May 16, 2025 • Southwest Whimsy
This week I had some fun with Joni from Aggie Glass Designs! She had the idea to pull some whimsical ribbons with a Southwest flair! I was all in as I haven’t done a Southwest mix in over a year and had some recent requests. So perfect timing! What made this week’s project so fun is not having a certain layout in mind, but instead, just letting the ribbons guide me in the design. More on the project in a bit…but the warm inviting colors of this week’s murrini mix work so beautifully together. I wanted everyone to get a nibble of each design, so most of the murrini this week were put into a big two-ounce mix. There’s LOTS of possibilities with these cuties.
Housekeeping Notes: All of this week’s murrini will be available tomorrow, Saturday, May 17, at NOON Central Time. They were created with Oceanside fusible glass. All my canes, after pulling, are fully annealed and tested.
Joni’s Southwest Ribbons and matching Dots can be found on her website!
Also a reminder that May has five Saturdays, so my next murrini drop will be Saturday, June 7. Wishing you a happy Memorial Day in advance!
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This Week’s Murrini:
Southwest Mix
This Southwest color palette is full of rich shades that blend together so well. Lots of shapes and designs are in this mix to give you a big variety and endless possibilities. In this mix you’ll receive one each of the 12 designs: (from left to right) Persimmon Flat-end Daisy Petal, 5 Petal Southwest Flower, Slender Peacock and Brown Leaf, Turquoise Blossom, Ripple Petal (with a transitioning circular center), Peacock and Brown Teardrop, Chocolate Brown Leaf, Fancy Scalloped Flat-end Petal, Peacock Leaf, Persimmon Leaf, Southwest Sand Dollar and a Dotted Persimmon Daisy. Each package is stuffed full and weighs in at 2+ ounces.
Warm-Toned Butterfly Wings
These sweethearts are not in the mix because they wouldn’t fit! A bit on the larger side, these wings will be 4-5 two-inch long canes in each 1+ ounce package. Don’t forget, if you are new to my butterfly wings, I have a snipping tutorial in the “Tips” section of my website.
5 Petal Southwest Flower
Gorgeous from a light tack fuse to a full fuse, this beauty is a stunner! These are running a bit on the larger side, so you might need to get your Chipper Nippers ready.
Southwest Trio of Leaves (also sold as singles)
This is a lovely mix of leaves that will be fun in any scene that needs a warm splash of color. Each package will have 2 of each leaf design in it. I prefer leaves at a tack fuse to keep the point pointy, but a fully fused version of each leaf is shown below. These leaves are also going to be available as singles and can be found under this listing as a variation at checkout.
Slender Peacock Leaf (multi-size)
I call this a leaf, but honestly it can be a leaf, spiky flower petal or even a bud in a garden scene. It is great tack fused to fully fused, but in a full fuse it just looks a bit more rounded. Lots of fun possibilities with this shape and different sizes.
Multi-size Southwest Ripples
These Ripple Petals are fun to work with. They are a stand-alone flower, but can also be used as the center of a flower when placed on top of a grouping of petals. It is also amazing Flip and Fused (see my tutorial on this technique in the TIPS section of my website) making the coolest dot to put Flat-end petals around. To keep the exterior ripple look, a light tack fuse is required. The interior colors transition throughout the pull and each package has a nice selection. Sizes in each order will range from large to tiny for even more versatility.
Dotted Persimmon Daisy
Bright dots make the brown center of this Persimmon Daisy pop! They are perfect from a light tack fuse to a full fuse. When fully fused, the outer petals will bloom out creating a larger flower. Also a note: there is a flower in the center of this listing photo that is smaller and lovely, but looks a bit past the prime part of the pull...that was removed. You'll only receive the best section of the pull in each package.
Turquoise Blossoms
These simple blossoms will give a lovely Turquoise touch to your projects. They are great tack fused to fully fused, but my preference is the look they have in a full fuse. In a light tack fuse, the center almost appears to be spinning. In a full fuse, the petals bloom out and are beautifully separated.
Fancy Scalloped Flat-end Petals
This Petal is probably my favorite design of the week. When a grouping of these flat-end petals are placed around a center dot, it makes a flower that has a lacy appearance. I’ve made earrings from these in the past and they are really pretty. For the earrings I cut a small circle out of 2mm clear, placed a 3/8" dot (I'd probably use a Chocolate or Peacock dot) in the center and put these Flat-end petals all around it. After your tack fuse, glue on an earring stud or hoop and you've got beautifully easy earrings!
Persimmon Flat-end Daisy Petals
These cuties have a chocolate base and fun dots in the center. Placed around a Persimmon, Chocolate, or Almond dot (Joni has these in her shop this week), these petals will make a large spectacular daisy. I’ve also used this shape as a leaf or bud. Super cute.
Peacock and Chocolate Teardrops
Grouped together (point in or point out) these teardrops make a beautiful flower. In my sample this week I had the Southwest Sand Dollar sitting on top of a teardrop grouping as the center, but you could use either of this week’s ripple petals as a center, too! These teardrops also make a lovely bud or design element. A very versatile shape.
Southwest Sand Dollar
My friend Helen asked me to remake this design. She said “The one that looks like a Sand Dollar”. It does! Hence the name. 🤗 This design is best tack fused. In a full fuse, the tips of the inner design may bleed through and look unevenly striped. You may not want this look, so unless the inner star design is fully covered with the exterior Terra Cotta, a tack fuse will be best. It would also be very cool Flip and Fused, too. It certainly does make a great embellishment just tacked by itself in a design.
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This week’s murrini fully fused (from the front)
As you can see, the blossoms and Daisies look great fully fused. The Flat-end Petals and teardrops will really round out.
This week’s designs fully fused (from the underneath)
It’s always fun to see the difference in fully fused looks from the top and the underneath. In the very center you’ll see the Ripple Petal and how cool it would be flip and fused!
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On to this week’s project!
When Joni was telling me about her ribbon idea, I immediately saw either plates, coasters or something larger that would give the ribbons the space they needed to organically flow. I wanted the ribbons to lead the design and not have anything set in my mind, but to work freely with the design the ribbons laid out for me. I decided on a three section serving dish. I bought the mold from Slumpy’s (#SM-519) and it is 15 inches long, giving me the room to let Joni’s ribbons do their glorious thing!
This project was really easy to make. I started by measuring my mold and cutting my base pieces. I used 3mm clear under my 3mm Persimmon so I had a 6mm base. Since my clear and Persimmon sheets were 12X12, I had a 3+ inch section that I butted up against the 12 inch section. On the clear I had the short piece on the left. On the Persimmon, I had the short piece on the right. I wanted 6mm because I was going to be fully fusing elements into it. I looked through my fun bag of ribbons from Joni and pulled out some that were slightly different and unique in shape.
I then cut the different colored squares and placed them over the Persimmon, lining everything up with the mold. I moved Joni’s ribbons all around until I found the design that spoke to me, then added just a few of my murrini that I wanted fully fused into the dish. Note: I did dust clear powder between all the layers to help prevent bubbles. I ran a full fuse program with a bubble squeeze.
So here’s the result after the full fuse. I LOVE it! Now the fun begins. I snipped down my murrini and just started working the design and playing with all the movement of the ribbons. This project takes very little murrini. Once my design was complete, I put it back in the kiln for a light tack fuse.
Here is the result AFTER the light tack fuse. Everything stayed perfectly in place and I love the feel of this piece! The tack fused elements highlight the fully fused elements in a beautiful way. I couldn’t be happier at this point. But to be honest, a bit nervous I would somehow ruin it in the slump. However, I placed this piece over the top of my new Slumpy’s mold (that I sprayed with ZYP) and …
Here it is before and after the slump. I rolled the dice just a bit on the size. My project overlapped the mold by about 3/8 all around, but the overlap is how it got the more scalloped look. However, by having it a bit larger than the mold, it does run the risk of the edges dropping too much and locking itself onto the mold. I wouldn’t have been worried at all had it only overlapped by 1/4 inch…but this time it was a little bit more than that and was grateful it hung in there for me!
I gave this to my sister as a housewarming gift when she moved into her new home last week! I’m looking forward to see what she serves up in it!
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Hints on the Horizon: Don’t forget after May 19, I’ll be on a short break and my website will be closed until June 5. June 7 will be my next murrini drop.
I have a fun game planned and one lucky winner will get their June 7 order for FREE! Stay tuned!
I'll be taking advantage of the 5th Saturday in May and I'm going to close my shop for some Memorial Day family time. However, that won't interfere with my normal schedule and each month I'll still have new murrini on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays!!
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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.