Sept. 6, 2024 • Wintry Mix with Dragonflies
Labor Day has come and gone and the Cottonwood leaves are falling on my yard. The precursor to Fall and Winter is finally happening and I cannot wait. Hooray!! But…there’s nothing like the joy of creating any season we want in our shops, which is another reason to love working with glass. While dreaming of cooler temps, I decided to pull a winter murrini mix with dream-like icy whites and blues. It also gave me the perfect color palette to use some of Joni’s gorgeous new “Bubble Dots” she has created. Not to mention a new sparkly Winter Dragonfly that is opal with transparent veins. IN LOVE.
Housekeeping Notes:
This week’s single murrini will be sold in 1oz. packages for $18, the Wintry Mix will have one each of 10 designs weighing in the 1.85 - 2oz. range for $32, and the Winter Dragonflies will be sold in kits priced by wing size. The 6" Twisties are $30 per dozen.
These new murrini will go on sale tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 7 at NOON Central time.
Sharp wheeled nippers are recommended for snipping all of this week’s murrini.
A new calendar of my upcoming 1st and 3rd Saturday schedule and brief closure is at the end of the blog.
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Now on to this week’s murrini!
The Wintry Mix
This is a mix of both opal and transparent designs. You will receive one each of the Winter Butterfly, Blue Snowflake, Slender Duo Tone Reactive Leaf, White Leaf, Icicle Flat-End, Gray Flat-End Petal, Snowy Grey Ripple Petal, Reactive Blue Flat-End Petal, White and Transparent Blue Flat-End Daisy Petal, and a Ghost Leaf/Petal. These are such great shapes as the leaves can become flowers and the petals can be leaves. Remember that your background will affect the colors of the transparent designs. Here is a sample of the mix tack fused on clear glass in both the sun and the shade.
Winter Dragonfly Kits
This gorgeous Dragonfly has opal wings with transparent veins of blue that make this little fella sparkle in the light!
Small Kits will be $17 (small size wings/body)
Medium Kits will be $21 (medium size wings/body)
Large Kits will be $24 (large size wings/body)
XL Kits will be $27 (XL size wings/body)
Here is a photo of the 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.
Ghost Wings
This simple yet oh-so-versatile murrini was a requested remake and can be used as flower petals, leaves, bee wings, and more! If tack fused they are subtle and can still be seen (see the bottom of this week's project). 
I also fully fused a sample of a Ghost Leaf/Petal on red so you can see how amazing it is! Since the Ghost murrini is clear, except for the center opal line, it embeds itself in the opal glass making the most amazing design element. See how the center opal line looks like it’s floating? Sorry to have waited so long to remake these. I forgot how special they were!
NEW! Icicle Flat-Ends
These transparent beauties are a new wavy shape that is flat on the top and pointed at the end. Clear and transparent Blue glass swirl together with a soft White opal in this design. The thinner you snip them, the lighter the color becomes. Use them as icicles, flower petals, or as leaves. They look amazing surrounding one of Joni’s Bubble Dots. They truly look like a frozen flower.
Snowy Grey Ripple Petal
These Ripple Petals are gorgeous. They have a Grey opal exterior with a Vanilla Cream interior. They almost look like snowflakes in the center and are beautiful tack fused and also lovely fully fused. Note: some of the pull had a tiny air hole in one of the white dots, so these cuties will be slightly discounted at $17 per ounce.
Multi-size Transparent Blue Snowflakes
I'm a traditional white snowflake kinda gal, but these Blue Snowflakes were a must in this week’s icy motif! Surrounded by clear, these transparent Snowflakes are perfect tack fused to fully fused. Since they are transparent, the background will make a difference on visibility. Each package will have Snowflakes ranging from large to tiny.
Reactive Transparent Blue Flat-End Petal
Once these beauties are fused again, they become just a touch more reactive between the pointed Vanilla Cream center and the surrounding transparent Blue. A darker line will form which gives them a gorgeous outline. These are best at a tack fuse to keep their pointed outer shape. NOTE: Sizes will vary in each order.
White Leaves
These beautiful White Leaves have a transparent Grey center. They complement this week’s murrini perfectly. They can also be grouped “tip in” to create a snowflake-like flower.
Blue Tipped Snow Butterflies
Possibly one of my favorite Butterflies of all time, these beauties have a soft White and Grey inner wing that is outlined in speckles of transparent Blue. This is a tack fuse murrini. For snipping instructions, please see the Butterfly Wing Tutorial in the TIPS section of my website.
Slender Duo Tone Reactive Petals
Another of my favorites this week is this simple two-toned Slender Leaf. There will be a further dark reaction between the Vanilla Cream and the transparent Blue when fused again. These lovelies can be used as leaves or spiky flower petals.
Grey Flat End Petals
I wanted to add some Grey to the design this week, but also wanted to keep it simple. These Flat-End Daisy Petals do the trick! Place the flat end around any dot or grouping of frit to make a lovely daisy. The sample photo has a dot made out of a fully fused 1/4 inch piece of Twistie that had been fused on its side.
White and Transparent Blue Flat-End Daisy Petals
These Flat-End Petals are also perfect surrounding Joni’s Bubble Dots as they make a spectacular flower. The petals in your package may have a mix of transparent centers that are either jagged or smooth. Both designs give you a beautiful icy feel.
Fully fused samples
As you can see, most of this week’s murrini are best at a light tack fuse to retain their outer shape. The Snowflake and the Snowy Grey Ripple Petal on the upper right are great in all temps.
Organic Twisties in Fall and Christmas Colors
This week I’ll have 18 listings of Twisties. They are sold by the dozen and are 6” long. Some listings will have several of the same groupings available and some will have just one grouping available. There are so many things you can do with Twisties, like snipping them into 1/4 inch chunks and fusing them on their sides to make the most beautiful dots. You can fully fuse them as-is and use them as stir sticks. They flatten beautifully and Lisa commented this week that they have an appearance of fabric. I like flattening them, then scoring them into smaller sections for snowman scarves or snipping into smaller sections for flat design elements. You can keep them long and add into a design for bowls, dropout vases and so much more.
Here is a photo of flattened Twisites. See the scalloped edge of the far left one? The bigger the exterior wave is on a cane, the more pronounced the scallop will be when fused or flattened. On average they flatten out to be about a half inch across and 3mm tall. I stacked some on top of each other on the right so you can see the consistent thickness. 
Here is a little heart I made with a Twistie on a Hot Head torch. Since my canes are annealed, they should perform well when slowly introduced into a flame without being too shocky (popping apart in the flame).
You can’t go wrong with creating swirly dots. They are perfect as centers for flat-end petals, used in mosaics, grouped as flowers, placed in a line to make a caterpillar and so much more.
Twisties are created from the end of pulls after the murrini design has begun to fade away, but the exterior becomes fabulous when twisted. My Twisties are a bit organic in shape as some are thicker or thinner, they may have a smooth or bumpy exterior, and some have small holes in the center (those I call “Holey Moleys” and they are sold at a discount). The insides of Twisties can also be quite interesting as well.
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On to this week’s project! (I wish you could see it in person).
In the first step of the project, I fused two different sections. I knew I wanted the blue snowflakes fully fused onto clear to spread out, so I decided to make them look as if they are falling inside the jar and collecting at the bottom. I placed the snowflakes on top of my 5mm piece of 6X8" clear that I’ll be using for the jar.
Next I had a 3mm piece of 8X12" Charcoal Grey on the bottom, sprinkled lightly with clear powder to prevent bubbles. Over the top of it I have a 3mm piece of 7X11" Ivory centered up over the Grey so in the full fuse it will create a border. I also placed a few stringers and speckles of frit like my past projects and put it in the kiln with this firing schedule:
150>1150>30
350>1450>30
9999>950>2 hours
150>800>15
150>700>10
300>room temperature
Out of the kiln it looks exactly as I had hoped. The reaction between the Vanilla Cream frit and the transparent Blue surprised me just a bit, but I was good with it as some of this week’s murrini are also reactive and it will pull it all together.
My snowflakes spread out beautifully on the 5mm clear. I wasn’t sure if I’d want the jar to have the snowflakes showing from the top or the underneath, but after looking at it both ways, I opted to keep the snowflakes on the top. I traced out a couple of optional heights of the jar, then scored and cut out my jar, smoothing it on the grinder.
Once my jar was in place I laid out a few of Joni’s stringers.
I then started decorating with this week's murrini. Here is a peek at the finished piece, but I’ll zoom in and explain some of the areas.
I love full flowers, but also the little half flowers. These are perfect for when you get down to just a few pieces left from a cane that won’t make a full flower. You can see that I snipped one of Joni’s Bubble Dots in half with wheeled nippers, as well as a white and clear Twistie dot I had made previously.
I also used the Slender Duo Tone Reactive Petals as a spiky flower. You can see a little bit of a dark line between the two colors. It will become a bit more pronounced when fused again.
Here is the Slender Leaf as leaves and a bud.
These White and Blue Flat-end Petals make a really beautiful flower. The transparent portion is Sky Blue.
The new Icicle Flat-Ends are also perfect in this mix. Slightly spiky on the sides, they really look like a flower made from Ice. The insides of the petals changed throughout the pull, but they are a blend of transparent Blue, White and Clear glass. I used two as leaves and also have some hanging from the lip of the jar just as an icicle.
In this particular view you can see the beautiful Butterfly and a side shot of the Winter Dragonfly as it hovers over a little flower made from the Ghost Leaf/Petals.
As you can see in this photo, the Winter Dragonfly’s transparent veins are stunning and sparkle in the light.
I put the final version in to lightly tack everything together. Here is a link to Oceanside’s Firing Schedules. Your firing schedule will depend on how thick your project is and how many times pieces have been fired. But be conservative if your schedule has many layers. Slow up and slow down. My top temperature was 1310 with a 10 minute hold. Any hotter of a top temp in my kiln and the murrini will begin to round out quickly. Next time I make a project this thick with stacked murrini, I’ll lean toward an even more conservative fuse similar to Oceanside’s “reheating a thick project” schedule.
Love this latest addition to my Dragonfly and Jar series. I think you’ll find this mix a real joy to fuse with.
Hints on the Horizon:
On September 21, I will have remakes of your Christmas favorites as well as a NEW Murrini Design…EEK! I’m excited to show you. My website/shop will be closed briefly for some family time September 23 - October 3. I’ll be open again Friday, Oct. 4 with New Murrini Oct. 5.
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.