just to highlight this week's flowers. No leaves, just sweet little stems and flowers. Sometimes I get too heavy handed with the murrini and simple is often better!
The Sunflower is a good example of all the sizes. In the layered one, I have larger petals underneath and smaller ones on top. The single layered version is more of the medium sized petal. This was at my normal light tack fuse with a top temp of 1305 with a 5 minute hold.
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Hints on the Horizon
This weekend will be my last weekend of new murrini before taking a break in March. I'll have TINIES for you on Saturday, March 30.
NOTE UPCOMING CLOSURE:
I'll be closed most of March for some family time (and my birthday). My shop will close Feb 28 and open back up March 25. Part of this closure will be to make TINIES. I do this about once a year as they are a lot of work and require some strategic timing. I'll be away from the shop for just a bit, but before I go, I'll pull them and this will give Lisa two weeks to clean and chop them. I pull four tinies to about one normal size murrini, so you can imagine a dozen designs X4 to clean and chop. Good timing for us to tackle these adorable minis.
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Helpful Links:
If you are looking for COE 96 stringer, Joni pulls matching stringer for the items I have each week. Find her beautiful work at Aggie Glass Designs!
If you are looking for Mike LaChance’s open bails, find his unique work at Mike’s Innovative Glass.
If you use COE 90, be sure to shop Lori’s beautiful murrini options found at Wilderness Glass.