November 1, 2024 • Valentine Mix, Footballs, Cardinals, and Doves
Love is in the air a bit early, but never too early to begin our Valentine projects! Tomorrow, Nov. 2 I’ll have a beautiful Valentine Mix as well as singles and duos. Also, I have a new Dragonfly for this week’s project which is a beautiful addition to my Dragonfly Jar Series. Red just happens to be my favorite color, and it made creating these murrini (and project) true joy.
Personalized to my sweetheart. 😉
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This week Footballs, Doves and Cardinals are back. Thanks for all your great feedback on them as well as photos that you’ve sent me. I love seeing your work and I appreciate you all very much!
The new murrini I have for this week are all Oceanside COE96 and will be available tomorrow, Saturday Nov. 2 at Noon Central time.
Red Dragonflies
This gorgeous Dragonfly has mostly opal wings with a hint of transparent here and there. Like past designs, the sizes of wings will vary, so kits will be sold according to both size of wing and overall package weight. A kit includes 4 wings, 1 body and 3 black stringer tails. A very light tack fuse is recommended.
Small Kits will be $20 (small size wings/body)
Medium Kits will be $23 (medium size wings/body)
Large Kits will be $26 (large size wings/body)
XL Kits will be $28 (XL size wings/body)
Here is the gorgeous Red Dragonfly. Lisa said she thinks it has a very “stained glass” appearance. I agree! ❤️
Here is a past example of the approximate difference in wing size small to XL.
In case you missed it before, take a minute to peek at this helpful video that demonstrates how to perfectly cut your Dragonfly Murrini.
The Valentine Mix
This fun mix has a variety of designs. You’ll receive a heart of each color (Red Opal, White Opal and Cherry Red Transparent), a White Curved Leaf, Red Transparent Leaf, Artsy White and Red Leaf, Duo Toned Red Slender Leaf, a Red Flat-end Daisy Petal and a Tulip.
Tulip and Slender Leaf Duo
Made for each other, the White and Red Tulip will come with two Slender Duo Tone Leaves (which has an opal red side and a transparent red side). Tulips snip best with wheeled nippers placed on the center of the design closest to the rounded end of the tulip (never bottom to fragile tip). The Slender Leaves snip best with wheeled nippers placed directly in the center. These two designs are best fused at a light tack fuse to keep the outer shape of the murrini intact.
White and Red Tulips
The Tulips are also sold as singles. They make adorable tulips, but also make a fun floral design when lined up along a curved piece of stringer like a bluebell. A very light tack fuse is recommended.
Red Opal/Transparent Slender Duo Tone Leaves
Also sold as a single, this really special design makes a perfect tulip leaf, but also can be grouped to make a spiked flower, a flower bud or anything your imagination comes up with!
Artsy White and Red Leaf
I love the artsy vein in this sweet leaf. Just a little something less traditional but oh-so-pretty. They are easy to snip with wheeled nippers or the Chipper Nipper. A light tack fuse is recommended to keep the exterior design intact.
Curved White and Red Transparent Vein Leaf
This gently curved design makes for a simple yet elegant leaf. It snips best with wheeled nippers or a Chipper Nipper placed on the fattest part of the sides. A light tack fuse is recommended to keep the exterior design intact.
Transparent Red Leaf
I noticed that Lori Moreno had a leaf this color in her Wilderness Glass Shop (she is COE 90) and I knew it would be perfect for this week’s mix. Thanks Lori for the beautiful color combo idea! They snip great with wheeled nippers or a Chipper Nipper placed on the fattest part of the sides. A light tack fuse is recommended to keep the exterior design intact.
Multi-size Heart Trio
This is a fun trio of hearts as you’ll receive three different sizes of each color making a total of 9 canes in each package. The smaller hearts snip great with either nipper. A trick I found on the big hearts is to use the Chipper Nipper with the POINT of the bottom of the heart facing AWAY from me and with the nippers positioned on the fattest part of the humps of the heart. A light tack fuse is recommended to keep the exterior design intact.
The hearts will also be sold as singles just in case you need just one particular color.
Flat-End Opal Red Daisy Petals (sizes will vary in each package)
The photo above shows the “medium” size petals, but each order will include a mix of petals that are a bit larger and some a bit smaller than the ones shown here. I prefer to snip these with wheeled nippers placed along the sides of the petals in the very center. Pretty fused in all temperatures.
Footballs are back!
Thank you for loving this design as much as I did and what a treat it has been seeing the fun creations that you all are making! I made several batches to hopefully fill everyone’s needs. Sold in 1oz packages, you’ll receive 5-6 two-inch long canes, however, I’ll have a few XL packages that will only have 4 larger canes in them (which might require the Chipper Nipper). I place the nipper right in the center of the design. A very light tack fuse is recommended.
Doves with Wings
Per many requests, the Doves are also back. Some of the wings are on the smaller side this time, giving Lisa quite the challenge to match up the bird body with the appropriate size wing. She did a great job, but again, the wings are a bit on the smaller side.
As a reminder…the Doves are a little bit more difficult to snip. It took me just a few tries to figure out the best wheel placement and I made a little video to show you how I do it. Once I got the hang of placement, they behaved well.
Here’s another tricky part. IF your Dove isn’t snipped flat, your wing may not sit still during firing. I didn’t ever have one to slip, but my tester friend did. Remember, if the only thing holding your wing in place is glue, when that glue burns off the wing may fly away. So I didn’t put any glue on the Dove, I just put it in its final position and then gently laid the wing on top. Keep your wings snipped extra thin if you can.
Cardinals
Cardinals have flown back onto the scene for one last appearance in 2024. 😄 They snip beautifully with wheeled nippers placed directly on the back and belly. They’ll be packaged by the ounce and will have 5-6 two-inch canes in each package. A very light tack fuse is recommended.
Here are all of this week's murrini FULLY fused. You can see that most lose their outer shape entirely.
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The Valentine Dragonfly Jar Project
I’m excited to add another addition to my Dragonfly Jar series. I started the same way as in the past with fully fusing my bottom layer. I enjoyed the border around the Winter project, so this time I did the same. I started with a 3mm 8X12 Red Opal piece dusted with clear powder to prevent bubbles. I then placed a 3mm 7X11 piece of Almond glass over the top. I placed my red, white and vanilla cream stringers in the center of my project and added some medium frit around the stringers and at the bottom. The frit was a mix of opal and transparent red frit along with vanilla cream. 
My first layer lightly dusted with clear powder.
I then placed Almond over the top and took it to a full fuse. See the "Helpful Links" section at the end of the blog to Oceanside's recommended firing schedules.
Another element I pre-fused was a heart shape on a black noodle. I wanted to make the Valentine bouquet appear to be a gift, so this is the “card on the stick” you find in such arrangements. The reason I did it first was because I wanted to put Doves on it and I didn’t trust their little sneaky wings to stay in place…so I pre-fused this element just in case the wings jumped off the bird body, ruining the entire piece.
I left plenty of room on the heart as I’m going to personalize the bouquet with a sharpie after it’s finished. I initially put paint, but I didn’t like the way it looked and also thought it might be a fun idea that if you were going to sell a finished piece, the customer could customize it to their loved one.
Next I got all of my elements ready. I snipped a cane of each of the designs from the Valentine Mix and have my pre-fused “stick” ready as well. The wings behaved nicely.😜 I also incorporated some of my Red and Vanilla Cream Hearts from last week into the project, too.
I took a 5mm piece of clear and cut out the shape of my heart jar/vase. Once I had it the size I wanted I laid it over my pre-fused background and started adding my elements.
Here is a peek at each section to see how this week’s mix looks in a light tack fused.
Here is the heart plain and then personalized with a sharpie. I like it that it looks handwritten just like an actual card would be.
A sweet section of the piece showing the tulips, some of the leaves, and the flat-end petals.
Here is a section showing the Slender Leaves grouped in a trio as just a cute bud. Would have also made a gorgeous spiked flower. The transparent leaf…I love it so. Also a note that the white pieces (tulips, hearts, leaves) become a bit bolder and more opaque when fired again.
These are last week’s hearts, but I still have some in the shop and they make a cute topiary.
A side view of the Dragonfly if you’d like to use just two wings.
Here the tulips are arranged to create a “bluebell” type of flower.
This is a view of the sweet little bottom. The frit had been fully fused prior to adding the elements. The hearts are just scattered about from smaller to larger. I love that look.
In the kiln, I wanted the heart to hang over just a bit, so I cut several pieces of fiber paper to lay underneath to hold it in place.
Note that I didn't cut the pieces too much past the heart and kept them slightly away from the outer edge so it didn't leave any marks on the outer edge of the project.
The fusing schedule I used was a bit on the conservative side because I had a 6mm base that I had already fully fused twice (in the first full fuse I forgot to put my stringer and frit!) then a 5mm solid piece for the vase, and the layers of murrini on top of that. So I opted for an ultra conservative Oceanside “Re-firing” schedule recommended for thick, previously fired work:
50>300>40 minutes
50>1000>100 minutes
185>1310>10 minutes
9999>950>8.5 hours
25>775>0
45>500>0
150>75>0
I know this is ultra conservative, but I wanted this thicker piece to have extra time and I was in no hurry. It was in the kiln for 2 full days.
One last look at the entire piece. There is a lot going on…but that makes it interesting as you keep finding new things.
I do love this project. I think next time I might make the "heart stick" a bit smaller and not worry about it going off the edge. It feel like it might be a bit too big...what do you think?
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Hints on the Horizon:
I have Tinies coming on Nov. 16. I'm hoping to pull both tinies and regular size of each design for a nice variety for everyone. This will be the LAST new murrini for the season (besides the annual Scrap Sale on Black Friday on Nov. 29). After Nov. 29, my shop will close until January. I have a few cool things to share with you about what I'll be doing when my shop is closed. More to come on this!
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Helpful Links:
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.
If you are looking for Mike LaChance’s fusible 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.
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.
For Tiny Candy Canes, Doggie Bones and other beautiful torch-made COE 96 glass components, check out the Lunger’s Eleven11Glass website.