November 14, 2025 • Pansies, Mountains, Paws and more!
Happy Friday and thanks so much for stopping by! Tomorrow, Saturday Nov. 15, will be my last new murrini of the year. Then of course we'll wrap up 2025 with the big 5th annual Black Friday Scrap Sale!
Speaking of the scrap sale....Tomorrow is your LAST CHANCE to submit a photo of your work containing my murrini from previous Scrap Sales! If you submit a photo (via my website chat or my email) I'll send you a $5 gift card and one person/entry will be selected to win a $25 gift card! The deadline is end of day tomorrow!
If you have submitted a photo, watch your email on Friday (Nov. 21) for your e-gift card to arrive. If you don't see an email from me on 11/21 with your gift card in it, shoot me a text. I'll be featuring your submitted art in my upcoming "Scrap Sale Blog", not only to showcase your work, but to inspire those who are new to using scrap! Thanks to all who have submitted photos already...they are great!
I'll be spending most of December creating murrini for the first Saturday sale in January, but will also be spending lots of time with family. Unlike years past, I plan on keeping my online store open during the month of December, (except for a short break from 12/8-12/12), just in case you need anything.
I'm excited to end 2025 murrini creations on a fun note! I have two NEW designs this week, MOUNTAINS (my happy place) and PAWS! Also, Pansy Packs are back, as well as leaves, butterflies, birds and more!
Step by step instructions to these little projects are a bit later in the blog.
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Housekeeping notes:
•All my murrini are COE 96. This week's murrini (all Oceanside fusible glass) will go on sale tomorrow, Saturday, November 15, at NOON Central Time.
•If you ever have a question about my murrini, just shoot me an email or chat via the website! My Facebook Murrini Show and Tell page is just for showing finished work and inspiring each other. Due to life's time constraints, I limit my time spent on social media and my sweet friend Tricia is graciously the Admin of the Show and Tell Page. I want to properly address questions in a timely manner, so email and my website's chat are your best ways to reach me. I'm so very happy to answer any questions, just not through the social media sites (just because I don't check them often enough).
•Last week 3 people had hiccups when ordering. For some reason their addresses were not accepted by Shopify. I chatted with a Shopify rep and they looked at the back end of my site and said everything was good. Also I ran an update on my page and was told by Shopify that sometimes customer's information gets cached and you might need to switch browsers or go to a different device. I hate that this happened and still am unsure why it did, but I hope things are resolved for tomorrow.
•BIG SUGGESTION: if you have the "Shop App" on your phone, PLEASE do NOT use it when ordering as all it will do is forward you to my online shop. I'm uncertain if that causes glitches when ordering, but it will certainly slow down the process. Please just go to your browser and go directly to my website by typing in www.bethalongi.com to order.
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This week’s murrini:
New! Mountains 
The mountains...gosh to be able to see them out my window every day is a dream of mine! Until then, I'll just have to create with them! These beauties will come in a multi-size package with a mix of sizes and the tips of snow will vary slightly as each pull was a little bit different. As an added bonus, I pulled some tinies at the end of the pulls and if you order mountains I will put 2 little tiny canes in as part of your goodie bag (while supplies last). I have a little tiny in my fused scene this week!
I'm going to recommend a tack fuse if you want an "as-is" look, but fully fused they held up pretty good...just a bit rounded. Also, I had the most success snipping consistent pieces with the Chipper Nipper (also known as Ceramic Scissors and a link to find them is at the bottom of the blog). Make sure the snow-capped tip is FACING you with the nippers back on the widest part of the murrini. For the bigger pieces, snip it like you mean it, without hesitation. 😜 The smaller ones snip easily. These will snip like Candy Corn (if you've purchased that design from me in the past). If you have more success with wheeled nippers, that is great, too!
I also enjoyed using them in a micro-mosaic piece. I snipped the canes into 3-4mm pieces and fire polished them so they had a smooth finish. The tops were nice and shiny, but I ended up using the side that was against the kiln shelf paper as it was beautifully flat. 
I learned how to do micro-mosaics from the talented Jennifer Bevan. She currently is not teaching the technique, but there are some lovely how-tos on this process available online.
NEW! Paw Kits
Years ago I attempted a paw inside clear, but I didn't care for the clear outer glass. So wanting to try this again, I made paws as separate pieces that can be tack fused or fully fused! Each package will have paw "pads" and "toes". There will be 4 Toe canes to 1 Pad cane. The toes have been sorted by size so they are proportional to the pad. NOTE: the pad has curves, but there is one area that comes to more of a point. That is the TOP where the toes are going to be placed around it. 
To create the paw, snip the canes into 2-3mm pieces. Try to snip each piece approximately the same height and it's nice if at least one side is nice and flat so it sits straight. It is a little bit tedious to get the little toes lined up, so have your tweezers and Glasstac ready! However, once situated, it will be worth the time you spent setting these up. I couldn't be happier with how the sample projects turned out. Again, keep in mind the PAD of the paw had a certain direction...with the more pointed tip at the top.
Lisa and I sorted all the pads and paws as the sizes varied slightly. They will be sold in multi-size mixes.
S, M, L, XL mix (one pad each size and 16 proportional toes)
S, M, L mix (1 sm, 1 med, and 2 lg pads with 16 proportional toes)
M, L duo mix (two pads and 8 toes of each size)
All Medium Size (4 pads and 16 toes)
Each kit should make approximately 64 paws.
All the sizes of paws are in the dish. The difference between the sizes varies only slightly (but you can see a big difference when comparing the smallest size to the largest size).
Mama and Papa Cardinal DUO (and as singles)
Mama and Papa are back together (I think they may have had a little spat as mama hasn't been around as much 🤣). I'll have these as a DUO, but also as packaged as singles. A light tack fuse is recommended to keep the outer design of the murrini intact.
Pansy Pack (and as singles)
Pansies are back in beautiful bright colors. Each package will have one of each Pansy color (Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue and Persian Green) as well as a Pansy Leaf. Sizes of pansies will vary slightly in each package. Pansies and the leaves will also be available as singles, too, and the sizes of pansies will vary in those packages as well.
NEW! Yellow-Belly Bluebird
Per many requests, I got this sweet bird remade for this week's sale! I made several batches so there should be plenty for everyone. The shades of blue used in the first version had a bit more of the lighter blue around the head, but in this version I used more of the darker blue (only a slight difference). But not to worry...there is still a lot of beautiful yellow belly showing! This bright and cheerful bird will make an adorable addition to any scene. To retain the outer shape of the design, a very light tack fuse is recommended. They will come in packages of 6 smaller birds, 5 regular sized birds (pictured), or 4 large birds.
Curved Fern Green Leaf
This version of the curved leaf was created with Fern green. It will come in a multi-size package from small to really large. It's a simple leaf that is subtle and will look wonderful in any scene. A light tack fuse is recommended.
Transparent Philodendron Leaf
This version of the Philodendron leaf is transparent green with an opal vein. There are clear areas on the sides to create the look of a “split philodendron”. I love how it fuses and adds the perfect touch to these floral scenes. Sizes in each package will vary. I tried to snip these pretty thin and most times it did well, but I got a little missnip here and there and they were perfect used as a leaf peeking out from behind a flower or put it under a vine!
Multi-size Two Toned Slender Green Leaf
These green leaves are so versatile! Use them as a leaf by a flower, as a tree, or any kind of floral element. They will be multi-size from small to large in each package for variety. I have a new video to show how to snip this slender shape. It explains how to get a very straight edge, or a "cupped" edge when you want to use them to layer, such as placing it over a little branch. I'll post it here, but it can always be found in my TIPS/TUTORIALS section!
Dainty Daisy 
These daisies are very sweet and have a pretty little transitioning center. The petals are Vanilla Cream and the transitioning center is made of Red, Sunflower and Orange. These are great from a tack fuse to a full fuse. Also beautiful Flip and Fused!
Monarchs
Monarchs sold out quickly two weeks ago, so I made more for this week. The inner design is beautifully bright. How can these not put a smile on your face!? You can put two sides together at the black line to make a full butterfly, or just use a single piece showing a butterfly from the side. A light tack fuse is highly recommended!
Turquoise Butterflies
Another requested remake was the Turquoise butterfly. The inner colors are subtle in this lovely version. A light tack fuse is necessary to retain the outer details of the murrini design.
Multi-size Ladybugs
We can never have enough of these sweet ladies in our murrini arsenal! From tiny to large, this nice variety gives you ladybugs of all sizes for any project! A light tack fuse is recommended for her to have an "as-is" appearance.
Ombre Green Leaves
A slight twist was done in the creation of this popular leaf. I created slightly smaller sections between veins and added white to the tip of these cuties. I think they have a Springy appearance as they are slightly lighter overall than the past ombre version.
Columbine Centers
A few have asked for more centers for your Columbines or to use this design for other flower creations. The 1oz. packages will have several canes in them in varying sizes (mostly very small), but they will make for the perfect little bright center in any grouping of petals!
Slight Seconds Dainty Daisy
Every now and again I'll get a design that decides to go its own way in the pot! This week's daisy was one of them. They are SECONDS because the petals became longer on one side than the other during the pull. I love them actually...because they look like they have some dimension like you'd see when viewing slightly from the side.
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This week's murrini fully fused test pieces. They all tested perfectly under polarizing filters.
The Daisy, Pansies, Paw, some leaves, Mountain, and Columbine Center all look great fully fused. Some of the other pieces tend to round out too much and lose their exterior charm.
Here is a light Tack Fuse version of some of this week's cuties that were not included in the projects.
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This week's projects!
Majestic Mountains
It took a bit for my AI program to generate the scene I was looking for, but when it gave me this one, I knew it was close to what I had envisioned. My underneath glass is an Oceanside dark blue/white wispy glass, with a similar green/white wispy glass for the grass. I used my Taurus saw to cut out the river and placed the two pieces of "Grass" over the blue background, which is approximately 3.5X4.5".
Next, I placed some white powder at the top where the grass meets the sky. I wanted some kind of separation between the trees and the mountains, so I attempted to create that beautiful misty fog that we often see in such a scene. 
I placed a line of trees (these are actually this week's Pansy Leaf) along the top of the "grass" and then snuggled my mountains down into the white powder. Powder can be tricky...you think you have a ton on your piece, but when it fuses, it tends to disappear! I will be adding a bit more at the very end, but for now I just wanted a base to snuggle my mountains into.
I filled my river with medium clear frit. This is a tack fuse piece, but not to worry...it looks like the river is somewhat white, but after it fuses, it will become clear and show the under color of the river. Next comes the deck of our cabin. I used Chocolate glass cut into 1/2 inch strips.
I used Oceanside black stringer to connect my deck poles. The two upper right stringers are sitting on the frit, which I know is going to move during the fuse...but once I started, I was committed to the design and decided to let the stringers final resting place be where it wants to be (this is very unlike me 😅).
My flower pot is made with Terra Cotta and I did tack it down with some superglue so it didn't move as I placed my leaves and pansies.
My flowers are all now in place, along with my leaves and a bit more white powder covering the bases of the mountains. I wasn't worried about any excess white powder that was floating around in the sky as I knew it would disappear. I was hoping it wouldn't, so it could be snow...but it indeed disappeared.
This went in for a LIGHT tack fuse and a LONG anneal. At its height, it has about five 3mm layers and part of the project is only 3mm. This was a slow up (150 degrees per hour until I reached 1150) and after a 6 hour anneal, I came down slow as well (150 degrees per hour until room temp). Don't ever be tempted to peek in a warm kiln with such a layered project. 😉
Gosh, I love this! Next time I might not put mountains all the way across, but have two or three larger ones, then tapering down with some smaller ones just in the center of the project. But you'll have to forgive me because I had the zoomies with this new murrini and put them all the way across!!
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Paw Plates
I wanted to show the paws both fully fused and tack fused. They are great at ALL temperatures, but do look very different at different temps. The paws are more rounded in a full fuse and more defined in the tack fuse.
The sizes of the dishes were determined by the two molds I was going to slump them in. My platter doesn't have a number on it, but I looked on Slumpy's website and it appears to be the SM-246. It's 10X5". The smaller dish is my favorite go-to mold and is Slumpy's SM-9273, which is 5.5X5.5"
On both pieces I wanted a black underneath and border, with a white top. On the longer platter I had about a 3/8 border of black extending past the top white glass, and on the smaller piece I had about a quarter inch border. Both were fully fused together and I liked the 1/4 inch border better. It pulled in perfectly around the white, where as the larger border had just a smidge of dog boning (uneven edges when the 3mm black glass pulled inward in the full fuse).
On the platter, I marked off the areas that would bend slightly in the slump. I wanted to avoid those areas so as not to distort my paws. I put a THIN smear of Glastac on my project and with tweezers I placed the parts. If you put too much glue, the "toes" will want to move on you. You want it to be more like that of a tacky post-it note, so when you place your parts they won't move or slide later when bumped, but with too much glue the pieces may swim around on their own, which is never good. You also want to let this fully dry before firing. I actually left the sharpie marks on the glass when I fully fused it as I knew they would burn off (or they always have for me).
Here is my kiln, full of fun, going in for a full fuse. My two paw projects (the small one is fully fused first, because I'll be tack fusing the paws on next). The platter is a one-and-done fuse (if you don't want to slump it). Don't forget to dust clear powder between the two layers of glass on your projects to help prevent bubbles. I didn't do a bubble squeeze on these, but you certainly could if you wanted to make sure you had less of a chance of getting bubbles between the two large layers.
Super cute! I was afraid in the full fuse the toes might run together, but there is just enough separation.
Next comes the tack fuse. I applied my paws the same way as the platter, with just a THIN smear of Glastac glue. I did actually remove the sharpie guide before fusing, since it was just a light tack fuse. I've never had problems with sharpie burning off, but since clean up was easy on this piece, I did remove it before firing.
The final step was to slump them into the mold. I tend to hold back on giving my exact temperatures only because each kiln is so very different. But I do have a link to Oceanside's recommended temperature guide at the bottom of the blog to get you started. You can always chat with me if you need guidance!
Have fun with these paws. They are a little bit of work to set up, but so worth it!
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Hints on the Horizon
On Friday, November 28 at 10am Central Time, I'll be having my 5th Annual Black Friday Scrap Sale! I will have 2" scrap canes sold by the pound, as well as "Bits and Butts" sold by the pound. Scrap prices are the same as they've been in the past with Free Shipping all day! More information will be coming soon in my Black Friday Scrap Sale Blog coming out on Monday, November 24. I'll post a reminder on Facebook and I will also send out an email. 🙌🏼
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A note to new artists: Quality is my priority. I only sell the best section of each pull. The designs found in your murrini order will look like the samples shown in the blog (sizes of the canes may vary slightly, but never the inner or outer design). "Seconds" or "scrap" canes are those designs that are not yet fully formed or are starting to fade away, murrini with tiny air holes in the design, or with chips or dings. I sometimes sell the nicer Seconds at a discount, or you might find them in the free goodie bags, but more than likely I've saved them for the annual Black Friday Scrap Sale.
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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. Joni is also my supplier for the Window Cards that we can use for our artwork.
For beautiful COE 96 Twisties, check out Sherry's lovely work at Love•Peace•Create•Shop.
Kiln shopping? Check out my friends at Hot Shot Oven & Kiln. They'll give you great customer service along with a great product made in Wisconsin!
Looking for a good Chipper Nipper or Leponitt wheeled nippers? I recommend purchasing these two "must-haves" from witsendmosaic.com. They call the Chipper Nipper "Ceramic Scissors". The wheeled nippers I prefer are the Leponitt G30C.
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.
I buy my Easy Fire Enamels from Cheryl Chapman's website.
For Janice's pre-cut COE 96 ornament blanks, find her at LakeRabbitDesigns.