August 1, 2025 • Winter Mixes and More!
Happy Friday! It’s a BOY! I’m a great aunt again and my cup is overflowing! Both baby Charley and mama Emily Beth are doing great. 
Thanks for your patience this weekend as I’ll be launching tomorrow’s murrini from my iPad (hang in there if you have to refresh a few times) and I should be able to get everyone’s packages out on Monday, but Tuesday at the absolute latest. I loving this time with my sis and her family. ❤️
This week’s murrini are mostly in two mixes. I’ll describe the murrini in the mixes, then show you the variation/combinations I’ll have for you as well. Also, I had several requests to bring back some favorites, so I’ll have Footballs, Dotted Red Mushrooms, Poinsettia Kits with a frit mix, and two kinds of green leaves. Also, in the last blog I mentioned I’d have something old, but new. I had a request to make Golden Delicious Apples, so I did! They are adorable and will be available mixed with the traditional red apples, and as singles.
As a fun and simple project this week, I created two “Candle Covers”, each displaying one of the mixes, then a small fridge magnet for my school teacher friend, Amanda. The easy steps to each project will be later in the blog.
Housekeeping Notes: All my murrini are COE 96 (made with Oceanside glass) and these new murrini will go on sale tomorrow, Saturday, August 2, at NOON Central Time.
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This week’s murrini:
Winter Mix
This elegant mix will have 7 canes in it. Included will be: a NEW Curved Winter White Leaf, Charcoal Grey Leaf, Winter Bird, Snowy Charcoal Grey Blossom, and three Snowflakes in three sizes from larger to tiny. The blossoms and snowflakes are great fused anywhere from a tack fuse to a full fuse, but the leaves and bird are best at a light tack fuse so their outer shape remains intact. I put most of the canes in mixes, so everyone could sample all the designs. I will have a few of each of these designs available as singles, too.
6 Design Ornament and Flower Variety Pack
Christmas colors abound in this beautiful mix. There are a fun variety of outer shapes and inner designs. Each package will have 6 designs including an Oval Ornament, Red Blossom, Green Blossom, Slender Ornament, Round Red Ornament and a Christmas Daisy! The ornaments are all best at a light tack fuse. The flowers are great at all temperatures. Wheeled nippers or the Chipper Nipper work great on these, but for the slender ornament, you’ll want to use wheeled nippers only and place the wheels right in the center (on the green area).
I’ll also have the following mixes and singles available:
Green or Red Sister Blossom Singles
These blossoms will be sold as singles. I call these “Sisters” because they are very similar in design but different colors. The Green Blossom will have varying sizes with 5-6 canes per package, but the Red Sister has eaten a few more Christmas cookies and is on the chunkier side with only 5 canes per package. 🤭
Sister Blossoms and a Daisy Trio
There will be 2 of each design in this trio weighing in at about 1.10+oz. Great fused at all temperatures!
Ornament Trio
This trio will have two of each ornament design per package. These are best at a light tack fuse. Remember to use wheeled nippers on the slender ornament, placing the wheels right in the center (green area).
Red and Slender Ornament Duo
This beautiful duo is my favorite because I’m a RED gal. Tack fuse these cuties for best results. There will be 4 red round ornaments and 4 slender ornaments in each package. I also have a few packages of just the slender ornament that you’ll find as a variation at checkout.
Christmas Daisy with Transitioning Center
This beautiful daisy is perfect for the holidays. The green opal and transparent center transitions throughout the pull and makes each center unique. Each petal has a little bit of transparent red in between giving it a peppermint feel. Lots of fun because it can be fused at any temperature.
Footballs
Footballs are back and are a bit lighter in color this year. The new color was given the stamp of approval by my football-loving husband! A light tack fuse is recommended.
Dotted Red Mushrooms
These sweet mushrooms are one of my most requested remakes. They are adorable and to keep the exterior shape intact, a light tack fuse is recommended.
NEW Golden Apples with Leaves
Someone asked me to make Golden Apples and I was happy to! They turned out so cute and each package will have 4 apples and 4 leaves. I’ll also have them available as a Golden and Red Apple Duo and more Red Apples as singles. Each apple cane will have a leaf cane.
Slender Two-Toned Green Leaves (multi-size)
Also back are the Slender Two-Toned leaves. These are so versatile! Use them as a leaf by a flower or check out one of my projects this week where this leaf makes up the floral part of a wreath. They will be multi-size from small to large in each package for variety.
Poinsettia Kits with Frit Blend
I’ve been making this lovely flat-end petal Poinsettia kit for several years now and it is an all-time favorite. Kits will be sold either as M-L Poinsettia Petals with Dark Green Leaves and frit blend or S-M Poinsettia Petals with Dark Green Leaves and frit blend. Poinsettia Petals can be layered for a spectacular end result. A bit later in the blog you’ll see how I used them layered on one of my Candle Cover projects. I will also have the Dark Green Poinsettia leaf available as a single item as well and will be a separate listing.
Multi-size Gorgeous Green Leaves
The Gorgeous Green Leaf is a staple in my shop. They will be packaged in multi-size from tiny to large for a great variety. Tack fuse is recommended.
This week’s murrini fully fused. 
Above you’ll see the Winter Mix’s test tiles. The snowflake and blossom are beautiful fully fused. I also did a snowflake placed on two red 3mm squares and fully fused it’s gorgeous. They are also amazing on black, too. This is so easy to do and makes beautiful earrings! I also have a snowflake fully fused into a dot as a test as well. The bird and leaves don’t hold their exterior shape in a full fuse, so a tack is recommended.
In the photo above you’ll see the Ornament and Flower Mix. The flowers do wonderfully in a full fuse (and great flip and fused), but the ornaments don’t hold their exterior shape well in more than a light tack fuse.
In the upper left of this image you see the slender leaf fully fused. It does pretty good if you are looking for a rounded leaf, however, the football, mushroom, apple and gorgeous green leaf all lose their shape in a full fuse. Note there are two mushroom tests. Some of the mushrooms have a white dot on or very near the edge. If fully fused or even contour fused, that will become a line which you might find undesirable. However, it will look perfect in a light tack fuse.
Finally the test tiles of the poinsettia also show they are best at a tack fuse as the full fuse rounds them out a bit too much.
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This week’s project: Candle Covers! (I say candle covers, because that is what I had in mind when I first started. However, these beauties are perfect as stand-alone works of art).
Both of my candle covers start with 6X6” squares of 3mm glass because my candles are 6” tall. I created my first piece using the Ornament and Flower Mix.
I snipped my ornament and flower murrini canes into 2-3mm slices, took some of Joni’s Brown Variegated stringers and pulled them in a torch to give me lots of short tapered ends. I got my frit mix ready and drew a circle on my base of Almond Oceanside glass. (See the “Helpful Links” section at the bottom of my blog for Joni’s website…she’ll have stringer ready for you in her shop!).
I began to lay my stringers out along the exterior of the circle and did glue them down so they wouldn’t move as I finished the piece.
Next I put a bit of GlassTac glue around the rest of the circle and started laying out my slender green leaves and put together my Poinsettia. I have a bottom layer of petals and then a second layer. I chose two petal canes that varied slightly in size and have the larger one on the bottom and smaller ones on top. However, if they are the same size it will also work just fine. I then sprinkled some of my frit mix in the center hole that was created by putting the petals in a circle.
Then I put the Poinsettia leaves around the petals, added a few more slender green leaves to fill in all the areas, then gently placed my ornaments and flowers as the finishing touch to the piece. I put an Oceanside stringer at the top to make the wreath appear to be hanging. I ran a very light tack fuse and it did beautifully. The photo below shows it after its final drape. More info on the drape below.
For the second piece, I used the Winter Mix!
For this piece I had a tree branch mold that I wanted underneath my clear glass (in the initial tack fuse) to give some texture and design to the back of the glass. I drew my circle and took some Vanilla Cream stringer and put it in the torch to create some wiggly branches. I then placed the glass over the mold and placed the white branches to be following along the branches of the mold. I glued these in place. I also filled the inner circle with a smear of GlassTac. This mold is CPI GX08.
With my little white branches in place, I started placing my Winter Mix pieces around the circle until it was full. The multi-size snowflakes came in handy here as I used the smaller ones as filler. I placed a white stringer at the top (this one is supposed to look like an ornament hanging down).
I placed my piece back on the mold so the branches on my ornament lined up with the branches on the mold. I ran a light tack fuse and it was perfect. The lines of the branches from the mold are subtle and perfect as I didn’t want it to take away from the ornament.
The last step was a gentle drape over these curved molds. This project could be very flexible and could be made to any size depending on the candle you wanted to cover and/or what kind of molds you had to drape them over. So many fun possibilities! This mold is Slumpy’s SM783. The width of this mold varies slightly from mold to mold. I have several and they differ slightly for some reason by 1/4" - 1/2" in the width.
This photos shows a bit more of the subtle branch design that is in the glass after the tack fuse.
The fun thing about clear glass is this will look beautiful in front of any color of candle or just standing alone with no candle behind it.
Little Teacher Magnet
I created a project very similar to this when I first made the red apple. I started with a 2X2” piece of 3mm black glass. I had a brown swirl Oceanside glass scrap piece and it was perfect for this project. The secret is the INSIDE of the swirl glass looks layered and it is PERFECT for looking like the pages of a book.
The top photo gives you a better idea of the brown swirl glass I used. In the lower left you see the small piece of glass I scored and broke into some smaller pieces. The lower right shows the inside of the swirl glass, which is layers of color.
I took the 1/8 pieces of glass (they are about an inch long) and turned them on their sides to show the INSIDE of the glass for the books, staggering them. The bigger swirl glass piece I used for the table and I rounded the edges slightly on the grinder. I placed my little apple murrini, a leaf, and a football on the top book and popped it into the kiln for a very light tack fuse.
I’ll glue a little magnet on the back and it will make a perfect gift for my friend Amanda, who teaches English!
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Hints on the Horizon: On August 16 I’ll have Twistie Week, as well as a NEW flower I’m dying to show you! Also a reminder that August has 5 Saturdays, so after the 8/16 sale, I won’t have new murrini until the first Saturday in September (the 6th), where I’ll have more remakes of those Christmas murrini that zipped so quickly out of my shop, as well as transparent Old Fashioned Christmas Bulbs and more! Stay tuned!
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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.
For beautiful COE 96 Twisties, check out Sherry's lovely work at Love•Peace•Create•Shop.
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.
For Janice's pre-cut COE 96 ornament blanks, find her at LakeRabbitDesigns