October 2, 2026 • Champagne Dragonfly Diptych
October is here and is very welcome at the Alongi house! Looking forward to at least 8 months of cooler weather! Another welcomed sight is this month's Dragonfly! A soft and subtle grouping of murrini that were both a joy to create and create with! This month's project is also a continuation of my Dragonfly/Jar series and it ended up not being what I initially saw in my mind, but perhaps even better than I had hoped. I still followed through with my initial thoughts, but with a totally separate project and outcome. I love them both. I also created two projects for the jar series (an extra one as a back up in case there was some kind of tragedy in the kiln 😅)! What I wasn't expecting was such a beautiful diptych! Lisa looked at them and said "They need to be together, it's a celebration!" I whole-heartedly agreed.
I will have the full step by step instructions to this beauty a bit later in the blog! Besides all these coordinating colors, I'll also have Cardinals, Twisties, and SECONDS this month, too!
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Housekeeping Notes:
All my murrini are COE 96 and made with Oceanside fusible glass. These will go on sale tomorrow, Saturday, October 3, at NOON Central time. When new items post on my website, sometimes they don't all appear at once, so remember to refresh your screen more than once.
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This month's murrini:
Dragonfly Kit Champagne Opal Wings #1 (Opal Wings with Transparent Veins)
This beautiful dragonfly makes me so happy. When fusing with it, keep in mind the background will need to be lighter to keep the color of the transparent Champagne vein intact. Like I've talked about with past dragonflies, when pulling the wings, I end up with various sizes. Lisa sorted all them by size and packaged them up with the size of the body fitting the size of the wings. Categorized by the size of the wings, body, and overall weight, there will be Small/Medium kits and Large/XL dragonfly kits. Each kit will include 4 wings, 1 body and 3 black stringers for the tail. One kit will make 16 dragonflies!
I photographed the wings by a dime for size reference from small to XL.
NOTE: there were several batches of wings made and each one has a slightly different pattern. I recommend snipping ONE WING at a time so your dragonfly wings match each other in both size, color, and pattern. Of course, feel free to let your creativity take flight and use them however you want!
I created a quick video a few years ago to help explain how to perfectly cut your dragonfly murrini in 16 equal parts.
I recommend tack fusing your dragonflies so all the exterior details of the wings and body stay as-is. I also recommend doing a test tile if you are uncertain about the right temperature in your kiln.
The above photo shows how you can use 4 wings for a top view of your dragonfly, or just 2 wings to create a dragonfly from a side view. The legs on the dragonfly in the side view were created by pulling stringer thin in a torch.
Dragonfly Kit Champagne Opal/Transparent Wings #2 (Opal/Transparent Wings with Transparent Veins)
All of this month's dragonfly wings are slightly different, but in this pull I tried it with both opal and transparent sections of the wings. They were different enough that I packaged them separately. With this much transparent in the wings, your background choices will need to be clear or on the white/light side.
They will be packaged the same as the other wings with an option for either Sm/Med kits or L/XL kits.
Matching Multi-size Circle Sets
The word of the month that Lisa came up with was "effervescent"! I had a vision of little bubbles coming from the Champagne glasses as well as flattened larger circles in the background (that idea didn't make the cut for the main project). So I have three different multi-sized circles groupings to choose from. They are indeed a versatile murrini as I'll explain in the project portion of the blog.
This above photo is the Lilac grouping which was created with Oceanside's Lilac, Vanilla Cream, Champagne Opal and Champagne transparent. For some reason, Lilac is just so darn difficult to photograph and they look more Lilac in person. In the project portion of the blog, you will see where I flattened them into the background, which is a better representation of how they actually look.
The photo above shows the Celadon, Chambray, and Almond grouping. A few of the murrini in this photo are seconds (which I pulled out). This pot decided to have a mind of its own about half way through. So you'll find that part of the pull as SECONDS this month. More on those colors in a bit.
The last grouping shown above is the Champagne Opal, Vanilla Cream and Champagne transparent grouping. How sweet are these???
This Month's Flat-end Daisy Petals
I will have three different types of Flat-end Daisy Petals this month. I love these murrini canes for when I need to make large flowers. I don't sell them as a mix because it does take quite a bit of one cane to make such a large flower, and I want you to be able to make several flowers and have options of flower sizes due to the mixed size packages (smaller to large size canes). Each one is described below as I refer to them in the above photo:
Transparent Champagne Flat-End Petals
The canes in this package are going to be on the larger side. You may find a slight difference of sizes in each package, but these run about 5 canes per package. I used 6 slices of murrini around an approximate 3/8" coordinating circle (a way to use the larger circle canes). You could have a larger center dot and just add a few more murrini around it. The size of flower is up to you! Each cane will give you approximately sixteen 3mm slices.
Lilac Flat-end Daisy Petals
Simple certainly doesn't mean boring! These beauties are shown in the above project surrounding one of the Lilac Circle canes that had been pre-fused into a dot. In this photo they have a purple/grey look, but when fused they are definitely a purple daisy as seen in the project photo!
Chambray and White Flat-end Daisy Petals
These sweeties have a hint of white blended into the flat side as an added decorative element. I didn't want anything bold as this month's project has a soft feel to it. I think they worked perfectly. Again, the project photo has the best color representation of this petal as it surrounds a white pre-fused dot that is about a half-inch across.
Slender Champagne Leaves (multi-size)
These leaves (which can also be used as a petal or other design element) are really stunning. They are created with White opal and Champagne transparent glass. These are so interesting to fuse with. When tack fused on clear, they retain their striped look. When fused onto a light opal glass, they look more opal. Such a unique murrini and each package will have smaller to larger sized canes in it to make the options even more endless!
Wildflower Mix
These sweet wildflowers were mostly packaged as a mix so you could get a sampler of each one. With just 5 flowers, the packages were just shy of an ounce, so Lisa popped in a 6th flower. Therefore you will have two of the same color within your package. ;) The mixes are mostly on the medium side except for the extra flower Lisa snuck inside, which will be on the smaller side.
The 5 Wildflowers include: a Lilac and Vanilla Cream, Transparent/Opal Champagne, Chambray and Vanilla Cream, White and Champagne (mostly white with a tiny dotted transparent Champagne center), and finally one that is made from Celadon and Vanilla Cream.
These are lovely fused at all temperatures. Keep in mind the Champagne flower is transparent on the exterior and will look best on a white or opal champagne background. Clear works, too, but they will show up better on a white/ivory/almond/ etc. background.
Also, I will have a limited amount of each color packaged up as singles. Sizes in the single packages will be a mix of larger and smaller canes in each.
White Ripple Flowers with a Chambray Center
Aren't these FUN? I started to put these in the flower mix, but since they weren't a wildflower and I had pulled them as multi-size, they are packaged as singles. These cuties are best at a LIGHT TACK fuse to keep the rippled exterior design intact. They are Oceanside White on the outside and Chambray on the inside.
Curved White Leaves
These curved white leaves were a remake request, but they fit perfectly into this month's delicate color palette. Best at a light tack fuse, all the canes in each package will range from smaller to larger for a variety of sizes for all kinds of scenes.
Cardinals
Just in time to use on your Christmas scenes, the Cardinals are back! Sizes will vary within each package. This is a light tack fuse murrini to retain its sweet outer design.
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SECONDS SALE!
Seconds are murrini that have an inner design that is either just before or just after the prime portion of the pull, or they may have a chip, ding, or teeny tiny pinholes. You may have to look kinda hard to find something wrong with them, but for some reason they didn't make the cut as 1sts.
Seconds are packaged in 1.5+ to 2.0+ ounce packages.
SECONDS Champagne Dragonfly/Circle Mix
Champagne Dragonfly SECONDS are wings and bodies that have begun to swirl and distort from the original design. Some may be at the beginning of the pull where you don't quite see the full design, but most are after the main design where the wings have started to wiggle. I fused up some seconds and they are also very lovely! You will get TWO dragonfly tails instead of three (because you should be snipping them very thin like hockey pucks and two canes should be plenty). Some of the bodies will be perfect and some will be slight seconds.
Also in this fun mix will be multi-sized SECONDS Champagne Circles. The inner designs are self explanatory as to why they are seconds, ha ha, but they are funky and fun! Each package will be over 2oz!
SECONDS BIG Fall/Christmas Mix
The Fall and Christmas Big Seconds Mix will be full of FUN! Each package will have a selection of both Fall and Christmas canes. Each package is different and no two canes will be the same, so the variety is lovely. They are well over 2oz. each! The above photo shows the possible canes in each package. After Lisa had them all packaged, I did add a few more designs here and there, too, just adding to the weight. I think you'll be really happy with these!
SECONDS Red Poppy Fields
From larger to smaller, these Red Poppies make the cutest scenes as the different sizes allow you to show depth in project. These are SECONDS because the inner dot is pretty tiny. Keep these at a light tack fuse to retain the frilly outer edges!
SECONDS Critter Eyes
The are the best SECONDS Critter Eyes I think I've ever had. These little dudes decided to go off-center and there is a nice portion of eyes in each package that still have lots of color in them. Lisa tried to get a nice variety in each package of both sizes and colors.
SECONDS Christmas Bulbs
The above photo shows both the Opal bulbs (6 on the left) and Transparent Christmas bulbs (5 on the right) that are toward the end of the pull when the lines at the top of the bulb become wiggly. These make the BEST flowers!!
They will be sold as SECONDS Opal Bulb Mix and SECONDS Transparent Bulb Mix and the upper design in both variations will be similar to what you see below.
There will be two of each color in each package and sizes will vary. They are well over 2oz each.
I will also have some packages of OPAL single color SECONDS that are more at the beginning of the pull where the striped tip is barely present and then as they just begin to to wiggle. These still work as bulbs as the design isn't as wiggly. See image below for design and sizes (sizes will vary in each package).
These will be sold as single colors in 1.5+oz. packages. I will not have the Transparent Bulb as singles, only the opal as seen above.
SECONDS Chambray/Celadon Circles
As I mentioned earlier in the blog, the Chambray and Celadon circles got a bit wonky as the pull progressed. They are still super cool and I'll have a portion of the pull packaged as SECONDS in 1.5oz packages (They will be multi-sized from larger to smaller)!
TWISTIES!
Organic Twisties! I only sell these pretty canes once or twice a year. What are Twisties exactly? Well, in my shop they are the very end of a pull where the inner design has faded away, but the exterior becomes something pretty cool when twisted. The EXTERIOR of Twisties are the part that is meant to be used, but use them however you want! I call my Twisties "Organic" because they are all a bit different and are far from perfect like the ones my friend Sherry makes. Mine are sometimes not completely straight, some have bumpy exteriors, some are flat like a ribbon, some ends are bigger than others, you might find a tiny hole started in the middle and the outer designs are not always twisted consistently. Kinda sounds like "seconds" as they aren't perfect, and compared to those who pull Twisties as their area of expertise...this is true. However, they are great fun to work with, unique, and beautiful.
With that said, my Twisties are fully annealed, which means you can put them in a torch and make beads or melted designs, use snips of the Twistie placed on their side to fully fuse into swirly dots, fully fuse the entire cane to be used as stir sticks, and much more. However, one of my favorite things to do with them is to flatten them between two kiln shelves. To me, they come out looking like a strip of fabric. Once flattened you can score and break them into all kinds of shapes for all kinds of uses. Many folks use a flattened Twistie to make snowman scarves!
Check out my August 15, 2025 blog for cool ways to use Twisties!
I'll be selling them a bit differently this time. As always, they are approximately 6" long and I will have them available by the half pound in color groups (approximately 16 Twisties for $30) or a full pound of mixed colors (approximately 32 Twisties for $50). The Twisties shown in the groupings are what I'm pulling each bundle from, but each bundle will vary slightly with different sizes and colors. However, they are going to be VERY similar to the listing photograph you will see tomorrow on my website.
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This month's fully fused test pieces:
I test a murrini from each pull by fully fusing on clear, then view them under polarizing filters to make sure there are no surprises as far as excess tension or compatibility issues after the pulling process. This also allows us an opportunity to peek at each murrini after a full fuse.
The above image shows this month's murrini fully fused. Some are spectacular at a full fuse, and others lose their intended exterior design and are best at a light tack fuse.
The above image shows all the murrini at a light tack fuse. As you can see, the murrini remain "as-is" as far as the outer design remaining intact.
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This month's projects:
Champagne Celebrations!
I've had this color of dragonfly in my mind for a bit. It is as pretty as I had hoped, but my project idea shifted once I had all my elements ready. At first I wanted to flatten the circles and have them all in the background, then put my champagne glass over the top. Then I purchased some Oceanside Champagne and White Swirl glass and as soon as I saw it, my background question was answered. It was absolutely perfect. I sent a picture to Lisa and her response was the same. Done!
I also had not planned on displaying it as a diptych, but together they are perfect. As Lisa said, "it looks like a celebration"! She was right!
Let's take a look at the first step. I took a 12X12 piece of Oceanside white, cut it in half, and laid it in my Hot Shot 24G. I dusted each sheet with clear powder. I then cut my 12X12 sheet of Champagne/White swirl glass to be about 3/8 smaller on all sides so as to create a white border on my back ground piece when fully fused.
One note: when I went to place my swirl glass over the white piece on the left, I let it go down a bit too hard and some of the powder on the white POOFED out around the edges and onto the kiln shelf paper. I didn't want that on the paper, so I took my vaccum and gently sucked it up. When I did, without realizing it, it must have pulled some of the powder out from under the glass, too. It made a crazy cool result, that worked for me, but may have been bad for other projects. More on this in a bit.
I also knew I may want some coordinating dots for my flat-end petals, so I fused up some dots, too. In the back, I have some circle murrini snipped a bit taller as I wanted big circle dots, too.
Also note I put some colored frit toward the bottom of my project to fully fuse into the background. This is consistent will all my "Dragonfly/Jar Series" pieces as the "floor" of the project for the glasses to sit on (so they don't look like they are just floating in the air).
In a second full fuse I decided I wanted to "flip and fuse" some circles so they would be larger when I went to flatten them. You'll see those next to a 5mm piece of glass with a transparent Champagne 3mm piece of glass on top. Oceanside's Champagne transparent is waterglass, so it has a bit of a wave to it. I used that to my advantage as I did NOT put clear powder underneath it as I was hoping to catch some bubbles for my Champagne glass...and it worked!
Here it is after the full fuse and I couldn't have been happier!!!
Now, let's have a look at the bases after they were fully fused. The one on the left was the one I used the vacuum on and the one on the right I did not. See the bubbles that got caught it in the SAME fuse as the one on the right? So this shows us how important it is to put clear powder down when fully fusing large pieces on top of each other.
But in my case, this just added to the bubbly scene with champagne glasses, right? I did have a larger bubble on the far left. I took my Dremel tool and slowly did some grinding until I 'popped' the bubble and then I cleaned it well, filled the hole full of medium clear frit, and strategically placed a dragonfly over the top of it. ;)
Next I printed off a graphic of a champagne glass I got online and traced it onto some painter's tape. I did this because I recently saw someone using designs done on a Cricut where they cut out an adhesive design and put that on the glass, then used the Taurus saw to cut out the design. Since I don't have a Cricut, I used painter's tape instead. I cut it out and put the blue tape over my fully fused champagne glass base and cut it out with my saw. Normally, I lose my Sharpie drawing right away from all the water spraying on it, even when using chapstick over the top to try and seal it. So this worked like a charm!
Once my fancy champagne glasses were cut out, I put them back in the kiln for a contour fuse. I wanted them to be nice and rounded all around because my last step with them will be to lightly tack fuse them on to the final piece.
Remember a few photos ago I had some murrini circles on clear that I was going to "flip and fuse"? After they fully fused, I washed them up, flipped them over, and placed them on the bottom circle between two pieces of kiln shelf paper. The larger circle was then placed over the top of the shelf paper covering the flipped dots for the flattening process. I took full advantage of this full fuse.
This photo is a wee blurry, but here are my flatted "flip and fused" circles. They are a bit wigglier than I thought, but I'll show you how I used these in my next project. I did not try to control the size of the flattened end result, so they are nice and thin.
Now for the easy part, I took all my murrini (flowers, circles and dragonflies) and laid them out with my now rounded champagne glasses. I had to hold myself back from adding more murrini. I get heavy handed sometimes, but this piece required simplicity in my opinion. As you can see surrounding my piece, I had my blue and lilac flat-end petals all snipped up and ready to put on, but when I did, I felt like they were not dainty enough, so I left them off. I added a few pieces of thin stringer as an additional design element. I decorated my second piece in a similar fashion.
Again, here are the final pieces. I'm truly over the moon with these colors and how it turned out. Simple. Elegant. A Celebration.
But now, let's move on to what my initial idea was!
Before I came across the swirl glass, I had this in mind. To take all the circles, flip and fuse them, flatten them, then fully fuse them into the background...THEN put the champagne glass over the top of it. THAT would have been way too busy! But I still wanted to see how my idea would turn out. I first made the piece on the right.
I had white 3mm glass down first, then Champagne Opal 3mm over top (I dusted the white with clear powder first). I laid my flattened discs on top of the Champagne opal glass in a fun overlapping pattern and then fully fused it. I love how it turned out.
However, it's just a bit too busy to put other designs over the top. This piece stands alone and I'm keeping it just like this. I love it! So Lisa saw this piece (I was feeling a bit defeated) and she suggested all flip and fused/flattened Champagne Circles only! Genius!
I recreated the same piece again, only this time just using the Champagne Circles that had been flip and fused and flattened. I could already see it was going to work. Also note on the left side there is just a clear flattened disc and some of the circles have quite a bit of clear around them (because I sat them on 5mm clear squares instead of the normal 3mm clear squares in the flip and fuse process and there was a lot of excess clear showing).
After it fully fused, I knew this was it! I used all the elements I had created as this was my initial thought for this month's project (minus the champagne glasses). The upper left shows the transparent Champagne Flat-end Petal around one of the large Champagne Circle murrini. The Chambray Flat-end Petal is around a 1/2 inch white pre-fused dot, and the Lilac Flat-end Petal is around one of the Lilac Circular murrini that I just fully fused into a large dot. You can see each of the Wildflowers, the Champagne Slender Leaves, the White Ripple Flower, Curved White Leaf, and the Champagne Dragonfly all lightly tacked on to the final piece. I think this is pretty darn cool.
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Hints on the Horizon:
My next drop of new murrini with be the FIRST Saturday in November, which is 11/07/2026. Since I was gone a few weeks in September on vacation, I'm a bit behind. I will be working hard to get as many designs ready as possible. Since I am closed the month of December for Christmas break, I'd say "Think Spring" as I want to get as much to you as I can, for those who work a season ahead.
Also, don't forget the annual SCRAP SALE will be happening again this year in November on Black Friday. 🙌🏼 It's going to be a good one!
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If there is a murrini you'd like me to have in stock again, please email me with a photo of it and I'll put it back on my list.
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On a fun note, I have a DISCOUNT code with Hot Shot Kilns! If you purchase a kiln from them and use ALONGI10 at checkout, you'll receive 10% off your order! I don't receive anything from Hot Shot Kilns when you use this code, but you'll get a discount and it lets them know you are a friend of mine! I'm a FAN y'all!!
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Helpful Links:
If you use COE 90, be sure to shop Lori’s beautiful murrini options found at Wilderness Glass.
Oceanside's recommended Firing Guides.
If you are looking for COE 96 stringer or pre-fused dots, Joni pulls matching stringer for the murrini I make. 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! For a 10% discount, use Alongi10 at checkout! I don't receive anything from Hot Shot Kilns when you use this code, but it lets them know you are a friend of mine and lets you know I'm a FAN of their KILNS!
Looking for a good murrini nippers? I recommend purchasing these "must-haves" from witsendmosaic.com. I love the "Ceramic Scissors" (also what I refer to as a Chipper Nipper) made by SeaBell, who also makes an amazing wheeled nipper with a rubber gasket that holds the nipped murrini from flying away!! Another wheeled nipper I also like are the Leponitt G30C. I recommend these three tools for snipping murrini.
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.
Looking for a pneumatic chopper? Sue and Brad Darte make a great product backed by excellent customer service.
For Janice's pre-cut COE 96 ornament blanks, find her at LakeRabbitDesigns.
For information on Paul Tarlow's Powder Printer: Check out his Fusing Factory website and his Youtube Video for creating with the Filigree Stencils