March 14, Pansies, Purrfect Sophie the Cat and PIZZA! The Three P’s!

Oh. My. Word…what a great time I had making these adorable murrini. My face has been smiling like crazy! My husband’s family has owned and operated an Italian restaurant since 1933. So why on earth did it take me so long to make a slice of pizza murrini? Well, I guess I never really thought about it, but when I’m pulling I have lots of time to think! Sometimes I look down in the pan under my vitrigraphs and I see parts or pieces of cane that remind me of something else. That happened to me when looking at a broken piece of murrini and viola …the 🍕 was born! I was going to just do one pull to make fridge magnets for my family, but they were so stinking cute I made several batches to share with you all.

Also this week we have a NEW critter on the scene, Sophie the Cat! She is adorable, named after my friend Amanda’s Siamese, and like most kitties…she has a mind of her own! She took several pulls before I could get the shape of her head to be snippable, but it finally happened. She’s been in the works for some time, but I’m so happy to finally have her ready for you. I have made a video to show the easiest way to snip her for success. Also, for the cutest Sophie, she’ll need a tail. Sophie kits will not come with tails because they are pretty simple to make, but I’ll be offering optional tails…so be sure to read more about this below.

Since I was having an Italian vibe happening in the shop, this week’s projects are also inspired by Italy! Now THAT’s Amore! 

Housekeeping Notes:
I’ll be on the road tomorrow, Saturday, March 15, when these new COE 96 murrini launch at NOON CENTRAL TIME. I’ll have to pull over and make them live from my iPad. So, hang in there with me if they take a minute to load and I’ll need to reply to any messages later in the evening. (Feel free to ask them today!) Also, when the items are posted at Noon, you might need to refresh your screen a few times. Don’t forget Illinois observes Daylight Savings Time and I’m in the same time zone as Chicago.

I anticipate most packages will go out on Monday, however due to a winter storm that we are caught in, I will be a day later getting home than anticipated and it may be Tuesday morning before all the orders make it to the post office. Thanks in advance for your patience. ❤️

___________________

This Week’s Murrini!

7 Pansy Pack

It’s been a little bit since I’ve made Pansies. This design was created by Lori Moreno and she shared it with me years ago. It’s quite the brain teaser to put together, but once I started, I decided to make them in several colors. They are great at a tack fuse to a full fuse!

Most of the Pansies were packaged as mixes so everyone would get a chance to sample all the beautiful colors. The majority of the mixes will have medium sized Pansy canes in them, and a few mixes will be available with larger size canes. Lisa did an amazing job (as usual) to separate out all the sizes and worked to make them as consistent as possible in the mixes.

I will have just a few Pansies packaged as single colors, but there are not too many of those. So please understand if you aren’t able to score a single color as they may zip out of your cart before you can check out. 😉

NEW! Sophie the Cat

Sophie the Cat kits come in two ways: 1. Two heads and two bodies (will make 32 cats) or 2. Three heads and three bodies (will make 48 cats). Her TAILS are sold SEPARATELY because they are very easy to make with gray, white or black stringer. I knew most fusers would have these stringers in their shops and could make their own, so ordering tails is an option this week for those who buy a Sophie kit 😉. 

Sophie is best at a light tack to light contour fuse. Anything more than this will cause her ears to round out too much. 

Here is a quick video explaining how I snip Sophie. 


Sophie Tails (either 32 or 48) 

Tails for Sophie are sold separately because they are super easy for you to make on your own, however, because she is so adorable with a tail, I was happy to make them for those who didn’t have time or had no way to make them. 

When you purchase your Sophie tails, be sure to select the amount of tails that you need to match your Sophie Kits. 

Sophie kits are sold in two ways: 

1. Two bodies and two heads (you’ll need 32 tails)
2. Three bodies and three heads (you’ll need 48 tails)

The Sophie tails are created in a torch with Oceanside Charcoal stringer and are about 3/4 to 1” long. Feel free to trim them down just a bit with your nippers. Tail shapes will vary, but for the most part, they will be straight with a slightly curved top like the above photo. I will put a couple of extra tails in each package just in case there is some breakage as they travel to you. (Or my sister says if a tail breaks she can be Sophie the Bobcat 🤣). 

For details on how to make your own tails, please see the “Cat Tails” video below or in my Tips and Tutorials section of the website.

New! The Pizza 🍕 (Tack Fuse)

Cute alert! This cracks me up. These fun pizza slices are pepperoni and green pepper. I have found that they snip best with the Chipper Nipper at the fattest part of the slice by the sauce 😂. I have a photo of nipper placement in the “Tips” section of my website. I would not recommend trying to snip these too thin, but instead snip them in 16 equal pieces by snipping the cane in half, then those halves in half, and so on until you have 16 slices. A LIGHT TACK fuse will be required to keep the pointed end pointy. Have fun with this one!

Ivy (Multi-size)

For my Italian scene this week, my planters needed some greenery. These multi-size Ivy leaves are perfect for any project. Each package will have a larger leaf and tiny Ivy leaf, with lots of sizes in between. These are also best at a light tack fuse to retain the outer shape.

______________________


SECONDS IVY

I call these seconds, but honestly, I love the organic look of these veins. There will be more medium to smaller Ivy leaves in these packages. Some of the leaves may be at the first of the pull, but most are in the latter part where the veins begin to wiggle. A light tack fuse is recommended to keep the pointed ends of the leaf intact.

This week’s murrini fully fused

Here is sweet Sophie as a light contour fuse on the left, and a full fuse on the right. You can see she loses the outline of her ears in the full fuse. 


The Pizza on the left is a full fuse, and the one on the right is a light tack fuse. I don’t recommend taking the Pizza too much past a light tack fuse so it stays “as-is”.


The Pansies, however, look fabulous fused at all temperatures. 

_________________________

This week’s projects:

The Italian Cat House

The size of my project is 11X6.

I started by drawing off my design and then made a little road (or stone design on the house…however you see it) with Pewter and Charcoal Oceanside glass pieces placed on top of a thin smear of Glasstac glue. I then sprinkled in black fine frit on the “stones” and gently swept off the excess. The frit is my grout. I purposely placed the stones a little uneven just to give it some fun movement and a natural “old” look. However, I know some will want to have them perfectly spaced apart and that is great, too! 

Next I made little flower pots with Persimmon, made a wooden flower box with a beautiful streaky brown Oceanside glass that I used in my recent Fox project. I also placed little pieces of the brown glass around the top of the black window and one strip down the center just to give the window a finished look.

I placed Oceanside Red shutters on either side of the window and then placed two little red rectangles on each shutter as part of the design and to give it some dimension. After I had completed that part of the project I started placing the Ivy and Pansies.

I placed my Sophies (there are three…do you see them all?), then I sprinkled on some clear medium frit to give the building a bit of a stucco look. I put one Sophie peeking around the pot because I wanted to show that if you had an mis-snip, you can usually use those pieces, too!

I ran a tack fuse in my smaller kiln with a top temp of 1310 with a 5 minute hold. This is a little bit of a hotter tack fuse (my smaller kiln runs a bit hot) but it was perfect. 

This was a really easy project to make and would make for a fun class project, as it only requires one firing and is easily assembled in about two hours. 

______________________________

The Pizza on a Peel!

I’ll be making lots of these for my family and friends as it’s a quick and fun little project. 🤗 I took the same glass that was used as the “wood” in the Italian House project, but flipped it over to the other side where the swirl was lighter. I drew out the design of the pizza peel and used my Taurus saw to cut out the handle as it is a tricky cut by hand. I snipped off the corners at the bottom of the peel and gently smoothed it in my grinder. I then placed my pizza slices and put it in the kiln for a LIGHT tack fuse. I bought some very thin magnets on Amazon and used my Gorilla gel glue to adhere it to the back. This makes me smile every time I see it. 

___________________________