February 14, Flowers, Leaves, Easter, Tests and MORE!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Everyday is Valentine’s Day in my glass shop…always full of lots of love! I had an interesting week. Instead of doing a big project, I did “Test Week”. Lori, from Wilderness Glass, shared a few new flower designs with me, so I tested them out in different ways. Because they were tests, which all turned out quite lovely, I decided to put them in a “Wildflower Mix” and discount them slightly as some color choices are a bit quirky or if you look closely, some may have some design elements that are slightly off. The mixes are over 1.75oz. but will be sold at the 1.5oz. price...because...who doesn’t love a deal? 😜 Since we have lots of flowers this week, that means we needed lots of leaves! I have a fun variety and tested some new color combinations, too.

Since I was testing new flower design ideas, I also decided to test each one in all the ways we fuse with them. Fully fused, tack fused, flip and fused, flattened, and fully fused on clear. Also, after flattening, I made a cool discovery. More on this to come!

I did make one sweet little Easter project just to test the Cross and the Dogwoods. More on this below.

Housekeeping Notes:
Just a reminder to those who are new, I will have these COE 96 (all Oceanside glass) murrini available tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 15, at Noon Central Time.

I talk about the “Flip and Fuse” technique in today’s blog. If you are not familiar with this technique, see my “Tips and Tutorials” section of the website for a full description.

Now on to this week’s murrini and test photos!

Opal Variegated Shamrocks

These variegated green hearts come together to make the most beautiful Shamrock. Put either 3 or 4 together depending on the clover you want to make! Joni makes beautiful variegated green stringer. If you put her stringer in a torch or candle flame, you can heat it gently and stretch it into different widths. I put this one in the torch just to taper the part going into the clover. 

Test:

From left to right:

•fully fused 5mm murrini 
•fully fused on 3/8 inch square of 3mm clear (the first step of the flip and fuse technique)
•flattened, which did retain just a bit of the heart shape
•tack fused on white
•fully fused on a 1” 6mm clear square
•the 1” square from the underside 

I didn’t flip and fuse the single petal because it didn’t look like anything in particular on the small clear sample, but when I saw the underside of the 1” square it looked pretty cool! A test for another day. 😜

And a view from the side. 

Transparent Variegated Shamrocks

Like the variegated opal green hearts, these transparent hearts are also variegated and make the most beautiful Shamrock. Put either 3 or 4 together depending on the clover you want to make!

Test:

From left to right: 

•fully fused 5mm murrini
•fused on 3/8” 3mm clear (looks like a swirly circle)
•flattened, which didn’t retain too much of the heart shape
•tack fused on white 
•fully fused on a 1” 6mm clear square
•view of the 1” square from underneath

Crosses

Crosses are back again this season, but are like the ones I did 2 years ago and are in an oval of clear glass. These are unique and versatile. They look best when fully fused onto clear, which you’ll see in the test below.

Test:

Above you can see that the cross is quite versatile. The top row has two pairs of 6mm glass that the cross was placed on. The difference is the cross with a circle around it was sitting on 6mm of opal glass. The clear around the cross creates the surrounding circle in the opal glass. The cross that looks as if it is hovering over the color is because the cross was placed on top of 3mm clear that was sitting on 3mm of the colored glass. When the cross is sitting on clear glass, in a full fuse it just disappears into the background. It’s so cool.

On the second/third row from the left, these are two crosses that I just fused from a 5-6mm chip. The one above the very bottom one was just fully fused. The one below it looks very similar, but I turned it over and fused it again. It is hard to see, but the original cross shape stands out differently. You see a lighter, somewhat matte cross that just blends into the cross below it, which was unexpectedly awesome.

For the rest of the second row:

•fully fused on 3/8 square of 3mm clear 
•flip and fused (a little bubble got caught in the center)
•flattened...which was another fun surprise. It was a larger piece in the range of 3/8 of an inch tall before flattening
•tack fused
•fully fused on a 1” clear square, which looks similar from the back

Dogwood Kits

The Dogwood Kits are back to our original solid cane centers (instead of frit centers like last year). There will be a variation on kits available. Most kits are with a “regular” size dogwood Petal like you see here and consist of 8 dogwood petal canes, 2 center canes, and 3 leaf canes that will vary in size. The 8,2,3 is because 4 dogwood petals will go around one center. If snipped into 3mm pieces, you’ll be able to make approximately 32 dogwood flowers from this kit. 

Other options will be a package of small dogwood petals with small centers, but will have no leaves in it. A third option will be an XL Dogwood Kit. This will have 4 large dogwood petals, 1 large center cane and 2 dogwood leaves that will vary in size. My little project this week uses all 3 sizes. 

Tests:

Above we see one fully fused dogwood on clear from the front, then from the back. The next two images are with a leaf added from the front and the back. The tack fused version can be seen on today’s little project. BUT…the COOLEST find from all this week’s tests was a FLATTENED dogwood petal. As soon as I saw it I knew I needed to try to make a 3D dogwood flower. 

First I took a small piece of 3mm clear and nibbled it down into just under a half-inch circle. I took two pieces of 1/32 fiber paper and cut out the same size circle so it would fit inside. I then took a fully fused dogwood center and glued it in the center of the clear piece. I used super glue so it wouldn’t move.

Next I placed some GlasTac around the dot so the flattened petals would stick just a little bit to the clear glass as I positioned them and then put tiny slivers of 1/32 fiber paper underneath each petal to hold them up. Once I had them like I wanted, I did put a smidge of superglue between the dot and the petal just for transport to the kiln. 

Like a nervous mama, I put some Silkemat torn into fluffy pieces snuggled around everything to keep it propped up. I put it in for a tack fuse and …

Oof! Three of the 4 petals did EXACTLY what I had hoped for. But obviously it went back in for another fuse with the 4th petal put back in place. I put it back in the kiln exactly like I had it before with all the fiber and Silkemat around it, but sprinkled just a tiny bit of clear powder all around the center dot. Totally worth trying again…this little flattened dogwood is a GEM! In my sample, the dogwood petals that I flattened were on the larger side and probably around 1/4 inch tall. 


Here it is…I’m so tickled over this! I think I could have gotten away with a little bit smaller of a base and maybe make it the color of the petals or make it green if I were going to attach leaves to it. Perhaps adding some high temp wire to the base and make it into a flower to place in an arrangement. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see an entire project with these 3D dogwoods covering it? WOW…

Wildflower Mix

Here are this week’s Rippled Wildflower TEST cuties! What fun..and what beautiful colors. This 12 piece mix weighs in over 1.75oz., but they’ll be priced at 1.5oz. this week! There will be two of each flower in the mix. More below on each individual flower which will also be sold as singles. Most of the Wildflowers this week are in the mix, but a few individual packages will be available, too.

Red Transparent Ripple Wildflower

This beauty is made with Red Transparent glass with a fun opal center. 

Test:

From left to right:

•fully fused 5mm murrini chip
•fully fused on a 3/8 square of 3mm clear (which is the first step in the flip and fuse process BEFORE you flip it)
•flip and fused
•flattened 
•tack fused 
•fully fused on 1” 6mm clear
•view of 1” from the underside


Here are the same pieces on a different background with the addition of the piece on the far left where I sat a murrini on a 3/8 3mm clear piece of glass then took clear powder and sprinkled all around the ripples to see if it held the ripples in place. Maybe slightly, but it left the usual foggy appearance all around it. It’s cool if that is what you might be looking for! Photos do not do this one justice. It is much brighter in person.


View from the side.

Sunflower Ripple Wildflower

Another twist on a daisy ripple with the colors of a sunflower. 

Test:

In this row of tests we have from left to right:

•fully fused 5mm murrini 
•fully fused on a 3/8 piece of 3mm glass surrounded by clear powder 
•fully fused on 3/8 piece of clear glass
•flip and fused 
•flattened 
•tack fused 
•fully fused on 1” of 6mm clear glass 
•underneath view of the 1” piece

Kinda love them all!

A wee blurry here, but just want you to see the height differences and how they look from the side. The “flip and fused” pieces (4th one from left) is full of color, even from the side.

Reactive Persian Green Ripple Wildflower

This is my first time using Oceanside's Persian green. Of course, what is a test without mixing it with some Vanilla Cream to see what reactions take place!

Test:

This picture looks a bit more blueish…(the true color is the color of the listing photo above this one). There was quite the reaction happening here! Of course in a tack fuse it looks pretty much the same as in the cane form. I chose a piece that must not have had the Persian Green fully surrounding the middle, so the sides look very striped. If it is fully surrounded by the green, the outer petals should just be solid green.

From left to right:

•fully fused as a 5mm murrini
•fully fused on 3/8 clear
•flip and fused
•flattened
•tack fused 
•fully fused on 1” 6mm clear
•view from the underneath


From the side. 

Subtle White Ripple Wildflower

This is a subtle beauty, but I adore the inside of this murrini. Check out how it looks fused!

Test:

From the left:

•fully fused as a 5mm murrini
•fully fused on 3/8 3mm clear
•flip and fused
•flattened
•tack fused 
•fully fused on 1” 6mm clear 
•view from underneath

Most times I adore tack fused anything, but this little beauty becomes something spectacular in a full fuse! WOW. (It’s always the quiet ones that surprise you 😜)

From the side. Check out the third one over which is the flip and fused version. So COOL!

Sassy Orange Ripple Wildflower

This one is interesting. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the transparent Orange in the petals, but it did fuse pretty!

Test:

From the left:

•fully fused 5mm murrini
•fully fused on 3/8 3mm clear
•flip and fused
•flattened
•tack fused on white
•tack fused on black
•fully fused on 1” 6mm clear
•view from underneath

The darker the background, the more pronounced the transparent orange is in the petals.

From the side. 

Blue Beauty Ripple Wildflower

Isn’t this one something? I just love in interior. This blue flower is also in the mix, but the ones in the mix do not have quite as large of a yellow center as the ones sold as singles. 

Test:

From the left: 

•fully fused dot from a 5mm murrini
•fully fused on 3/8 3mm clear
•flip and fused
•flattened
•tack fused 
•fully fused on 1” 6mm clear from the top
•then a view from the underneath


From the side. Something about this flower feels Hawaiian!

Simple Blossom

Next comes our non-ripple flowers for this week. This is a similar flower to the Subtle White Ripple Wildflower, but it is fully round. It feels like a flower in the same family as the Dogwoods this week. 

Test:

From the left:

•fully fused dot from a 5mm murrini
•fully fused on a 3/8 3mm clear
•flip and fused
•tack fused
•fully fused on a 1” 6mm clear from the front
•and then a view of the underside 


From the side.

Blue and Vanilla Cream Split Petal Daisy

This little cutie isn’t new as far as the split petals go, but I don’t think I’ve made it in these colors before. The center swirls with Vanilla Cream and there is a bit of a reaction between the petals and the center, but it doesn’t really affect the look of the flower at all, but there is a slight dark border between the center and the petals.

Test:

From the left: 

•fully fused as a dot from a 5mm murrini
•fully fused on 3/8 3mm clear
•flip and fused
•flattened
•tack fused
•fully fused on 1” 6mm clear
•a view from underneath

This fella has got attitude!! 

Red Dotted Daisy with a Transitioning Center

Our last flower of the week has beautiful red petals with a cute dot before reaching the transitioning center. Some centers will be transparent red, others will be opal yellow, or it may be a combination of both!

Test:

Well, red happens to be my favorite color…but this beauty…WOW! From the left:

•fully fused dot with a 5mm murrini
•fully fused on 3/8 3mm clear
•flip and fused
•flattened
•tack fused
•fully fused on 1” 6m clear
•a view from underneath

But wait! There’s more!

Look at the flip and fused version from the side… Ooh La La!

_____________________

Now…on to leaves which I did the same tests. 

Green Leaf Mix

This week I have lots of beautiful leaves. Some are new and some are artist’s favorites. In the mix I will have two of each of the leaf canes in it. They will also be sold as singles. Leaves are not as forgiving in different temperatures if you are expecting them to keep their pointed tips. However, while we are testing this week, let’s see how they perform in all the experiments. Overall…I’m definitely a “tack-fuse” girl when it comes to leaves.

Gorgeous Green Multi-size (with lots of littles)

Back are the Gorgeous Green Leaves. They are packaged with multi-size canes like they normally are, but this time they’ll have a few extra “near tinies” in them. 

Test:

From the left:
•a 5mm murrini fully fused
•fully fused on a 3/8 3mm clear square
•flip and fused
•flattened
•tack fused
•fully fused on 1” 6mm clear
•and a view from the underside of the 1” piece

For the rest of the leaves below, this will be the technique in the same order.

New Curved Olive Leaf

This curved leaf is a bit more slender than I've made in the past and it is created with opal Olive glass. 

Test:

New! OPAL Philodendron Leaf

I have done a transparent Philodendron in the past, but this is the first time I’ve tried it in opaque colors. I love it with its peek-a-boo clear split sides.

Test:

New Dogwood Leaf

This is a new design where the center vein is lighter to make it a softer sweet leaf to go with the dogwood petals. 

Test:

Ombre Green Leaf

Back again is the Green Ombré leaf. It’s one of my all-time favorites.

Test:

Amazon Curved Leaf

This simple curved leaf would be perfect anywhere a leaf is needed.

Test:

Interestingly…the flip and fused version (third from left) would make an amazing critter eye!

Slender Green Leaves

I still have some of these gorgeous slender leaves in my shop, but while I was testing, I tossed these in for a peek and they were unexpectedly cool in hotter temps and other techniques.

Test:

I think I fell in love with the flattened version! I wasn’t sure it would stay upright when I placed my top shelf on it, but it sure did! Also, the flip and fused version is quite interesting if you needed a beautiful magnified looking split dot!

____________________

I’ve got a few SECONDS this week!

SECONDS Crosses

These are seconds because they are either at the very beginning of the pull or slightly past the perfect middle and are starting to curve upwards just a bit. They are still VERY nice!

SECONDS Wildflower Mix

These cuties were put in the “SECONDS” category as they are again at the beginning of the pull where there might be some extra clear or not quite fully formed. A few might be a little more toward the end where the design has changed some and you might find a few to be a bit whimsically shaped designs or more off-center. 

__________________

Side note:

Here is a photo of my initial tests going into the kiln. 


This is a photo of the murrini pieces I’m flattening just before placing another piece of kiln shelf paper over the top and then the second kiln shelf. I use Nancy Sala’s flattening technique which has a nice little secret in it. It’s worth the $8 for all her expert advice. Her link is at the bottom of the blog. 

Now that my second kiln shelf has been placed over the murrini I’m going to flatten, I put my “flip and fuse” pieces on top to take advantage of the full fuse. 

____________________________

Just a few pics of the quick little Cross and Dogwood project I made.

I started with some scrap glass I had in some of my tubs. I wanted to make a sunrise scene so I had red, orange, yellow and sunflower glass as the base.

I set a piece of clear completely over the top and placed my cross murrini on it. This is because I wanted the clear around the cross to disappear.

After it fully fused I decided to add some trees. This was an afterthought as I should have done this step in the first full fuse. But as I was thinking about the dogwood flowers, I wanted to try more of a tree than just a branch coming out. 

I put a background tree and a foreground tree. I used Joni's Variegated Brown Stringers here. If you don't have these in your shop, I'd recommend grabbing some. When fully fused, the colors look painted! I put them in a torch to taper the ends and pull off little bits to use as wiggly branches. Easy peasy. I sprinkled on a bit of Vanilla Cream medium frit to be dogwood flowers in the distance. Then...back in for another full fuse.


After the full fuse. Look at the different colors in these branches and trees! I don't know how you could achieve this look without Joni's stringers unless you painted the trees on! I did develop a few bubbles from where I pulled them in the torch. But since I'll be placing my dogwood flowers over the top, they won't make any difference. 

Here is the tree with all the dogwood flowers, leaves, and a few additional tiny branches in place. I love this year's version of the Dogwood Kit! All three sizes are used here. I put this in for a very light tack fuse and held my anneal for 5 hours due to all the murrini, the thickness of the project, and the fact that this was its third time in the kiln. 

The final photo. I love it!

_______________________