May 2, 2025 • April Showers Bring May Flowers
Welcome to May! It seems that ALL the green has popped out here in southern Illinois as we’ve had tons of rain and the temperatures are starting to go up. The sunshine is nice, but this winter girl is already dreading the heat. However, looking around you can see all of God’s beauty emerging through the gorgeous flowers in everyone’s yards and it made me feel like creating a dreamy garden scene. It’s a mix of layers and techniques. Some went well and some…well, let’s just say I’ll need to practice a bit more. 🤣 This week I have lots of favorites and requested re-makes for you and they will be sold mostly as singles. Also, a fun little blue mix, too! I’ll tell you that story in a bit.
*After posting the blog I had a few requests for a flower mix, so see the end of the blog for an update!
Housekeeping notes: As I mentioned, most of this week’s murrini will be sold as singles, but there are a few mixes, too. Most will be in 1oz. packages. I also struggled with birds this week. They flew around in my pots and some were slightly off, so those will be sold as Seconds…perhaps the word “Imperfect” is better to describe them. All the murrini this week were created with Oceanside fusible glass, always annealed, and will be on sale tomorrow, May 3, at NOON Central time.
On to this week’s Murrini!
Pansy Pack with NEW Pansy Leaf
Pansies are back with some new colors. For fun, I looked up what Pansy leaves looked like and decided to create something similar for this mix! Each package will have one of each Pansy color (red, orange, hydrangea, olive and peacock) as well as 2 to 3 leaves. Sizes of pansies will vary slightly in each package. Pansies will also be available as singles, too, and the sizes of pansies will vary in those packages as well.
NEW Pansy Leaf
These leaves are fun and different. I created them just for the Pansy Pack, but will have a few available as singles, too. Made with Dark Green Oceanside glass, they have transparent veins and lighter tapering opal center vein.
Daisies and Blossoms
Next up are some requested daisies and blossoms. They ALL are gorgeous tack fused to fully fused, but when fully fused they absolutely BLOOM into something big and spectacular. I love working with them at any temperature. I like to snip them as thin as possible when tack fusing (2mm slices), but when fully fusing I’ll snip more in the 4-5mm range so they bloom out wider. The sizes of flowers will range slightly in each order and are as seen in the listing photos.
Orange Centered Daisy
Little White Wall Flower
Sunshine Daisy
Baby Blues
The Simple Daisy
Next up are some fun Tack Fuse designs:
Baby Boy Trio
So here's the story about this sweet little blue mix. My niece (Emily Beth 😉) is having another baby boy this fall. I wanted to make some hearts (for Emily and the grandmas) and tack on a bigger blue heart and a smaller blue heart to represent big brother and little brother. So after using the hearts for my little project, I felt like they needed something special to go with them for you! I have frequent requests for a remake of both the Blue Ombré Leaf and Hydrangea Flat-end Petal, so together they made a FUN mix! All three designs will be available as singles as well. The hearts in the mix will be more of a medium size like shown in the above photo, but the single heart packages will be multi-size from small to large. Sizes of leaves and flat-end petals will vary slightly in each package. I recommend a tack fuse on the hearts and leaves, however the flat-end petal is great at any temperature.
We can hardly wait for baby brother!! 💙
Lady Bugs
Miss Lady Bug has flown back into my shop and she will be sold in multi-size packages from tiny to large. She is a tack to light contour fuse murrini because in a full fuse she’ll lose the look of her little black head. See a fully fused version below.
Grey Titmouse
The birds gave me some grief this week. Most ended up as “seconds”, because after the first part of the pull, this little cutie’s design decided to go off track. But I do love his little speckled body. Sizes will vary in each package.
Woodie the Woodpecker
This is a photo of this week’s Woodie. He’s a little bit darker than past versions and there are just a few that made it into the grouping of “perfects”. See below for info on the “seconds” version and I’ll explain more there.
Red Poppy Fields
Red Poppy Fields are back, too! The sizes range from large to tiny so you can have the larger flowers as the foreground flower and then the little ones will give the illusion of depth like they are further away. These are definitely a LIGHT tack fuse murrini if you want to keep the exterior frilly edges intact, however, when fully fused these will round out into a circle and are also quite interesting, just very different than the tack fused look. I think the fully fused version looks like a “painted poppy”. You can see a fully fused test a little bit further down in the blog.
Gorgeous Green Leaves (multi-size)
Gorgeous Green Leaves are a favorite and so versatile. They will be sold in “Multi-size” packages, with the leaves ranging from large to small. This is a tack fuse murrini if you want the tips to remain pointed.
NEW Red Butterfly Wings
I had a request for a Red Butterfly and of course I say YES as RED is my favorite color! Sizes will range in each package, but they were more on the larger side this week with about 4-5 wings in each package. A light tack fuse is recommended.
Monarch Butterfly Wings
These bright Monarchs will add a pop of color to any scene. Per usual, they are best snipped around 3mm (Reminder: there is a butterfly snipping tutorial in the “TIPS” section of my website). A light tack fuse is best. You can put two sides together to make a full butterfly, or just one wing as a side view of a butterfly.
__________________
The above photo shows the test pieces of this week’s murrini at a full fuse.
_______________
SECONDS (there are quite a few this week and will be packaged in 1.5oz+ packages for the price of just 1oz.)
SECONDS Monarchs
SECONDS Red Butterfly Wings
The two butterflies became seconds when the inner design started to swirl. They are just as fun and beautiful as the “best part” of the pull in my opinion. Too pretty not to enjoy!
SECONDS Red Poppy Field
Just like the “firsts” these Poppy Fields will range from large to tiny so as to show depth in a scene! The only difference is the inner black circle is very small, which puts them in the “seconds” category.
SECONDS Woodie
I’ll have a lot of Seconds Woodie. Either his beak is not fully formed or is a bit elongated, but several of these are put in the seconds category because we were having some issues with our chopper arm and they are roughly cut on the ends…otherwise perfect!
SECONDS Grey Titmouse
As I mentioned above, this little guy’s beak decided to slip out of position during the pull and his eye and beak dropped a bit too low. I put these naughty birds in “Seconds Time Out” 🤣.
________________
Now on to this week’s project!
Daybreak in the Garden
I started with my AI generated photo (I typed in mystical garden scene with an iron gate) and printed it out to be the approximate size I wanted for my project. I cut my glass to fit over the design. All layers of this project are 3mm.
In the upper left photo I used my Easy Fire Enamels to paint black enamel where the fence would be. I let it dry, then on the upper right you can see I cut out the fence from my printed image and taped it to my glass. I scraped away the black I didn't want. (In retrospect, it would have been easier set my clear glass over the photo and trace the fence with a sharpie, THEN paint the fence on. However, I was watching some YouTube videos on the sgriffato technique this week and I guess I just felt like scratching paint off...ha!).
In the lower left I had the same size glass, again in 3mm clear, and painted it with blues, yellows, and greens for my sunrise background. I put it in the kiln (paint side up) and heated it enough for the enamel to fuse on. (I also had some hearts in there for Gabby's upcoming wedding).
In the upper left, you can see both clear pieces have the paint fused onto them. I wasn't crazy about the background colors, so in the upper right photo you can see I decided to sift glass powder over the top to see if I can get closer to the painted look I was going for. You know how glass powder is...it takes a TON of it to be a nice deep color, but I just dusted it with a moderate amount since the paint was underneath. I put the powder thicker in some places, thinner in others. The bottom green was some Adventurine Green powder that I had and it's beautifully sparkly. I also placed murrini over the colored powder as I wanted flowers in the background behind the fence.
In the lower left you can see how I periodically held the fence over the top to get an idea of where to put the flowers as the fence will eventually be fused over the top. In the photo on the lower right, I dusted a piece of Almond glass (same size as my other two pieces) with clear powder (to help prevent bubbles) as I didn't want my final project to be too transparent. I sat my background on the Almond glass and ran my program at a full fuse with a bubble squeeze (slow ramp up). *Note: it's not pictured here, but I did sprinkle on some transparent medium green frit right at the last minute to add a bit more depth and texture to the lower grassy area.
Getting closer! In the upper left you can see both pieces. I'm MUCH happier with the background now. I could have gone a bit heavier on the blue glass powder in the sky, but my fully fused flowers look great. Now I begin the next step. In the upper right you can see I placed my painted fence (painted side toward the underlying glass).
In the lower left you can see I removed my glass with the fence on it so I can dust the background with clear powder. We want to keep the bubbles at a minimum for sure this time. In the lower right I've placed my clear fence back over the top with a few more murrini flowers to be fully fused on and appear in FRONT of the fence. Again I ran a full fuse program with a bubble squeeze.
Ok! I'm ALMOST ready to say TA DA! In the upper left we have the piece out of the kiln. The clear was a bit larger than the underlying glass and that shows just a little bit, so "note to self" to make sure it is the same or ever-so-slightly-smaller than the underlying glass.
Now time for the final layer of murrini! In the upper right you can see the first steps in placing my flowers, butterflies, and birds in the top half of the scene. The image on the lower left shows the finished garden in the kiln ready for a LIGHT tack fuse.
Finally in the lower right, my finished tack fused piece is then put in the kiln for a FINAL slump. I held an extra long anneal because this is the piece's 5th firing. I know...this one was a lot of work, but wanted to try my hand at painting and layering!
And...TA DA! It did stand on its own, but it wasn't as steady as I'd hoped. A deeper slump around a smaller mold would have taken care of that, but instead of fusing it again, I just put it on the Taurus saw and cut off the clear border that you can see at the bottom and it now sits perfectly!
______________
Hints on the Horizon: May 17 is going to be a FUN surprise! Joni had a great idea with some colors of stringer and I worked a project around it. Get ready for something really cool!
I'll be taking advantage of the 5th Saturday in May and I'm going to close my shop for some 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!! I have lots of fun things planned. Stay tuned!
___________________
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.
*UPDATE: I've several requests for a flower mix. Since I didn't have 6 flowers (and wouldn't have enough for 1oz. packages) I pulled some White Roses from my inventory and Lisa is putting together some mixes. They are PRETTY! 
So there will be a few of these mixes available tomorrow morning as well. Thanks to those who asked! The 1oz. packages will have one each of the six designs.