April 4, 2025 • Gabby’s Wedding Mix
Happy April! The year is scooting right along and I’m certainly enjoying the transition of seasons. Speaking of seasons, we are approaching “wedding season” and I have another niece getting married later this summer. She’ll be getting married in Italy, so there will be an Italian twist to this week’s project! I had a great time using all these gorgeous colors…including some pink I’ve been hoarding for this particular occasion. I’m an Oceanside girl, but since I needed pink and merlot for Gabby’s mix, I did use some Youghiogeny this week. All COE 96 and each piece tested perfectly under the polarizing filters.
Housekeeping notes:
Most of this week’s murrini were put into mixes so everyone would get some nibbles of all the colors. Lisa used the “regular” sized murrini for the mixes, which means the remaining murrini packaged as “singles” may have murrini on the larger or smaller side or an odd mix of big and little. I pulled this week’s murrini to be more dainty, so most will be on the smaller side.
These COE 96 murrini will go on sale tomorrow, Saturday April 5, at NOON Central Time.
NOTE: I only have 3-4 packages of some of these singles…others I have more. So be prepared for them to jump out of your shopping cart before you can checkout. 😉 I wanted everyone to be able to try all the colors this week, so that’s why I decided to put the bulk of the pulls into Gabby’s Wedding Mix.
Sometimes Youghiogeny pulls with a little undesirable bumpy exterior to the canes, so I kept all those canes to use in my projects, however, if I missed one and you find a little external bumpy area here and there, they still fuse beautifully.
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This Week’s Murrini:
Gabby’s Wedding Mix
This mix has 12 different designs in it with both transparent and opal glass. The Hearts, Merlot Leaf and Merlot Ripple Petal, as well as the Pink Teardrop and Pink Ripple Petal flower, have some Youghiogeny 96 glass in them, but the remaining Roses, Daisies and Leaves are all Oceanside. These mixes will have one each of the 12 designs in them and an additional leaf or flower may have been added in for weight. These mixes are running 1.75+ oz. The Pink Centered Daisy is shown in the mix, but I failed to put it in the row of individual canes in the photo (just in case you were only counting 11 🤣).
Green Leaf Trio
These three beauties together made the perfect mix. A Celadon curved leaf, Sea Green transparent leaf and a Slender leaf that has half Celadon and half Sea Green. You’ll receive two of each design but another leaf or two will be added for weight if necessary. All the leaves are best at a light tack fuse to keep the points pointy.
Merlot Ripple Petal
These cuties were probably my favorite this week due to the Pink center and Merlot exterior. There is a mix of Youghiogeny and Oceanside in this flower. Gorgeous at a tack to full fuse.
Pink Daisy
This is a remake of the pink daisy I used to make years ago when the pink streaky was still available. I’ve hoarded this Oceanside Pink and it was hard to let it go…however these are so lovely. I’m not gonna lie…I said a prayer that this pink pot would turn out well…and it did! Beautiful at a tack to full fuse. Sizes will vary in each order but they are on the smaller side.
Pink Ripple Petal
This rippled cutie is adorable tack to fully fused. The photo above shows some larger flowers, but the single packages (I only have a couple of them) will have the smaller sizes that you see in the photo.
Blue Daisy
This lovely blue daisy has a multi-design center and is perfect tack fused to fully fused. Sizes will vary in each order, but they are mostly on the smaller side.
Celadon Curved Leaf
This curved leaf is lovely in all kinds of floral scenes. These have a transparent vein this time. Sizes will be mixed in each order but are more in the medium size range. They are best at a lighter tack fuse to keep the curved exterior intact.
Two Toned Slender Green Leaf
One side of this design is transparent Sea Green and the other side is Celadon. They are very versatile as they can be used as a leaf, a bud or even a spiked green flower. Best at a light tack if you want to keep the ends pointy.
Sea Green Leaf
This transparent color is luscious. The thicker you snip the murrini, the deeper of a color it will have. If snipped thin, it is a soft green. Best if heated to a tack fuse to keep the tip pointy.
Merlot Leaf
The packages of this leaf will be of the smallest leaves you see in this photo. The color is stunning and are especially gorgeous with the light shining through them. These are Youghiogeny with an Oceanside vein. Best at a light tack fuse.
White Roses
I have a lot of white roses available this week because I needed a lot for my personal project for Gabby. I pulled them on the thicker side for a big beautiful flip and fuse option. I will have a few smaller ones available under the same listing. You’ll see them as an option at check out. The more canes in the package, the smaller sized cane they will be. Most of these will come 5-6 in a package. Perfect for flip and fusing, which I’ll discuss in the project below.
Pink Teardrops
These pink teardrops are Youghiogeny Pink on the exterior with Oceanside Pink surrounding a white center. They group together to make a beautiful flower or can be used as a leaf or bud. I only have a few packages of these and they are definitely on the smaller side with a few bigger ones here and there. These are lovely tacked to fully fused and the color pops just a bit more when fused.
Gabby’s Hearts
The hearts in each package will vary in size, but again most are on the dainty side. Lisa did a great job packing these so that you’ll receive a variety of all the colors. I would lightly tack fuse these as they’ll round out quickly in too hot of a top temperature. They were created with Oceanside and Youghiogeny COE 96 fusible glass.
Paynes Gray Whisper Leaves
These beautiful Paynes Gray leaves have a very subtle inner design and complement this week’s colors beautifully. The shape is long and thin. Sizes will vary in each order. A light tack is recommended to keep the exterior shape intact.
•SECONDS•
Pink Teardrops SECONDS
These are seconds as the inner design has started to wiggle or is just a small line. But otherwise, they are perfect. I found that after fusing them again they became even a brighter pink. Made with mostly Youghiogeny pink, you will find many uses for these sweet teardrops.
Merlot Ripple SECONDS
These deep Merlot ripples were a real treat to work with and are seconds because the inner design has started to fade away, but there is so much gorgeous Youghiogeny Merlot color to work with. They are great tack fused to fully fused. You might find a few with a bumpy exterior, but they still fuse beautifully.
This week’s murrini fully fused
Here they are from the front. You can see that the middle row of flowers are spectacular fully fused!
Here they are from the underneath. It’s always so interesting to see what they look like this way. But you can already see how the rose is amazing from the underneath, which is why the flip and fuse technique really shines here.
This week’s project:
Gabby’s Wedding Dish
To make this elegant little dish I started with a 3mm base of clear glass 5.5”. Over the top I placed a 5” Vanilla Cream square. I dusted the base glass with clear powder to help prevent bubbles between it and the Vanilla Cream. Now, check out this cool Italy shape made out of 3mm clear glass. I have a friend, Janice, who created this for me on her Wazer. More to come on her and her amazing designs as she’ll be having her products available to everyone pretty soon! I’ll give you her info when her shop is ready! Stay tuned!
I fully fused the three layers together and the Italy shape did exactly as I expected. It snuggled itself down into the Vanilla Cream which made for the subtle design in the center of my dish that I was hoping for. I’m loving this so far!
Here’s a photo of some roses I have in stages of being Flip and Fused. I snipped my rose cane into larger pieces (1/4” to 3/8” tall making sure the murrini is snipped flat and not leaning or else it won't fully fuse down evenly) and placed them on a 3/8” X 3/8” piece of 3mm clear glass (see the grouping in the lower right). I fully fused them down into a large dot, removed them from the kiln, washed them well, and put them back into the kiln (flipped over) for another full fuse (see the rest of the roses which are now flat side up). This technique will make your roses BLOOM into something spectacular! I have more details on the “Flip and Fuse” technique in my Tips and Tutorial section.
I wanted the roses in the upper right to represent her bouquet. I used Vanilla Cream stringers, that I put in the torch to pull slender ends, to look like the stems or flowy ribbons. I put a few murrini around the roses, then created a delicate design on the lower left. I also took Oceanside Vanilla Cream stringer and heated the ends to ball up into what I thought looked like little pearls as an added element.
Half way there! I have 25 dishes to make!!
After the murrini is lightly tacked on, I put them in the little dish mold for a slump! Having multiple molds is handy as I can do 6 at a time. These are molds from Slumpy’s - SM9273. I’ve had them for years and they make great little dishes.
Lisa is holding a few of my dishes (her new job title is now “hand model”)🤣 to show how each dish is a little different in both the bouquet and the corner design. Also, Gabby will be getting married in Stresa, which is in northern Italy near Switzerland, where the little heart has been placed.
I’m also making all the guests a heart. I’ve experimented with the murrini and have found that I love them in every way. I like the murrini packed tight, especially for the hearts and leaves that tend to lose their shape when they are fully fused. I'm also loving the simplicity of placing the murrini (that does well when fully fused) placed away from the edges and with some breathing room for them to spread out. The flip and fused roses have also been fun to work with. I’m trying to make each heart different, here’s where I‘m at so far…
Below you can see I’m using the Firelite 7021 mold. I have also found you get a very gorgeous whispery pink background if you sift pink fine frit in the medium clear frit and I just gently mix it together by poking the tips of my tweezers in it lightly.
I’ve got lots of hearts to make, but they are a joy to do.
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Hints on the Horizon: I’ll have a new Opal and Transparent Dragonfly coming on April 19 with a beautiful summery project!
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Helpful Links:
If you use COE 90, be sure to shop Lori’s beautiful murrini and mille 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 items I have each week. Find her beautiful work at Aggie Glass Designs.
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.