Oct. 4, 2024 • Beautiful Seconds and All Seasons Leaves
I tend to lean toward being a perfectionist with my artwork and therefore I’m a bit finicky when it comes to murrini Seconds and Scrap. Some time ago, when I was describing Scrap as something you wouldn’t want in your best work, my friend Tricia (who creates meticulous glass art) corrected me. She said she would absolutely use them and made the point that she and others love the organic and sometimes whimsical “imperfect” designs. I appreciated her honesty as she was so right. I have been blown away with some amazing creativity from those using Seconds and Scrap over the years.
Seconds are murrini canes that are at the beginning or end of the best part of the pull where the design is either not quite fully formed yet or is starting to fade away. Seconds may also be perfect on the inside, but have a ding or chip on the exterior. Also, murrini that have a tiny pinhole on the inside are considered Seconds as well.
Scrap canes are those that don't qualify as a Second. So they may have very little to no design in them at all as they are the very start of the pull or the very end. They could also be test pulls where I was just experimenting with an idea. Or they could have larger pinholes in them. Scrap is all very usable and fusible glass but will require a bit more creativity when using. I've seen truly amazing projects using it. I sell Scrap once a year, on Black Friday, so that date is quickly approaching. You'll hear more about this big sale soon.
This week I wanted to create a project highlighting just the “Seconds”, which ended up being pretty darn adorable! More on this project later in the blog.
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A few weeks ago Jamaison Schuler had a project that used colors of leaves from each season and I promised to get them pulled for us 96ers. 😉 Here’s a link to his video if you haven’t seen it yet. I’ll also have a fun “All Seasons” project on 10/19 that I think you are going to love. It’s still in the creative idea phase as I type this blog, but I have high hopes for it (an experimental idea). Stay tuned!
This week’s COE 96 murrini will be available tomorrow, Oct. 5 at NOON Central time.
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All Seasons Leaf Mix (with variations)
There will be 7 designs in the All Seasons Leaf Mix. These lovelies can be grouped together in an “all seasons” type of project or they can stand alone in any project that needs a leaf. Leaves snip beautifully with wheeled nippers or the Chipper Nipper placed in the fattest part of the design. Packages will be sold in these variation options:
As a mix:
1.50+oz. 2 canes of each design (1 regular size leaf and 1 small/tiny size) $26
1.4oz. 1 cane of each design (larger sized leaves) $24
1.25oz. 1 cane of each design (regular sized leaves) $22
As 1oz. singles that are mostly on the SMALL side for $18:
Olive Ombre
Dark Green
Brown Ombré
Buttery Yellow
Gorgeous Green (Amazon Green)
Chambray and Lilac Ombre
White
As mentioned above, an All Seasons Leaf Project will be coming Oct. 19.
NEW SECONDS Test Doves with Wings
Let’s chat about these Doves. This was a requested design (Dove with a wing) and they are fun, but a bit tricky. My first batch had the beak not quite in the right place which immediately puts them in the “seconds” category. There’s also a grouping with a good beak and are "perfect", and some may have tiny air holes. Each Dove cane will come with one wing cane. There are a mix of "perfect" and seconds Doves as well as a mix of "perfect" and seconds wings in each order, but will be priced as seconds since this shape was a test design.
Here’s one of the tricky parts. They 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.
These will be in 1.6+oz. packages for $19.
Here’s a fun little sample I made with a piece of scrap red. I used my Taurus saw and made the cut out designs, then placed my little Dove love birds on the branch. This piece was lightly tack fused with a top temp of 1300 with a 5 minute hold.
SECONDS Green Duo
This duo is a nice mix of Holly and the Slender (duo toned) Green Leaf. You’ll receive approximately 3 Holly and 4 Slender Leaves in the 1.5oz. package. Both leaves snip best with wheeled nippers placed right in the center. What makes these seconds are the Holly with the bold center line may have some chips on the exterior and the rest are past the best part of the design and the center line is fading away. For the Slender Leaf, toward the end of the pull some of the Dark Green area has a darker section in it. These will be in 1.5oz. packages for $17.
SECONDS Santa
There are lots of seconds Santas as I had one entire pull where his little face was off-center. Then there are some where he is a bit early or late in the pull. I’d recommend TACK FUSING these to keep them “as-is”. Wheeled nippers or the Chipper Nipper work well. 1.5oz. for $17.
SECONDS Rudy
These sweet Rudy murrini will be considered seconds due to his little face being either early or later in the pull. Also, his antlers may be perfects or they may be a little bit toward the end of the pull and will be in various sizes in your order. I recommend a TACK fuse if Rudy’s eyes aren’t fully enclosed in brown. Wheeled nippers work best on both of these designs. 1.5oz. for $17.
SECONDS Winter Dragonfly Kit
These are the seconds from the most recent Winter Dragonfly design. The sizes of wings and bodies will vary. In this kit you’ll receive 1 body, 4 wings and 2 tails. If you are new to snipping the Dragonflies, please check out the Dragonfly snipping video in the “Tips/Tutorials” section of my website. Kits will be $13.
SECONDS Angel Wings
These seconds Angel Wings are going to be mostly on the smaller side. A few may be at the beginning of the pull where the feathers aren’t fully formed, but mostly they are toward the end where they begin to swirl. Easy to snip with either wheeled nippers or the Chipper Nipper, these wings are perfect for all kinds of designs. In this week’s project I made an angel with these wings and used a dot for her head and a body made out of a flattened Twistie. 1.5oz. for $17.
SECONDS Ghost Petals
The Ghost Petals seconds are actually very fun. The inner line has begun to swirl slightly giving it awesome character. Tack fused to fully fused, these are fun to have in your murrini collection. Perfect for bee wings, petals of flowers, leaves or just an interesting design element. 1.5oz. for $17.
SECONDS Funky Gray Ripple Petals
These cuties are fun and have a groovy feel to them. There are three “seconds” designs that formed during the pull. One that is at the start of the pull where the inner white design is large and not covered completely with gray glass. Then a wonky stage where the white areas are not symmetrical. Finally, some have a tiny white center. Lisa tried to get a little mix of all three designs in each package. 1.5oz. for $17.
SECONDS Twists and Tiny Cardinal Duo
This is a fun duo. The Christmas Twists are a little off-center but will look perfect on the outside. They may also have a few pinholes from trapped air in them. The Tiny Cardinals are at the end of the pull and have elongated beaks. Each 1.5oz. package will have approximately 4-5 Twist canes and all the rest Tiny Cardinal canes (which should be over a dozen) for $17. A very light TACK fuse is recommended for the Tiny Cardinals. Wheeled nippers will be best on the birds but wheeled nippers or the Chipper Nipper will be great on the Christmas Twists.
SECONDS Opal Christmas Bulbs/Petals (with variations)
These seconds are pretty great. They still make great bulbs even if the striped area at the top is barely there or has become larger and swirly. The swirly top makes for the most interesting flower centers when grouped together. I would lean toward wheeled nippers placed in the fattest part of the bulb for nipping. These will be sold in 1.5oz. variations for $17:
Opal Mix of All Colors (two canes of each color)
All White
All Teal
All Blue
All Red
All Yellow
SECONDS Transparent Christmas Bulbs/Petals (with variations)
Like the Opal Bulbs, the Transparent versions are just as fun. Also sold in 1.5oz. variations for $17:
Transparent Mix of All Colors (two canes of each color)
All Cherry Red
All Orange
All Green
All Blue
(no yellow transparent as a single)
Here is a quick tack fused sample I made showing the Bulbs as flowers.
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I also have two requested remakes of these Christmas cuties this week:
Peppermints
These sweet red Peppermints are adorable but as luck would have it, they aren’t quite as perfect in the center as I’d like! So I’ll be selling these as slight Seconds, too. I prefer them lightly tack fused so they keep their peppermint look. If fully fused they will spread out more. I'll have them packaged in 1oz. packages for $15. Wheeled nippers or the Chipper Nipper will snip these beautifully. These are slightly larger than the earlier ones this season, so there will be 5-6 canes per 1oz. package.
Christmas Twists
Also back again is the Christmas Twist. This murrini has several fun ways to use it. Either snip as a thin chip and tack fuse for an “as-is” look, fully fuse it into a dot, or flatten a 1/4inch chip to spread into a swirly button. They are so much fun to work with. Sold in 1oz. packages for $18.
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This week’s project was fun and fast. Just one time through the kiln, this turned out cuter than I expected! THEN I thought I might try slumping it as I hadn’t slumped anything on my curved mold recently, so this was great practice.
I started with a 6X12 piece of 3mm black Oceanside glass. (Sorry for the reflection of overhead lights!!)
Next I laid out thick brown stringer I had made from a previous pull. (Joni, from Aggie Glass Designs, will have various sized Chocolate Stringer this week for branches if you need them). I then used some thin Oceanside Amazon Green stringer which I broke off in about 2-inch lengths.
I placed my stringer creating pine needles at the end of my branches. Note: the top pine needles don’t look like they are under the branch, but the branch is curved up and I’m anticipating it to relax down right on top of the needles.
I then took Oceanside Vanilla Cream stringers and made the string for my ornaments to hang from.
Because I knew I was going to add fairy lights to the final project, I took advantage of the curves in the branches and cut itty bitty strips of fiber paper glued together with some GlassTac and slipped it underneath the branches to hold sections up during the fusing process.
You can see the fiber paper under the branch above.
In the upper left of this image you can also see I have one of Mike LaChance’s Tack Bails sitting on the pine needles. This is to wrap the fairly lights through.
I also have one sitting on the pine needles on the right side. I have some fiber paper rolled up inside the hole to hold it open during fusing.
In the kiln it goes. I used SECONDS on this entire project. The far left ornament has Holly at the top, Transparent Bulbs in the center and Christmas Twists at the bottom. I have the Opal Bulbs as a small multi-colored flower. The Dragonfly is beautiful on light blue glass sprinkled with a little bit of fine white frit for snow. Above the Dragonfly you can see Santa, Rudy and a Tiny Cardinal in the red circle, which is also one of Mike LaChance’s open bails. Next we have 🎼 two turtle Doves (I sang that part 🤣) with a flat Christmas Twist on top of the tree. I placed Slender Green Leaves on the ends of the branches by the pine needles. A little half flower is peeking out from the upper right branch that is made from a white Bulb. Finally the far right ornament has Ghost Leaves on the sides as a little embellishment and take note of the Angel. She is made with seconds Angel Wings, a pre-fused dot for her head, and a piece of a flattened Twistie from a few weeks ago that I snipped and shaped with the grinder. It made a perfect body. Finally, a few of the Groovy Ripple Petals are placed in the scene as little design elements.
I ran a light Tack Fuse schedule:
300>1150>30
350>1300>5
9999>950>4 hours
150>800>10
300>Room Temp
It tack fused perfectly (and I took a picture of it before I put it on the mold just in case it slipped or some other kind of catastrophe happened). 😅 Then ran a slump fuse schedule:
250>250>15
250>1050>30
150>1240>20
400>950>5 hours
200>800>10
300>Room Temp
The slump was a success! I washed it up removing the existing fiber paper I had under the branches (I kept all the fiber in place for the slump schedule as well). So now I’m twisting my fairy lights around it. I started through Mike’s bail then along the branch and back. I wanted all the lights in the little short 3' strand to show, so it’s doubled or tripled along the branch. 
I threaded it through Mike’s bail on the other end of the branch.
For now I just have the switches in the back, but I’ll probably place some Command Strips on the back with Velcro that will hold them nicely in place.
Pretty excited about this sweet little project made of seconds.
Hints on the Horizon:
On Oct. 19 I will have a project using this week’s All Seasons Leaves, as well as a new ADORABLE murrini. I’m hoping my experimental project idea works, but if not, I’ll tell you why it didn’t. 😉
Looking a bit further ahead, I’ll have Footballs again on the 1st weekend of November for those who are asking, new murrini on the 3rd weekend of November, then the BIG Black Friday Scrap Sale on 11/29/24! After the Scrap Sale, I’ll be taking a Christmas break and will return the 1st Saturday in January!
Helpful Links:
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 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.