July 19, 2024 • Green Dragonflies and Sunflower Fun
Hello Glass Friends! I hope you’ve had a great week. I sure have. This week’s project stole my heart and the end result really gave me that joy that glass often does when we lift the lid to the kiln and see it finished. It is the 3rd piece in my “Dragonfly and Jar” series. This will be the last of the Dragonflies for just a bit because I need to concentrate on Christmas, but there will be more colors coming in the future for sure. This week I also have remakes of requested Ripple Petal Flowers and the Curved Leaf from the recent mix “Kelly’s Wedding”.
Housekeeping notes:
This week I’ll have several Murrini that are the same design, but will have slight variations such as the size, inner design, and/or weight of the items. Instead of two listings in my shop, there will be ONE listing with options when you click on that item. I’ll have “Variations” in the title so you’ll know to look for the options.
For example, below is a photo of last week’s Fall Leaves. The listing photo shows the mix, but when you click on it you see all the options for the Single Leaves on the middle right:
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Now, on to this week’s COE 96 (all Oceanside) Murrini that will be available tomorrow, July 20, at NOON Central Time.
Like past Dragonflies, I tried to be as consistent as possible. Sizes of the wings will vary, but these are more on the larger side. NOTE: there were several batches of wings made and each one has a slightly different pattern. I recommend snipping ONE WING at a time so your Dragonfly Wings match each other in both size, color, and pattern.
In case you missed it before, here is a helpful video that demonstrates how to perfectly cut your Dragonfly Murrini.
Green Dragonfly Kit (Tack Fuse) Size Variations
The Green Dragonfly Kits have opal bodies and transparent wings. They are running slightly larger than past Dragonflies. These kits include 4 wings, 1 body, and 3 black stringers for the tail. I tack fused the Dragonfly with a top temp of 1310 with a 5 minute hold. In my kiln, this is the perfect temperature to keep the outer shape from changing.
Here he is lightly tack fused on Almond glass.
Variations:
Small Kits will be $18 (small size wings/body)
Medium Kits will be $24 (medium size wings/body)
Large Kits will be $27 (large size wings/body)
XXL Kits will be $30 (XXL size wings/body weighing in VERY heavy)
Tack Fuse Pumpkins
The Tack Fuse Pumpkins are adorable, however they will round out quite a bit in any schedule hotter than a light tack fuse. These are sold in 1+oz. packages for $19. There are 5 canes in each package and sizes will vary slightly. Wheeled nippers or the Chipper Nipper work on these by placing the blades on the sides of the pumpkin (not bottom to fragile stem).
Tack Fuse Buttery Yellow Butterflies
These Butterfly Wings are a blend of Oceanside Yellows that ended up having a gorgeous buttery color. This is a TACK FUSE item. Anything beyond a light tack fuse and they will lose their detailed outer design. A fully fused version is below so you can see what happens. These precious wings are sold in 1oz. packages for $19. For snipping instructions, go to the “Tips” section of my website where I have a Butterfly Snipping Tutorial.
Sunflower Flat-End Petals with Orange Accent
and
Sunflower Yellow Flat-End Petals
(both sold as Multi-size with Variations)
These beautiful Flat-End Petals make the most stunning Sunflowers. In this week’s project they are surrounding a pre-fused dot of Oceanside Chocolate Brown. There will be various sizes in each order so you can create different sized flowers and also for layering. Lisa worked really hard this week while bagging the Multi-size packages to make sure you had sizes that were even amounts for layering, with two large canes, 4 medium canes and 2 small canes. This way, if you choose to layer them, two of the medium size can overly the two larger and the smaller ones can overlay the remaining two medium sizes.
Variations that will be available:
Sunfower Flat-End Petals with Orange Accent
Multi-size XL, Med, Small $27
Multi-size L, Med, Small $23
1+oz. All Large (5 canes) $20
1oz. All Small (10 canes) $18
Sunflower Flat-End Petals (no accent color)
Multi-size XL, Med, Small $26
Multi-size L, Med, Small $22
Medium and Small Mix $19
All Medium $18
As you can see here, the Sunflower petals were used as singles and also layered. In the layered version, there are all medium sized Sunflower Yellow Petals placed around the center dot first, then dotted with small Sunflower Petals with the Orange accent on top. I used wheeled nippers to snip these.
Apples with Leaves (Tack Fuse)
We can’t have fall scenes without Apples! These are a tack fuse item so they keep their outer shape. I used either the Chipper Nipper or wheeled nippers on the Apples, but just wheeled nippers on the little Leaves. Orders are the larger 1.5oz size for $27 and there will be one Leaf per Apple. Sizes will vary slightly in each order.
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Next up are remakes from Kelly’s Wedding Mix. The three different Ripple Petals all snip best with wheeled nippers and I didn’t try to get them extremely thin as they seemed to consistently snip better when kept just a little thicker (around 3mm). Also, the Ripple Petals need to be Tack Fused to keep the outer frilly edge from rounding out.
Ruby Ripples (Two Variations)
The Ruby Ripple has a transparent exterior with a Vanilla Cream inner design. You’ll have the option of the top version which is called the Ruby Ripple. Lisa sorted these so the exterior transparent fully covers the interior design. 1oz. for $19.
This version will be called the “Larger Center” Ruby Ripples as the middle Vanilla Cream design is bigger and they are not fully surrounded by the Transparent Ruby exterior. These are perfect for tack fused projects, but if you fully fuse them, they will have white lines (possibly uneven) around the outside. 1oz. for $17.
Mauve Ripple Petal with Dotted Ruby Center (Two Variations)
Like the other Ripple Petals, Lisa sorted these to have a version that was fully surrounded by Mauve and this listing will be the Mauve and Dotted Ruby Ripple Petal. 1oz. for $19.
The second variation is the beautiful “Larger Center” version that has a larger middle design. It isn’t fully surrounded by the Mauve, so like the Ruby version, these are perfect for tack fusing, but will not have a consistent outer color if you fuse them beyond a tack. 1oz. for $17.
Ivory, Mauve and Ruby Ripple Petal
There is just one variation of this beauty. It has a transparent Ruby center, followed by Mauve, then Ivory. I still lean toward a tack fuse on this, just to keep its outer design intact. 1oz. for $19.
Curved Celadon Leaf
This soft Celadon green Leaf is the perfect shape and color to go with the Ripple Petals. A gentle curve on the exterior with a bold Black center lined with Vanilla Cream. Tack fuse recommended to keep the pointy tip intact. 1oz. for $18.
Tack fused sample of this week’s murrini.
Fully fused version of this week’s murrini. You can see the side by side Ruby Ripple. One is fully surrounded by the Ruby color and the one on the right shows the lines that appear in a full fuse when not fully surrounded.
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A few fun SECONDS
Butterfly and Sunflower Mix
In this mix you’ll find 3 Butterflies, 1 plain Sunflower Petal, and the rest is a variety of sizes of the Sunflower Petal with the Orange Accent. They are seconds because they are either before or after the perfect part of the pull, or they may have a small pin hole or ding on the exterior. 1.5+oz. for $17.
SECONDS Ripple Trio (with one Variation)
Each package will be a mostly Ruby Ripples, but you’ll also have a few Ivory and Mauve Ripples mixed in as well. They are SECONDS because they will have tiny centers that are fading away. 1.5+oz for $17. The one variation to this listing will be a few packages of All Ruby Transparent Ripples sold in 1oz. packages for $12.
SECONDS Celadon Leaves
As you can see, these are seconds because the center vein has begun to wiggle a little bit and some will have tiny pin holes from trapped air. They are uniquely beautiful. 1oz. for $13.
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This Week’s Project
I’ll not go into too much detail on the process as it’s the same as the previous Dragonfly Projects. But there were a few differences.
This project is 6X12” and the background glass is Oceanside Ivory. In the kiln is a 3mm 6X12 piece of Ivory that has been dusted with clear powder to help prevent bubbles in the full fuse. I’ll set my decorated glass of the same exact size on top of it to create a 6mm thick base.
First, I drew out my jar shape, then used some of Joni’s Green Variegated and Brown Variegated stringers as a background layer. I also made a little mix of medium frit using chocolate, yellow, orange, and black. I sprinkled it in the center of the project and at the bottom below the jar like my two prior projects.
I also cut up some Chocolate squares in different sizes, lightly smeared some GlasTac glue on top, and sprinkled them with some of frit mix I used on the project. I placed these squares over the same sized plain Chocolate squares (and turned to make a star shape) that were waiting for me in the kiln. I saved the excess frit mix for future creations.
I placed my 6X12 project over the 6X12 prepared Ivory glass and ran a slow full fuse:
150>1150>30
350>1450>30
9999>950>2 hours
150>700>15
300>room temp
When I peeked in the kiln, the large piece was perfect, but it didn’t get hot enough to pull my dots into perfect circles. I took out my project, but ran the dots again taking them to 1500 with a 30 minute hold just to make sure they rounded nicely … and they did. NOTE: my friend Joni pulled stringer this week for those who would like to make this project, but she also fused up brown dots in various sizes. She created them with Oceanside Chocolate dotted with just Black. This way you can use them as-is or add a bit more color on top if you’d like. I used both color combinations in my project, Brown with Black frit and Brown with multi-colored frit.
I snipped different sizes of my Flat-End Sunflower Petals and set out my dots. You can see the size of the dots remained fairly consistent to the size of squares I cut. 1”, 3/4”, 5/6 “and 1/2”. In the far right picture I used wheeled nippers to snip one of the circles in half that I used in the project as a side view of my sunflower.
Sorry this photo is a bit blurry, but I began placing the dots and getting a feel for where I’d like my flowers to be.
Like my previous Dragonfly projects, I used 5mm clear for my fun longer shaped jar. For the Sunflowers, I put a dot of GlasTac glue and smeared it larger than my center dot, then placed the Flat-End Petals around the dots. Some Petals were placed in a single layer and some as a double layer. I always made sure that my second layer of Petals were sitting still BEFORE I put a dot of superglue to hold them in place for transport to the kiln. If the only thing holding them in place is the glue, then when the glues burns off, the petals will slip out of position.
I used more of Joni’s Stringer as a last touch to the design before adding the Green Dragonflies.
In the kiln it went … with a prayer. Here is a link to Oceanside’s Firing Schedules. Firing schedules depend on how thick your project is and how many times pieces have been fired. But be conservative with your schedule as it has many layers. Slow up and slow down. My top temperature was 1310 with a 10 minute hold. Any hotter of a top temp and the murrini will begin to round out quickly.
I’m excited to see what will be next in this Dragonfly and Jar series!
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Just a reminder that next week starts my 1st and 3rd New Murrini schedule, so I will not have new murrini nor a new blog next weekend. I’ll be back the 1st weekend in August which is Aug. 2nd for the blog and Aug. 3rd for New Murrini. This new bi-monthly schedule is only for NEW Murrini and my blog. My shop will still be open every day and I’ll still ship orders on Mondays and Thursdays. I’ll send out reminders for a bit until we get in the swing of it and once again a peek at upcoming dates:
Hints on the Horizon
On August 3rd, due to several requests this week, I’ll have an Aspen Leaf Mix (5 beautiful colors) and a Christmas project with NEW holiday murrini. I’ll be making lots of Christmas murrini for several weeks to come!
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Helpful Links:
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 COE 96 handcrafted Bails, find his unique work at Mike’s Innovative Glass.
If you use COE 90, be sure to shop Lori’s beautiful murrini and mille options found at Wilderness Glass.