April 3, 2026 • Dragonfly Garden, Tiny Leaves, and More
I wanted to start off today's blog by wishing you all a wonderful Easter weekend. 🌷 Since Spring is just around the corner, I thought it might be a great time to work with Dragonflies and transparent colors. I don't create a lot of transparent murrini, but when I do, I realize I should make these more often! With transparents, our background color options are limited, so I created the same piece on both white and clear to show you how beautiful these colors appear on two different backgrounds. As usual, details of each murrini, project ideas, and more are below.
Housekeeping Notes:
All my murrini are COE 96 and made with Oceanside fusible glass. These will go on sale tomorrow, Saturday, April 4 at NOON Central time.
I also wanted to thank everyone for your prayers, cards, donations, emails, messages, and more after the loss of my Dad. I appreciate all of you and especially your patience as I took the month of March off. It was needed. Keeping all things in perspective...nothing is more important than family and how we spend our time with them and life in general. I'll be ending today's blog with my Dad's favorite poem that talks about just that. Thanks again for all your expressions of love.
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This Month's Murrini:
Dragonflies!
Why so many colors you ask? Well, when I pull Dragonflies, I usually end up with more bodies than wings! So I got the extra bodies out and pulled a few wings to go with them. I did not pull as many wings as I do for a normal week that is just a single color of dragonfly, so there will be a limited number of packages of each color.
Also, there will just be two sizes of packages offered this week. Sm/Med and L/XL. Most are in the Sm/Med range this time and only a few of the larger wing sizes are available.
As a reminder, each 2" cane can be snipped down into 16 equal parts, which will make four dragonflies with 4 wings or eight dragonflies with 2 wings. The photos above are of the current batches of wings.
If you are new to Dragonflies (or need a refresher), below you'll find a video I created some time ago to show you how to get 16 equal snips from each cane, the best way to snip your tails, and other helpful tips.
The Dragonflies are best at a light tack fuse so as to keep their beautiful exterior design intact.
Transparent Flower Mix
Transparent murrini are a bit difficult to photograph to show the true colors when snipped off the cane. The thicker your murrini slice is, the darker the color after fusing. Also remember your background color will affect the color of the murrini.
In this sweet mix of 6 unique flowers, you'll find some fun colors and designs. A transparent red daisy with a split petal, a transparent orange wildflower, an amber star flower, a light grape wildflower, a yellow transparent wildflower, and a lime ripple petal with an olive green center.
Above you'll see each flower lightly tack fused and then fully fused. They fuse great both ways. The upper left lime ripple becomes very transparent in a full fuse, so you'll want to snip it a bit thicker (maybe 4+mm) to see the transparent color better when on clear. The two flowers that are surrounded by clear (the star flower and the red daisy) look amazing when fully fused on clear as the exterior blends right into the background. However, this won't be the case if fully fused into white as you'll still see the clear circle around it.
I love the full fuse on these as the interior shrinks inward and the outer petals bloom out!
I made mostly mixes with the beauties to make more available for everyone, but when the star flower was gone, Lisa then packaged the remaining flowers as singles. Therefore, there will only be a few of the single packages available...and may zip out of your cart pretty quickly.
Trio of Birds
This mix tweets of fun! There will be two canes each of the Blue Jay, Cardinal, and Woodie the Woodpecker in each package. Because the sizes of the birds varied a little bit this time, I have the trio packaged in three ways; as smalls, mediums and larger sizes. There are only a few packages of the larger sized birds, tho. Also, a few single packages will be available of the Blue Jay and Cardinal. These are a tack fuse murrini to keep the exterior intact.
Monarch Wings
These bright Monarchs will add a pop of color to any scene. Per usual, they are best snipped around 3mm (Reminder: there is a butterfly snipping tutorial in the “TIPS” section of my website). A light tack fuse is best. You can put two sides together to make a full butterfly, or just one wing as a side view of a butterfly.
Turquoise Butterfly Wings
Made with Turquoise, Almond and Peacock, these sweet butterfly wings pair perfectly with this month's Turquoise Dragonfly and Turquoise Triangular Petals!
Split Philodendron Leaf
This transparent leaf has clear stripes on the exterior like that of a split philodendron leaf. I prefer this leaf tack fused to keep the tip pointy. These are on the larger side and may require you to use your Chipper Nipper!
Aqua/Turquoise Ombre Transparent Leaf
Darker and lighter transparent aqua and blue colors make up this beautiful ombre leaf. It also pairs perfectly with the other turquoise murrini this month.
Sunflower Flat-End Petal 
This flat-end petal has a transparent yellow exterior and a medium amber interior. I used amber dots in my projects this week. Joni, from Aggie Glass Designs, will have matching dots for all of this month's flat-end petals. Her information is found in the "Helpful Links" section at the bottom of each blog. She will also have a lovely selection of stringers, too!
Chambord Petals
These fun slender triangular shaped petals are made with Oceanside Chambord. They have transitioning centers that will all be a bit unique in design. Using a single murrini will make a cool bud, or group them together to make a flower. They are awesome tack fused to fully fused.
Turquoise Triangular Petals
The transitioning center of this cool shape makes these murrini quite fun! Mostly opal with transparent layers, they can be used grouped together to make a flower, as a bud coming off a stem, as a leaf, or even just standing alone as a unique design element.
Slender Orange Leaf/Petal
I can't get enough of this beauty! With its opal/transparent transitioning center, this murrini is quite versatile! Use it as a leaf, petal, bud, or any kind of design element unrelated to a garden scene! How fun is this?
Bee Kits
Bee kits are back! But check out the inset photo. I originally had the "head" cane placed at the pointy end all these years, but I recently had an artist use these with the head at the rounded end! I love it both ways, but am smitten with this version. Therefore, the heads will be slightly bigger than in the past to make this look. Each kit will come with 3 bodies, 6 wings and 3 head canes. Bee sizes will range slightly in each order.
Tiny Bee Wings
After Lisa sorted all the bee wings, there were some that were a bit too small for any of the bodies I pulled this time, so they'll be packaged for those who make their own little bee bodies and only need the wings! There are approximately 18 canes (give or take) in each 1oz. package.
Oval Green Spider Mum/Green Blossom Duo
Since these two flowers paired together so nicely, I'm going to offer them both as a DUO and as singles. These millefiori fuse beautifully from a tack fuse to a full fuse. They are made with vanilla cream, so some slight reactions may be visible from the underside if fused onto blue or green transparent backgrounds.
Tiny Leaf Trio
My biggest request, after my recent creation of Tinies, was to create more tiny leaf mixes. I was happy to do that and will have these sweet little tines available as a trio. Lisa bagged them by weight (approx. .35oz of each design per package).
Light Blue Transparent Flat End Petals
These beautiful flat-end petals have a transparent light blue outer color, with an opal/transparent transitioning blue center. This sample is placed around a dot made from hydrangea blue, but will look beautiful around many different colors.
Deep Aqua Flat End Petal
This is probably my favorite transparent color...deep aqua. It has a turquoise opal pointed center and will look beautiful around different colors of dots. You can use them touching each other as shown here, or more sparingly to look more like a daisy. Also, dots snip in half perfectly with wheeled nippers, and check out this week's "house number" project to see this petal used against the flat side of a dot to create more of a "side view" of a flower.
Blue Rounded Flat-End Petal
This flat-end petal will have a mix of transparent and opal transitioning inner circles. It has more of a dainty feel when placed around a dot, but also makes an interesting leaf or bud.
Multi-sized Ladybugs
I pulled these Ladybugs a bit on the smaller side this time. Each package will have a larger cane, but most will be more of a medium/small/tiny mix. These cuties are best at a light tack fuse to keep her inner dots from pulling in toward the center.
Striped Green Leaf
This was a highly requested remake. It has a transparent center vein, but also has wispy transparent stripes in between. These beauties are perfect for any garden or flower scene.
Frit 6-Pack
NOTE: The Frit 6-Pack is only available in conjunction with the purchase of any of this month's flat-end petals (to be used as an alternative center for the flower). You'll find them listed as the very last listing in my online store next to the Gift Card.
Each package of medium size frit will weigh in at .5oz., making the 6-pack a total of 3 ounces. Colors included are Oceanside's Turquoise Blue Opal, Vanilla Cream, Amber Transparent, Deep Aqua Transparent, Amazon Opal and Dark Blue Transparent. The packages are the size of a goodie bag for reference. When using as filler for the center of your flower, a light tack fuse is recommended to keep the texture and size of the frit "as-is". Remember that vanilla cream, when mixed with certain blues and greens, will cause a reaction in a contour/full fuse.
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This month's fully fused test pieces
I test a murrini from each pull by fully fusing on clear, then view them under polarizing filters to make sure they are still perfectly compatible after the pulling process. This also allows us an opportunity to peek at each murrini after a full fuse. Some look fantastic, and others, with an exterior shape, often round out too much.
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This month's projects:
The projects this month are very straight forward and are basically "decorated" with murrini. The House Number Project is a remake because when we had our roof replaced last year, the 6 disappeared completely, the 5 got broken and the 2 remained untouched. So since I needed them myself, I'll just show you some of the others I made for some friends, too. The first time I made the House Number Project can be found in my April 26, 2024 blog. I have a few more details there, too.
Here's a look at my workspace. First I started by snipping all my murrini and putting them on a towel. I cut 2mm white to fit into the thin channel of my garden stakes. These stakes, (made to hold seed packets) were very popular at JoAnn's Fabrics about two years ago, and since then, they have closed most of their stores. If someone knows of a supplier for these, let me know and I'll update the blog.
You can also see I had pre-fused some dots to use with my flat-end petals (Joni sells these in a variety of opals and transparents in coordinating colors). I also have COE 96 house numbers that I purchased the last time I did this project from Happy Glass Art Supply. Her online shop is currently closed. If you are searching for similar pre-cut COE compatible numbers, these are 3" tall.
Also on my workspace, you can see I have two larger pre-fused backgrounds. A clear version and a white version roughly 5.5" X 10.5" which fits the tray mold I'll be using. For the white base, I cut a 3mm clear piece along with a 3mm white piece slightly smaller all around so the clear will show as a tiny border. Two different colors is optional and you could have any color other than clear for the bottom "border" piece. Just so long as the top piece is white (reminder that other colored backgrounds will change the color of the transparent murrini).
Lastly, you'll see I have Papyrus's gel adhesive (like Bullseye Glass Tac). A bit disappointed in it this go around...more on that in a minute.
First, I placed my numbers and put a teeny dot of superglue at the top and bottom to hold them in place. I then started playing with my stringer placement.
Here are some of the house numbers. As you can see, I used the murrini sparingly since the numbers were large and I didn't want to overpower the scene. The top three photos are the final versions before fusing. I fused them in my Hot Shot 24G with a top temp of 1320 with a 10 minute hold. Just enough to soften the edges, but not change them at all.
After firing, I put them in the channels of the stake with a bit of E6000 to hold them in place. This is some early morning light shining in from behind. Looks like spring!
Another grouping of numbers that are slightly different and have more green stems than multi-colored stems.
Then another set going into my Hot Shot 24G. They were all slightly different, easy to do, and used only a small amount of murrini.
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Dragonfly Garden Plate
Next are the larger garden scenes. Here is where I get to use all the murrini at "full size"...meaning the flat-end petals around dots to make big beautiful flowers!
These are fun and simple to make. Remember earlier I talked about pre-fusing the bottom first. So in the above image that step has already been done.
To finish the piece, I laid out my bigger flowers first, keeping in mind where the dish's corners would "bend" slightly when slumped into the dish mold. After my big flowers were placed, I started arranging the dragonflies and stems. Then finally ended with the little single murrini accents. I love the feel of this piece.
I did put a little circular smear of Papyrus Gel Liqui-fuse under the flowers to hold the dot in place as I put the petals around them. I did notice a bit of a residue that didn't burn off, but it was only in one little spot and was hardly noticeable on the finished piece.
After the tack fuse was completed, I put it on my tray mold Slumpy's SM-246 which is 5X10 inches. I'm going to call this one a beautifully bright and cheerful success!
I also recreated the same project in just clear to show it to you from the front and the back. Here it is in the kiln before the tack fuse.
Here it is after the tack fuse and slump. Look how gorgeous the murrini are from both the front and the back. Something to ponder as you create, as the back side is awesome, too.
Now for my sad "erf" with the clear piece. I was too generous with the Papyrus Gel Liqui-fuse. And sadly, it did not all burn off in my tack fuse. Totally my fault for smearing too big of a circle to work with. I did let it dry first, but alas...it should have burnt off. Below is a closer look.
See the foggy circle around the purple dragonfly, orange flower and just to the upper left around the blue flower as well. Pretty bummed. I'm going to work with it and see if I can find a solution to make it look better, but in the future I will be more careful to not be as generous with the underlying glue. Perhaps I'll just use tweezers and lightly dot the back of each murrini with glue before placing it on the background...then carefully cleaning up any excess.
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Hints on the Horizon:
My next drop of new murrini with be the FIRST Saturday in May, which is 05/02/2026. I'll have a beautiful Wedding Mix, Pansies, and some requested remakes! I'm pretty excited for you to see these.
If there is a murrini you'd like me to have in stock again, please email me with a photo of it and I'll put it back on my list.
NEW! On a fun note, I have a DISCOUNT code with Hot Shot Kilns! If you purchase a kiln from them and use ALONGI10 at checkout, you'll receive 10% off your order! I don't receive anything from Hot Shot Kilns when you use this code, but you'll get a discount and it lets them know you are a friend of mine! I'm a FAN y'all!!
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Helpful Links:
If you use COE 90, be sure to shop Lori’s beautiful murrini options found at Wilderness Glass.
Oceanside's recommended Firing Schedules.
If you are looking for COE 96 stringer or pre-fused dots, Joni pulls matching stringer for the murrini I make. Find her beautiful work at Aggie Glass Designs. Joni is also my supplier for the Window Cards that we can use for our artwork.
For beautiful COE 96 Twisties, check out Sherry's lovely work at Love•Peace•Create•Shop.
Kiln shopping? Check out my friends at Hot Shot Oven & Kiln. They'll give you great customer service along with a great product made in Wisconsin! For a 10% discount, use Alongi10 at checkout! I don't receive anything from Hot Shot Kilns when you use this code, but it lets them know you are a friend of mine and lets you know I'm a FAN of their KILNS!
Looking for a good Chipper Nipper or Leponitt wheeled nippers? I recommend purchasing these two "must-haves" from witsendmosaic.com. They call the Chipper Nipper "Ceramic Scissors". The wheeled nippers I prefer are the Leponitt G30C. They also have lovely jewelry bezels, too!
If you are looking for Mike LaChance’s fusible COE 96 handcrafted bails, find his unique work at Mike’s Innovative Glass.
For beautiful COE96 frit blends, check out Val Cox's website.
My favorite flattening technique is from a tutorial by Nancy Sala. It’s worth the $8 for the excellent tips she gives. Once purchased and she sees your order, she will email you the tutorial in a PDF.
I buy my Easy Fire Enamels from Cheryl Chapman's website.
Looking for a pneumatic chopper? Sue and Brad Darte make a great product backed by excellent customer service.
For Janice's pre-cut COE 96 ornament blanks, find her at LakeRabbitDesigns.
For information on Paul Tarlow's Powder Printer: Check out his Fusing Factory website and his Youtube Video for creating with the Filigree Stencils.
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Ending today's blog with my Dad's favorite poem. He was a pastor and would frequently read this at funeral services he officiated. It was read at his funeral as well. Let's live our dash well, friends.
The Dash
Poem by Linda Ellis
I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning to the end.
He noted first came the date of the birth and spoke the following date with tears.
But he said what mattered most of all was the dash between the years.
For that dash represents all the time that they spent life on Earth.
And now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not how much we own, the cars, the house, the cash.
What matters is how we live and love, and how we spend our dash.
So, think about this long and hard. Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough to consider what’s true and real,
and always try to understand the way other people feel.
Be less quick to anger and show appreciation more,
and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile,
remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy is being read with your life’s actions to rehash,
would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?
❤️