Sept. 20, 2024 • Footballs and Christmas Favorites
I love football. Ok, not really, but I love it that my husband does! He is all things Fantasy Football until February. This means I get to spend many more hours in the shop because he doesn’t even know I’m gone! 🤣 Therefore, I LOVE football and I do have to say, this week’s new Football murrini is a hoot and has been so much fun to create with. I’ve got them in COE 96 of course (that’s all I use), but if you need COE 90, Wildnerness Glass has them. Lori also created a fun project with her version which I’ll show you as well. We tag-teamed this little murrini together testing out the best Football design and I think we’ve got it!
Also this week you’ll find remakes of Christmas favorites. Some have new colors this time! I created a gift tag/ornament using each of the Christmas favs so you can see them tack fused. They were all fused at the same temperature of 1300 with no hold. I now feel one step ahead for my Christmas packages and they were quick and easy! ❤️ I’m also highlighting fellow artists who do beautiful glass work. The Lunger’s from Eleven11Glass, Mike LaChance from Innovative Glass, and of course Joni from Aggie Glass Designs. More about them below.
Housekeeping notes: just a reminder that my website will be taking a break from September 23-Oct 4 for some family time. I’ll open my website back up and will have a new blog on Friday, Oct. 4.
All my murrini are COE 96, sold in 2-inch long canes, and the new designs in today's blog will be available Saturday, Sept. 21 at NOON Central time.
Now on to this week’s murrini!
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NEW! Footballs
These adorable footballs are best at a tack fuse to retain the outer points. These little cuties snip best with wheeled nippers placed in the center. Footballs will be available in 1oz. packages for $18.
Couldn’t resist making a little Cardinal Football gift tag/ornament.
Here's an adorable idea that Lori from Wilderness Glass created using her COE 90 Footballs. Click here for a link to her Football Heart Tutorial, but remember if you are COE 96, her temperatures are for Bullseye glass and will be too hot for us 96ers... so adjust your schedule accordingly. On the last step, my recommended tack fuse is a top temp of 1300-1310 with no hold so the Football murrini stays pointy. Remember...you can always put your project back in the kiln if you need to soften the design a little bit more...but you can not undo over fused!
NEW! Transparent Old Fashioned Christmas Lights
I’ve been asked to make my Old Fashioned Bulbs in transparent colors for a few years now but was hesitant because lighter backgrounds are necessary. However, I’m so glad I did because these cuties look like they are GLOWING! They are a TACK fuse murrini if you want them to look like bulbs, but if you are using them as flower petals they’ll fully fuse beautifully. They snip great with wheeled nippers or the Chipper Nipper placed in the fattest part. Again, because they are transparent, the background color will need to be considered, but the versatility of these lovelies make them worth it.
Like the Opal bulbs, Lisa was mindful to make sure packages had as consistent sizes as possible, thus the available variations.
1oz. Mix - 2 each of all colors, $18 (Small Bulbs)
1.35+ oz. Mix - 2 each of all colors $22 (Medium Size Bulbs)
1oz. Mix - 1 each of all colors $18 (Large Size Bulbs)
1.15+oz. Mix - 1 each of all colors $20 (XL Size Bulbs)
1oz. Single Colors $18 (Sizes will vary in the single colored packages)
I used an ultra thin piece of stringer and lined up my lights. Easy peasy and oh-so-cute! I write on my tags with a sharpie which can be wiped off with a damp cloth and the tag reused.
Cardinals
Cardinals are wonderful all times of the year, but they really are special at Christmas. They’ll need a LIGHT tack fuse to retain their shape. Wheeled nippers placed on the bird’s back and belly make snipping easy. They will be sold in 1oz. packages for $18.
Tiny Christmas Trees
I changed up the colors a bit in this version and they are made with Fern instead of Amazon Green. This means the Fern will have a bit of a reaction with the Vanilla Cream. However, this is a LIGHT TACK FUSE murrini as they will lose their shape quickly in too hot of a top temperature, so you will not be heating it up enough for the reaction to become very apparent. These cuties will be sold in 1oz. packages for $18.
As you can see in a light tack fuse the Vanilla Cream and Fern have only a very slight reaction, which gives it a very slight definition between the two colors.
Blossom and Ornament Mix
This mix has a new color combo! This time the Ornaments were created with more Red and Green and the Christmas Blossom has more of a red center. Totally in love with these colors. I fully fused the Ornaments by themselves to see what they would look like (just a chip on the kiln shelf) and the Long Ornament pulled completely into a dot. I was somewhat surprised but loved it as another option. The Long Ornament will change from slender to fat when fully fused on top of glass. You can see how this looks in the photo at the bottom of the blog, where I show all the murrini from this week fully fused. The blossoms are beautiful tack fused to fully fused. Wheeled nippers or the Chipper Nipper work great on the round murrini, but the Slender Ornament will require wheeled nippers placed right in the center. This beautiful mix is weighing in at 1.5oz. for $26.
Here is the mix of Ornaments and Blossoms, with a few Pine Cones and Acorns slipped in for good measure. On some of the gift tags I just drilled a hole to loop my ribbon through.
Two Toned Slender Leaves
These leaves were a color combo request that I was really happy to create. Made with Dark Green and Fern, these are actually quite lovely for Christmas as they made a beautiful strand of garland. They are packaged in 1.5oz packages for $26. On the sample below, I wanted to give Mike LaChance a shout out for his torch-made COE 96 wreaths. He can custom make these for you if you are interested.
I also used one of Mike’s clear COE 96 ”sitting bails” that I tack fused on to the back and ran my red ribbon through.
Holly
This sweet Holly leaf is definitely a LIGHT tack fuse murrini. The outer points will round out very fast. I used sharp wheeled nippers on these guys and yes…they will sound incredibly crunchy when snipping. But hang in there, they’ll be ok…it just won’t sound like it. 😉 They are available in 1oz. packages for $18.
These sweet Holly leaves hold up in a light tack fuse, but they’ll lose their points in any heat hotter than a LIGHT tack.
Red Blossoms
These beauties are great tack fused, fully fused, or flip and fused. They snip well with wheeled nippers or the Chipper nipper. Sold in 1oz. packages for $18.
Ornament Duo
These Ornaments are such a beautiful duo. Wheeled nippers or the Chipper Nipper work great on the round murrini, but the Slender Ornament will require wheeled nippers placed right in the center. The Slender fella, if you try to snip a thin sliver off the end, may give you a cupped shape. To make them have a straighter edge, try snipping them like we did the Dragonflies by snipping them in half, then those halves in half, and those halves in half until you get the thinnest possible size. The Duo is sold in 1oz. packages for $18.
Interestingly, these are just the Ornament Duo. In a really hot full fuse (1450 with a 30 minute hold) the Slender Ornament pulled into a perfect circle. The two balls in the center were pre-fused into dots. Pretty cool.
Christmas Blossoms
I’ve had these beautiful blossoms in the Christmas rotation for many years now and are great for your holiday creations. This week’s version has a bit more red in the center. These sweethearts snip easily with wheeled nippers or a Chipper Nipper and are great fused at any temperature. The Christmas Blossom is also sold in 1oz. packages for $18.
Since these contain Fern Green and Vanilla Cream next to each other, in a full fuse a dark line will form between the two areas. The hotter the fuse the darker this line will become. Above is a photo of this murrini fused from the front and the back and you can see the reaction. Sometimes this can get on the darker side and might become undesirable, so a test tile to check the reaction with the top temp you are planning to use is recommended. This reaction line isn’t apparent in a tack fuse.
Here’s a simple little piece that has fine white frit for snow at the bottom with the Blossoms tack fused in a line. I added an adorable Candy Cane which was made by the Lungers from Eleven11Glass. These bright COE96 Candy Canes tack fuse beautifully. Check out their beautiful torch-worked embellishments.
Christmas Colored Flat-End Daisy Petals (with variations)
Sometimes a large flower is needed for your Christmas Designs, so I created these beautiful Flat-End Petals with transparent Red and Green centers. They snuggle perfectly around a matching transparent center dot. Joni from Aggie Glass Designs has created matching Red and Green transparent dots if you’d like to check out her shop.
Perfect Christmas colors, but also Valentines Day and St. Patrick’s Day! They also pair nicely with the Transparent Christmas Bulbs, too! The center colors may vary in size and design slightly.
They are best snipped with wheeled nippers right in the center of the flat part (not tip to end). Sizes will vary in the packages and they will also be sold in packages of all Red or all Green. All options (mixed colors or as single colors) will be sold in 1oz. packages for $18. Note: the Green singles are in a 1.5oz package for $18 as a bonus weight (they are larger, but I still wanted you to get a least 5-6 canes). The Red singles are more of a "regular" size and there will be 5-6 canes in each package. For the Duo, Lisa packaged them with similar “regular” sizes inside.
Here’s a sweet gift tag using the duo of colors with Joni’s Dots that have been snipped in half. Mixing the colors up was fun.
The Green Petals also coordinate with the Green Ornaments!
Same with the transparent Cherry Red. Lots of fun options!
Simple Snowflakes (Multi-size)
I love various sized Snowflakes in a scene! This is why we take the time to make sure each 1oz. package has sizes from large to tiny. Wheeled nippers or the Chipper Nipper work great and they are wonderful fused at all temperatures. They will be sold in 1oz. packages for $18.
I think this cutie is more of an ornament, but it highlights the Snowflakes and the Snowman noses! The smile is made from pieces of medium black frit. The arms are made with some of Joni’s brown variegated stringer.
Multi-size Snowman Noses
Snowman noses are sold in multi-size packages from large to tiny to fit various sized projects. They are as versatile as they are cute. Of course created to be a snowman nose, but they can also be flower petals. They’ll be sold in 1oz. packages for $18. I prefer using wheeled nippers on these with the blades of the wheels back toward the fatter part of the murrini.
Christmas Twists
Also again this week 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. Wheeled nippers or the Chipper Nipper work great.
The Christmas Twists are shown here in two ways. The top version has been flattened so it appears to be spinning and the three on the tree were pre-fused into beautiful little dots.
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Just a peek at this week’s murrini fully fused tests. As you can see, murrini with an outer shape/design round out as they are intended for a light tack fuse. The Blossoms look great in all temperatures.
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This week’s project is quite simple and made such a cute dish. Note: I am not an expert in the area of knowing if my fused glass dishes are food safe or not. In using Val Cox frit, I know for certain this dish would not be as it is not capped with clear. So it will be used for wrapped treats only.
The mold I was working with is 5X10. It doesn't have a number on the underneath, which tells me it came from Slumpys. 
It's a great mold because it's just deep enough to give great definition in your project, but not too deep where you'd worry about distortion of your design or it slipping funny.
My project was cut just slightly over 5X10. This will fit in my mold perfectly.
On the bottom layer I used transparent Light Green Oceanside glass dusted with transparent powder to help reduce bubbles.
On the Dark Green glass, I traced off where the glass will fall into the mold so I know where to put my field and the people (Clearly it is a packed stadium! ha ha).
My crowd was made from all kinds of beautiful frit. I first started with Val Cox frit using some of her bolder colors, then I put a mix of Oceanside colors in as well.
I put GlassTac glue all around the edge and coated it really well with a thin layer of frit. Since my piece will fire at 6mm thick I was curious to see if the added frit would make it a bit wider or wonky in any way, but it fused perfectly.
Here it is in the kiln on top of the prepared transparent green. I placed Oceanside’s Vanilla Cream stringers as the lines in the field. I wanted these to be fully fused so they laid flat. Yes, I know there aren’t enough lines to be a true football field. My husband promptly point that out. 🤣 But it’s just the idea of the field, so feel free to make yours differently. I took this up slowly to a full fuse top temperature of 1450 with a 15 minute hold.
Once fully fused I used Oceanside Marigold stringers to make the field goals.
And just before I put this in for a light tack fuse, I placed my football. I took this up to a light tack fuse of 1300 with no hold.
Here is the piece after it had been tack fused and is now on top of the mold getting ready for the slump.
My slump schedule:
150>300>15
300>1100>30
150>1240>30
9999>950>4 hours
150>800>10
300>room temp
Note:
I did make a second version.
This time I tried it with a 5X10 3mm clear base. I cut out just enough green (Fern this time instead of Dark Green) to make the center part of the field. I put just a tiny bit of super glue to hold the green still.
With some leftover frit from the first project, I place about a 3mm layer all around the green.
Once fused, I flipped it over so the clear was on the top. I do like the way it made the crowd look…a bit more defined. However, the edges pulled in a little bit in a few places and wasn’t as perfect as the first go-around. The edges could be cold worked to be smoother.
This time I also used Oceanside stringer for the field lines, but went with White instead of Vanilla Cream. I kept the Marigold field goals as they turned out great. I placed my Football in the center and put it back in the kiln for a light tack fuse.
The Fern green makes for a much brighter field and the football stands out nicely. With the clear on the top, the people look more defined and have more depth. The lines of the field do stand up slightly, but are still fun. I couldn't put the lines down first in the initial fuse as I was afraid it would catch too many bubbles between it and the clear.
Here's a shot of the people. I think they are brighter because they don't have the Dark Green underneath as well. So lots of ways this can be done to get certain effects (or your favorite team colors would also be fun!)
I would love to see how you use your Football murrini! Feel free to post your final projects on the Beth Alongi Murrini Show and Tell Facebook page.