August 15, 2025 • Twisties, Columbines and a Mixed Media Project
Hello and thanks for taking a peek at my blog this week. I'm glad you did because it's full of information on all the COE 96 goodies available tomorrow. I'll explain my Twisties a bit later in the blog, but there are some beautiful colors that I hope will accent your seasonal projects. I'm also SO excited about a new flower, the Columbine. It comes in 3 parts and I ask that you be sure to watch the video where I explain the best way to put these together for the best end result. (A big thank you to Leslie from Colorado, who asked me to make these beauties). I'll also round out this week's murrini with some seconds Opal Christmas Bulbs that make a very pretty flower as well.
Sometimes there's so much joy in my shop that I'm about to explode! This was one of those times when putting together this Multi Media Project. This is me stepping out of my box for sure. I hate gluing to glass, I want everything to be fused. But that limits me. So I feel pretty free this week, gluing and using all kinds of other materials in this project. But boy oh boy...am I ever in love with this piece.
I'll show you several different finished looks at the end of the project portion of today's blog.
Housekeeping notes:
All my murrini are COE 96. This week's murrini (all Oceanside fusible glass) will go on sale tomorrow, Saturday, August 16, at NOON Central Time.
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This week's Murrini:
NEW! Columbine Kits
Oh the fun you are going to have working with these beauties. I'll have these Columbines packaged in either all Red kits, Blue kits, or Yellow kits. Each kit will have 4 back petal canes, 4 top petal canes, and a HALF cane of the dotted center (because it needs to be snipped very thin). You will get approximately 16 even pieces if you snip each cane in half, then each of those halves in half and so on. You could possibly snip them thinner by eyeballing it, but you want your pieces to be as even as possible. I did it both ways and was able to get 17 pieces by eyeballing instead of 16 from each cane doing the half in half in half technique, but the eyeballed ones weren't quite as consistent in size. So totally up to you and your comfort level of snipping. Thinner petals are nice, but consistency in height of each snipped piece is key. Also, several pulls were done to create these kits, so some petals may look slightly different depending on the pull it came from.
Note: For the best end result, I'm highly recommending you fuse these in a TWO STEP process. More on this in the video below.
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Twisties!
Organic Twisties! I only sell these pretty canes once or twice a year. What are Twisties exactly? Well, in my shop they are the very end of a pull where the inner design has faded away, but the exterior becomes something pretty cool when twisted. The EXTERIOR of Twisties are the part that is meant to be used, but use them however you want! I call my Twisties "Organic" because they are all a bit different and are far from perfect like the ones my friend Sherry makes. Mine are sometimes not completely straight, some have bumpy exteriors, some are flat like a ribbon, some ends are bigger than others, you might find a tiny hole started in the middle and the outer designs are not always twisted consistently. Kinda sounds like "seconds" as they aren't perfect, and compared to those who pull Twisties as their area of expertise...this is true. However, they are great fun to work with, unique, and beautiful.
With that said, my Twisties are fully annealed, which means you can put them in a torch and make beads or melted designs, use snips of the Twistie placed on their side to make swirly dots, fully fuse the entire cane to be used as stir sticks, and much more. However, one of my favorite things to do with them is to flatten them between two kiln shelves. To me, they come out looking like a strip of fabric. Once flattened you can score and break them into all kinds of shapes for all kinds of uses. My current favorite way to use a flattened Twistie is to make snowman scarves with them!
I'll be selling them a bit differently this time. As always, they are slightly over 6" long, but I will have them available by the half pound in color groups (approximately 16 Twisties for $30) or a full pound of mixed colors (approximately 32 Twisties for $50). The Twisties shown in the groupings are what I'm pulling each bundle from, but each bundle will vary slightly with different sizes and colors. However, they are going to be VERY similar to the photograph.
Fall Twistie Bundle (half-pound)
This is the grouping that the Fall Twistie bundles come from. Not every design will be in every bundle.
Red and Green DUO of Twisties (half-pound)
I see lots of Snowman scarves or Christmas fun being created from this red and green bundle!
Christmas Colors Twistie Bundle (half-pound)
This is the grouping that the Christmas Color Twisties came from. Not every design will be in every bundle.
The Green Family Twistie Bundles (half-pound)
Here is the grouping of greens. They are a great multi-purpose color.
Springy Twistie Bundle (half pound - on the fatter side)
I came across these beauties I had put away several months ago. They have twists going in different directions and some are on the fatter side. Not every bundle is exactly the same, but for the most part, these bundles are very similar to the photo by the ruler and very colorful.
The Big Twistie Bundle (full pound, mixed colors)
I tried to get the best possible variety in each pound. Each pound will differ in colors. There may be some duplicates as well. But I did my best to make them all special.
Here are a few past creations done with Twisties:
This sweet Cross was made by Helen Mullins by putting Twistie pieces in a cross mold.
This is a leaf necklace I made in a torch from a green Twistie
I'm not great on the torch, but did make a couple of beads from the Christmas Twisties.
Twistie pieces do great in heart molds!
A sample of a fully fused 6" Twistie Ribbon. This could be used as the beginnings of a holiday stir stick or used as an element in a dish or plate! If you had flattened this ribbon instead of fully fusing it, it would give you a lovely wavy exterior. Really cool.
Here are a few photos of fully fused outer design as dots, used as an embellishment on a plate, used in a drop vase, and then an example of some flattened pieces.
Another piece made in a torch.
Beautifully flattened pieces.
And finally, a flattened Twistie made into a snowman scarf!
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SECONDS • Old Fashioned Christmas Bulbs!
Lisa separated out these seconds into two design categories. One design is EARLY in the pull where the lines at the top are barely formed. These still work great as bulbs when lightly tack fused. The second design is LATE in the pull where the lines at the top get quite wiggly. These make for spectacular flowers and are perfect at any temperature.
Reminder: on sale day, SECONDS are found on the 2nd page of my website down by the gift card.
As you can see, the tip of the bulb has not fully developed, but they still look like bulbs. You will receive two of each color in a 1.5+oz. package and sizes will vary.
These are the bulbs late in the pull where the lines in the bulbs have begun to wiggle. There also may be a few bulbs with perfect lines on the inside, but they may have a chip or ding in them somewhere. There will be two of each color in a 1.5+oz. package.
Look at how amazing these swirly centers are. They do make the prettiest little flower either tack fused (top) or fully fused (bottom).
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This week's murrini fully fused (Columbine parts)
The center looks pretty cool fully fused, but the rest of the pieces round out.
I also tested a Columbine assembled and fully fused. Not the look I was going for, but I wanted you to see what happened in a full fuse.
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Columbines in the Mountains Project
I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with my Columbines, but I knew I wanted mountains. I put keywords into my AI graphic generator and it gave me two images that I really liked. So I combined them together in the final project. 
I loved the longer landscape and rolling layers of mountains, but also loved the flowers big and beautiful in the foreground.
This got me thinking about a shadow box idea and shifted my mind to more of a mixed-media project. Once I started in this direction everything just fell into place!
Of course a quick search on Amazon gave me this shadow box. It was what I was looking for...approximately 10X5" and extra deep, with the option of glass in the front and the back. I wanted it extra deep to hold all the layers of the mountains, hills and flowers. The box came with plexiglass in it, which I removed and used 2mm clear in the back and no glass in the front.
I measured the interior of my shadow box and knew I wanted the tallest peak to be around 3.75 inches, so I started there and drew out my mountain designs on three layers of transparent grey glass. Since I'm only COE96, this was my color option, but technically, since we are not fusing these together, you could us any kind of glass!
Once I had my designs drawn out I placed them on top of each other to make sure it was just as I wanted it to look. The cool thing is once my pieces were cut, I was able to move them around and in the final version I flipped one of my pieces to move my mountains a bit.
Some of the glass I scored and tapped out, but the tougher cuts I did on the Taurus saw.
Once my mountains were done I placed them in the box and started on my foothills using Oceanside Pale Blue Transparent.
I chose to use opal green swirl glass as the hills of the meadow.
When I was happy with my pieces, I put them in the kiln to fire polish the edges. I put them in the kiln in the order of how I took them out of the shadow box and after they were fire polished, I took them out one at a time, cleaned them and put them back in the shadow box in order, so I would remember my original placement.
While my mountains were in the kiln, I started working with my pre-fused Columbines. I took some green floral wire and made a flat circle at the top and used Gorilla glue to adhere the wire to the underneath of the flower. I used rubber bands just to hold them steady as they dried. Once the glue dried, I applied another layer of glue over the top just to make sure they'd withstand me tugging on them.
Next I cut some floral Styrofoam and placed in front of the glass layers. This held the glass in place for me as I didn't tack the mountains in place, just in case I changed my mind on placement.
When my glue had dried, I took floral tape and cut a "V" on the end (that would look like a leaf just in case it was ever visible) and wound it around the wire.
This was just to give the wire a bit more width and make it a bit more "natural" looking. There might be something ever better out there, wire-wise, too! But this is what I found at my local Walmart.
After pushing the wires into the foamy bottom, I put a thin layer of Gorilla glue on the foam and gently placed the moss, just to give it a grassy look. I didn't glue in my flowers because I wanted the ability to move things around at the end. I still haven't glued them, but if I was ever going to transport the piece somewhere, I would need to secure them. Also, I didn't lock the mountains in place either, it's all just resting against the clear glass I slid in the back. I would also lock these down with a touch of glue when I knew everything was as I wanted it to be.
Below you'll see all the different looks your piece could have depending on what glass you use in the back.
2mm clear glass. This slid into the channel perfectly. If you use 3mm glass, you may have to enlarge the opening just a bit.
A piece of plastic "Press and Seal" just as a temporary thought if I wanted a semi-transparent background.
Another outside shot with "Press and Seal" on the back just to see what a more frosted transparent would look like.
2mm white opal glass.
And finally with Oceanside blue and white swirl glass behind it. SO many fun options. I'm going to say this one is a keeper!
Don't forget to take a peek at the video if you happened to scroll past it. It's a bit long but has some great tips for Columbine success!
Hints on the Horizon:
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! Enjoy your Labor Day Weekend!
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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